The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
RepTrak, which uses a complex methodology to evaluate a corporation’s reputation across seven key categories, added several luxury brands to its 2021 ranking, more than any other year since the research firm began publishing the list a decade ago. In addition to Chanel and Prada, other newcomers included Burberry and Hermès.
To rank its top 100 corporations, RepTrak surveyed more than 68,000 respondents across the world’s 15 largest economies to gauge perception regarding a brand’s product and services, innovation, citizenship, performance, governance, leadership and workplace. Respondents were asked about their “willingness to buy, recommend or trust a company.”
To be considered, the corporation must generate at least $2 billion a year in annual sales and be familiar to 20 percent of those surveyed in each country.
Independent watch brand Rolex, ranked second, up from third a year earlier, was the only luxury label to crack the top 10. Sportswear giant Adidas also made the cut, ranked in seventh place — up from eighth in 2020. Levi’s, on the other hand, dropped to 14 from six a year earlier, with RepTrak citing higher brand scores across the board as the reason for the dip. (Levi’s score in 2021 was 76.6 out of 100, down just slightly from 76.8 a year earlier.)
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As for why so many new luxury brands entered the list, RepTrak chief executive Kylie Wright-Ford said “emotional” brands performed particularly well during the pandemic. High net worth consumers also had less opportunity to spend money on travel and experiences, so they devoted more disposable income to luxury goods.
Here’s 2021′s Global RepTrak 100, with fashion, luxury and beauty-adjacent corporations bolded:
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