Highlights of 2 days MARQUES Luxury Brands Symposium in Florence

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Last week Fabio Giacopello and Daniel De Prado Escudero attended the fourth MARQUES Luxury Brands Symposium  which took place in Florence, Italy, on October 20th-21st. 

This year’s event covered topics including new technologies, sustainability and collaborations.

Many topics were discussed during the 2 days of the meeting, where emerged that despite during the pandemic luxury companies expected a 50% decline, experience showed that the luxury sector was very resilient: by 2021, most luxury companies had already bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.

The first panel focused on cross-over collaboration. From the discussion, emerged that any cross-collaboration agreements must include IP clauses providing protection for the brand image, compliance to ensure respect of IP rights, representations and warranties as to non-infringement and a detailed approval process for use of licensed trade marks. Furthermore,  exclusivity, confidentiality, quality standards, warranties and notification requirements are also things that should be addressed in the agreement.

The second day of the Symposium addressed some other questions such as the implications of sustainability, circular fashion, upcycling and re-making for luxury brands. Sustainability is now essential in the luxury production, but from a legal point of viw there are some rising questions that need to be answered by all the producers that wants to follow this path: are claims always clear and easy to understand? Can we back up sustainability claims with data? Are we 100% honest about sustainability practices and plans? Are our partners properly protected and compliant? How do we manage and enforce second hand product sales, including where they are embellished?

The final part of MARQUES Luxury Brands Symposium focused on the Metaverse. Panellists showed various examples of brands in the metaverse and discussed some of the legal issues that arise.