Top 5 Favourite Heritage Designer Brands

Heritage brands are often associated with trends and styles that date back hundreds, and even thousands of years. Heritage brands are brands that find loyalty within customers and thrive in both the past, present, and future. In 2020, we witnessed many brands reinventing and repositioning themselves in order to stay relevant. These top five brands have done just that, and extremely well if I might add. 

1. Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta has always focused on well-made leather goods since 1966. At first glance, Bottega is consistently associated with their woven leather bags and wallets. Recently, Bottega has been one brand that has stepped outside of their comfort zone and come up with new designs and styles that dictated the majority of the trends this year. From their choice of vivid colored baguette bags to square-toed heels, Bottega really set the bar high for reinventing themselves. 

2. Balenciaga

Balenciaga has always been inspired by being different. In fact, designer Cristobal Balenciaga created a new silhouette of dress for women in 1895 to show the world that fashion is subjective. Balenciaga consistently steps outside the box each season and creates unique and fascinating pieces in the fashion industry. They create and reinvent trends that most people would find absurd, but are intriguing enough to purchase. They’ve stuck to their core values while still providing fashion-forward pieces.  

3. Christian Dior

Dior has been creating their classic silhouettes since 1946, with the first pieces being inspired by World War Two. To this day, the Dior fashion house focuses heavily on the construction of their products and classic designs. However, Dior has recently collaborated with many amazing artists to showcase their art on many classic pieces. Daniel Arsham and Shawn Stussy have been the most recent collaborations. These collaborations have elevated Dior from a classic to trendy.  

4. Prada

Prada orginally started out designing leather bags and accessories in 1913. However, over the years, Prada has gradually shifted into techwear and everyday basics. With the rise in popularity of Y2K trends, Prada boosted in popularity with their re-edition bag from 2005. Prada provides good mix between creativity and wearability, with collections ranging from flame heels to simple nylon windbreakers.

5. Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton is often associated with their classic bags, like the Neverfull, Speedy, or the Alma. However, in the last few years, Louis Vuitton has transformed their collection from a range of browns and neutrals, to colour palettes ranging from classic blue to neon orange. Virgil Abloh, artistic director of the men’s collection, has taken LV’s runways to the next level. By stepping away from the traditional, new designs and materials were able to be executed.