Brand Handbags clobbered by celebrity fatigue

It's all over for the "it" bag - or so says consumer research specialist Mintel. Fashion shoppers - mostly female - are finally losing their passion for celebrity-endorsed Brand Handbags that can cost thousands of pounds each.

The market for big-ticket, big-name bags, as sported by the likes of Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham, has been expanding rapidly, chalking up 30% annual growth in the past three years. Total UK Brand Handbags sales, boosted by the "it" bag phenomenon, will exceed ￡500m for the first time this year.

Burberry has a new "Warrior" bag at a variety of prices from ￡850 to ￡13,000, depending on whether it is cut from leather or gold alligator skin. Chanel recently unveiled its Forever alligator bag, complete with a clasp studded with diamonds, for ￡100,000. And Smythson sells the Nancy bag, designed by Samantha Cameron, from ￡495.

Mintel is forecasting an 18% fall in sales growth thanks to the consumer downturn and celebrity fatigue.

"Women have become more cynical about celebrity-endorsed products," said Katrin Magnussen, senior fashion analyst at the market research group. "Many will no longer be as quick to spend hundreds, even thousands of pounds on a bag just because the likes of Posh Spice have been snapped with one, especially when these days the must-have looks are quickly translated to the high street."

A downturn in demand will be bad news for firms like Burberry, Mulberry and luxury label groups such as LVMH. The Brand Handbags business is a vital part of
the fashion trade, often generating bigger profits than clothes. Mintel says worries about cheap labour and the environment will also hit sales. A green bag, it seems, could be the next "it" bag