Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — Tiffany & Co. is hoping its customers will pay $1,000 for a tin can.
Well, it’s not a real tin can — it just looks like one. The container is actually made of sterling silver and vermeil, with a touch of Tiffany’s signature robin’s-egg blue in an enamel accent. This is Tiffany, after all.
The can is one item in a new line of what the company calls Everyday Objects that “possess a whimsical wink that is quintessentially Tiffany.” Released in time for the holiday season, the collection includes such items as a $1,500 domino set, a $450 ruler and a $350 drinking straw.
“What makes the collection unique is that it incorporates the best quality, craftsmanship and design with a level of functionality that allows you to use these things every day,” Reed Krakoff, Tiffany’s chief artistic officer, said in a statement.
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The New York-based jeweller has been going through a tumultuous year, with hedge fund activist Jana Partners LLC pushing for changes. It abruptly removed its chief executive and replaced him with former Diesel SpA executive Alessandro Bogliolo. Most recently, it hired longtime Ralph Lauren Corp. executive Roger Farah as chairman, while pledging to refresh its product designs and modernising its stores.
Will Tiffany’s well-heeled customers have much use for a set of $650 leather pingpong paddles with sterling silver engravable plaques, even as a whimsical gift? Sometime after Christmas, the struggling retailer will know the answer.
By Stephanie Wong; editors: Nick Turner and Mark Schoifet.
