Meghan Markle’s Impact on the UK Fashion Industry: Could She Surpass Kate Middleton?

Since Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement in 2010, the Duchess of Cambridge has become a marketing powerhouse and a brand in her own right.

Her fashion choices have sparked frenzied buying, with items selling out within minutes of her appearing in them.

The phenomenon is known as the “Kate effect,” and it has been estimated that she is worth around £1 billion in revenue to the UK fashion industry every year.

However, it seems that there may be a new kid in town, and a new effect to rival even Kate's.

This week Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are in Edinburgh for their first joint visit to Scotland, and almost as soon as she arrived, fans began placing orders for the £425 bottle green Stratbury calf leather cross body bag she wore.

Within minutes it was listed as out of stock on the FRM's website before the site crashed altogether under the demand.

It is not the first time Stratbury has benefited from an unofficial Meghan endorsement.

When she stepped out with one of its £495 midi tote bags last November, it sold out within 11 minutes of the photos surfacing, with the firm's website traffic increasing by over 5,000 per cent.

Such is the public fascination for Meghan's sense of style that, as with Kate, it seems just about anything she puts on becomes an instant must-have.

The £540 Lionel label coat she wore to announce her engagement sold out within minutes in November, and the £45m NS jumper she wore to visit a Brixton radio station last month was unavailable in every size by 6pm that day.

She also caused a 400 per cent increase in traffic to jewellery site Berks after sporting a pair of its earrings, and a tenfold increase in sales to sunglasses brand Fenley & Co.

According to David Hay, CEO of business valuation and strategy consultancy brand Finance, the Meghan effect could even surpass the Kate effect.

“Certain members of the royal family have a huge impact on the economy, through their unofficial endorsement of clothes or accessories, as a kind of brand ambassador,” he says.

“Diana had it, Kate certainly does, and we're already seeing how Prince George and Princess Charlotte do too, but with the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan this May, I believe her influence will eclipse even Kate's this year.”

In its recent Monarchy report, brand Finance estimated the total uplift to the UK economy provided by the royal family's unofficial endorsements to be £200m, with the lion's share of that coming courtesy of the Duchess of Cambridge.

However, according to Hay, Meghan's influence alone this year could total as much as £150m.

“The royal wedding is going to have an enormous effect on the economy,” he explains.

“In 2011 we calculated that the wedding of Prince William and Kate generated £1bn, and we believe that the same will be true for Harry and Meghan this May.

Kate's wedding was on a bank holiday, which normally accounts for a slowing down of the economy to the tune of around £1bn, as fewer people work, so the whole thing broke even, if you like.

This year there's no such bank holiday, which means a far greater boost.”

Hay believes that Meghan brings a unique new dimension to the royals.

“She is a big, big story in America,” he says, “not only because of her nationality but also her racial identity and career as an accomplished actress in her own right.

Hers and Harry's story encompasses so many things for a positive, modern, inclusive monarchy and that translates to enormous global coverage.

Her influence extends beyond what she wears.

There will be many Americans, for example, who will be prompted to visit Britain because of her, not just for the wedding but for years to come.”

Hay believes that over time Kate and Meghan will hold equal status as drivers of the royal economy though, perhaps crucially, at present Kate has a couple of aces up her sleeve.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte are already enjoying something of an effect of their own.

G.H.

Hurt and Sons website recorded 100,000 visits after newborn Charlotte was draped in a £70 shawl by the Nottingham firm, and sales of shoes by children's company Early Days have grown by more than 40% since George was pictured in a £25 pair in 2014.

“Meghan and Harry are taking the royal brand in a new direction,” says Hay, “while as a future heir to the throne William, and by extension Kate, has to be a little more circumspect and comply with decorum.

They can be far more informal, as a whole, it makes for a very compelling combination and broadens out the attractiveness of the royals as a brand immensely.