Luxury during wartime
5/19/202626 min
Luxury goods are both an indulgence and a store of value. And those uses are completely different. Today on the show, Rob Armstrong talks with Katie Martin about his trip to the FT Business of Luxury Summit in Puglia, Italy, and what he learned there about the highest end of the economy. Also, they go long a rates crisis and short exams.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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First 90 secondsKatie Martin· Host0:00
[gentle music] Pushkin. That Rob Armstrong has a tough life. A few weeks ago, he and I chatted on this very pod as he hobnobbed with energy traders on the shores of Lake Geneva. Today, listeners, I must inform you that he's on the shores of the Adriatic in Italy talking about the business of luxury. Yes, people, it's another hardship assignment for the big guy. Why is this a thing, you may be asking? Don't we have important things to worry about in the world? Today on the show, why you do actually need to think about $5,000 handbags while the world is burning. [upbeat music] This is Unhedged, the markets and finance podcast [laughs] shush, [laughs] from the Financial Times. I'm Pushkin. I'm Katie Martin, a markets columnist trapped in the gray basement of the FT in rainy London. Joining me from very fancy Puglia, Italy, is Mr. Robert Armstrong, putting in the hard yards with the high fashion set. Rob, you know, set the scene for me here. Are you, like, surrounded by Anna Winters and Derek Zoolanders and air kissing and- Oh, it's, it's incredible.
Robert Armstrong· Host1:19
[laughs] And, uh, I feel slightly like the ogre in the land of the elves. You know- [laughs] ... I consider myself a, a good dresser and a reasonably well-groomed man, but