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- Charlie Munger avoids fashion stocks like Nike, but he'd invest in Hermès at a compelling price.
- The French luxury label has a trusted brand built over centuries, Warren Buffett's sidekick said.
- Munger touted the immense value of brand names in terms of pricing power and customer loyalty.
Charlie Munger isn't a fan of fashion retail, but there's one luxury stock he'd own at the right price.
"Of course I've looked at it, but I don't like style companies," he told the Acquired podcast about Nike in a rare, in-depth interview released this week.
"I suppose if you offered me Hermès at a cheap enough price I'd buy it, but short of that, I'm not going to buy any style company."
Munger, Warren Buffett's right-hand man and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman, underscored how tough it is to build and maintain a durable brand in the fashion industry, where tastes change quickly.
"It's not a bit easy," he said about Hermès, a nearly 200-year-old French label known for its iconic Birkin bag and silk ties and scarves. "They have meetings every day where they make policy decisions, and they choose the locations one at a time. It's work."
"They've just got a brand people trust so much," Munger said about the leather-goods specialist and one of its biggest rivals, LVMH. "It took them centuries to do it."
The 99-year-old investor later hailed Hermès as a "great company," and advised his fellow stock pickers against even trying to find a business of such quality.
"I think your chances of buying one of them is so low, I wouldn't even look," he said. "I only believe in looking for things that I might find. You're not going to get a chance to buy Hermès. You're wasting your time."
Munger also spoke more broadly about the value of a strong name in business.
"It's hard for us not to love brands," he said, pointing to Berkshire-owned See's Candies as a good example. The boxed-chocolate retailer has raised its prices every year since Berkshire acquired it in 1972, but "nobody cared" because they loved its confectionery so much, Munger said.
Buffett's business partner also touched on Kraft Heinz, which counts Berkshire as its biggest shareholder with a nearly 27% stake. Munger noted that Heinz can raise prices without facing backlash, whereas Kraft can't hike them without triggering a customer revolt and an exodus to rival brands. He suggested Heinz fans get attached to their favorite sauces, whereas Kraft buyers don't really care where their cheese is from.
Grocery-store products may command some customer loyalty and pricing power, but the most elite luxury labels take those benefits to a whole other level.
"Kirkland is a brand the way Tide is a brand, and Hermès is a different kind of a brand," Munger said.