There was a lot going on on Friday afternoon last week in this jewelry store on one of the luxury miles in Germany.

On the day after Vladimir Putin invaded the Ukraine, a Russian-speaking customer has bracelets put on here and a saleswoman explains in Russian.

It has long been customary in luxury boutiques in Germany for customers to be served in their national language, provided it is Russian or Chinese.

There seems to be a need.

Jennifer Wiebking

Editor in the "Life" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The majority of the Russian population may not have felt the fall of the ruble for just a week.

A small minority continues to shop anyway.

In this jewelery shop in Germany, someone calls out a number from somewhere: 9,000 euros.

Few people can afford that.

What if some of these few are now in Russia?

How dependent is luxury on Russia?

The figures show: others are important

According to figures from the consulting firm Bain, Russia accounts for two to three percent of the luxury goods market.

That is not much.

The two big ones are North and South America, with a share of 31 percent, and China, with 21 percent.

In the early 1900s, some designers still aesthetically followed the opulent style of the Russians with whole collections of dyed furs.

In 2014, the then Escada boss Bruno Sälzer said in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" about the economic consequences of the annexation of Crimea that sanctions "would be a drama".

That's how it happened: Escada is history today.

Not much more than donations

The first reactions of fashion brands to the war in Ukraine in the past few days show how important a few percent still have - or goods worth around one billion euros that, according to the Italian Fashion Chamber, go from there to Russia every year: The FC Schalke 04 kicked out its sponsor Gazprom.

The list of companies in other industries that are pausing their business with Russia is getting longer and longer.

So far, the large luxury groups – LVMH (Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine), Kering (Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent) and Only The Brave (Diesel, Marni, Jil Sander) have only received donations and support for people fleeing.

That's not much when business for the same stores has been so lucrative in Russia over the past decade that many have switched from franchise concepts to independently operating stores.

That's another reason why it would be less complicated to say stop.

That's what discounters like H&M and Mango do, for example.

Or the online retailers Net-a-porter and Asos.

However, FedEx, UPS and DHL are currently not delivering any packages at all.

The real confessions are missing so far

When it comes to popular statements of a semi-political, semi-societal nature, luxury fashion is often at the forefront: sewed pussy hats for the “MeToo” movement six years ago, posted black boxes on Instagram for the Black Lives Matter movement two years ago.

Kering also shared a dove of peace on his Instagram account on Thursday, February 24th.

Giorgio Armani made a mark by omitting the music for his show in Milan.

Store closures would send a clearer signal and actually be in line with the fundamentally Western spirit that these establishments have been conveying through their marketing for decades.

But when it comes to money, as can be seen after a week of war, the commitments that could make a bigger difference are still missing.