Louis Vuitton, the French maker of laminated canvas handbags, was named the world’s most valuable luxury brand for a seventh consecutive year.

The brand, owned by LVMH, is worth $25.9 billion, a 7 percent increase from 2011, according to Millward Brown Optimor’s 2012 BrandZ study.

Hermes, in which LVMH owns a stake, rose to second place with a value of $19.1 billion, up 61 percent on last year. Rolex, the closely-held Swiss watch brand, was ranked third at $7.17 billion, a 36 percent gain.

It’s meant to bring riches and power befitting an emperor, but if Western luxury brands have their way the Year of the Dragon will cost their wealthy Chinese customers a fortune instead.

Monday is the start of the Year of the Dragon, the most favourable and revered sign in the 12-year Chinese zodiac.

The dragon is a traditional Chinese symbol of royalty, fortune and power, and the Year of the Dragon usually sees a spike in marriages and births.

Heritage French and Italian fashion brands make up a list of the world’s most valuable labels following a compilation by the World Luxury Association (WLA).

The World’s Most Valuable Luxury Brands Top 100 provides rankings in areas including yachts, cars and resorts, although a large focus is on the fashion arena.

The Top 100 is based on luxury brands’ influence on a global scale and they take into account factors such as market share and consumer feedback.

Mainland luxury Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly open to shopping for, and finding information about, luxury brands online with news portals.

Weibo is one of the most popular sources for information, according to the results of a survey released November 28 by PR group Ruder Finn Asia.

The survey was conducted among 1057 Mainland Chinese luxury shoppers by Ruder Finn Asia as part of its China Luxury Forecast.

The luxury sector is set to post double-digit growth this year to 191 billion euros driven by the appetite of Chinese consumers for top-quality goods, according to a study by Bain & Company released on Monday.

While “the global economic situation is difficult” the luxury sector “is in good health and is growing above all in Asian markets,” said Santo Versace, head of the Italian fashion house and the Altagamma Foundation of Italian luxury companies.

The growth forecast was revised up to 10 percent from 8 percent, but still falls short of the 13-percent growth the sector recorded last year.

L2, a company that conducts research on digital business innovation, has released a study on the most web-savvy designers.

Burberry, which this week reported a 30-percent revenue rise for the first half of the financial year mainly due to a boom in the Chinese market, came out on top — “proof that digital investments translate to shareholder value,” according to L2.

Judging from its analysis, it is safe to say that those brands that connected the dots between social media and e-commerce fared best in the ranking.