Interbrand is a well-respected researcher, particularly when it comes to brands and the art of branding. In other words, they tell use who is tops in brands and brands use them to help establish their next moves, strategically and marketing-wise.

Louis Vuitton ranked top fashion luxury brand

Each year, Interbrand issues a list of the top brands, which this year includes 14 luxury brands. As Interbrand's Jez Frampton says, "The large number of new-wealth customers are chasing luxury brands," which means those brands have to work harder than ever to put themselves in a position to get a piece of the Nouveau riche pie.

The top luxury brand for this year on the Top 100 list was Louis Vuitton, who checked in at number 17 overall. Not too shabby, and not very surprising, either. Next on the list was Gucci, checking in at number 46 overall. Following up these two on the luxury end: Chanel at 58, Rolex at 71 and Hermes at 78.

In case you were wondering, number one overall was Coca-Cola. Microsoft, IBM, General Electric and Nokia rounded out the top five. When you consider how much each of these contributes to our world, the fact that LV is in the top 20 is quite impressive to us. Of course, who could be surprised when they put out such beauty as this:

[Download full report via Interbrand]