It’s no secret that 2024 was a tough year for luxury brands across the globe, with a significant downturn resulting in no shortage of brands being sold, merged and otherwise managed to mitigate widespread losses. This was particularly true for the often fickle world of high-end fashion – and while many executives were keen to shrug off the tumultuous year as part of a cycle of boom and bust, one year of retrospect has allowed others to reassess the situation and suggest that the slowdown is structural, rather than cyclical.
This is significant for a number of different reasons. Firstly, acknowledging that there are potentially serious issues at the heart of the luxury fashion means accepting that mistakes have been made and problems have been allowed to fester. Secondly, it calls for a profound and necessary rethink of where the industry ges from heer.
Driving change for a new generation
Change doesn’t come easily to luxury brands, and not least to luxury fashion labels who often pride themselves on a sense of infallibility. However, for 2025 and beyond, adaptability and agility will need to come to the fore as a matter of survival, and strategic resilience is necessary in order to remain both future-proof and relevant to a new generation of consumers taking the reins.
Today, we’re diving into potential solutions for the luxury fashion industry, and how consumer choices and service professionals – including, but not limited to personal shoppers – can help drive positive change for the brands we wish to support.
Sustainability at the heart of haute couture
There’s been plenty of discussion in recent years about the re-emergence of haute couture; that rarefied approach to fashion which produces garments on demand and emphasizes the tailoring of unique and precious pieces. However, the sustainable credentials of haute couture (which is, by its very nature, one which reduces waste and insists on higher quality and often more sustainable raw materials) are often overlooked.
With personal shopping experiences and haute couture once more coming to the fore – and with a greater number of wealthy individuals than ever before seeking statement items and curated wardrobes – luxury fashion brands should consider re-owning the couture space, and leaning into the sustainable credentials that it brings. Sustainability and eco-conscious consumption is a subject close to the hearts of consumers, households and personal shoppers across the globe, and maximizing green credentials looks to be an essential way for brands to remain relevant to a new generation of customers.
We can expect to see brands shifting to a ‘made-to-order’ business model in the near future, and it’s something we should both celebrate and continue pushing for. Irresponsible production and consumption looks increasingly out of step with contemporary luxury lifestyles, and as such, also seems at odds with luxury brands’ commitment to authenticity and the utmost in quality and distinction.
Exceeding Gen-Z expectations
As Gen-Z rises to the forefront of the luxury fashion’s target audience, they’ll be bringing with them a new set of demands and expectations, each of which will help shape the future of the industry.
For those of us who have worked with HNW and UHNW consumers within this younger subset of society, much has already been discussed about how Gen-Z values experiential shopping and personalized consumer journeys. How this will translate to luxury fashion is yet to be fully manifest, but there’s little doubt that this generation will want to shape the industry and make it their own, and there are already signs regarding what brands must do to ensure they remain within Gen-Z’s sights.
Experiential and personalized shopping means eschewing the mass-produced and items intended for mass appeal. Luxury brands can approach this need in a number of different ways, but the most pressing (and that which ensures the most integrity and authenticity, both of which are factors which Gen-Z holds dear) involves returning authority to creatives and artistic directors. Luxury fashion, with the benefit of hindsight, has suffered as a result of giving too much decisive power to merchandisers in dictating and anticipating consumer trends. Brands should and must embrace inventiveness, distinctive styles and risk-taking for their higher-end lines. In doing so, they’ll be able to take Gen-Z consumers on a journey into bold new collections that push boundaries and usher in a distinct future.
Alongside this, Gen-Z consumers are likely to seek out brands that blur the lines between high fashion and more practical clothing choices. A shift in focus is required: luxury brands must break down the walls separating their more avant-garde (and let’s face, often unwearable) runway pieces from those intended for everyday wear. Once again, elements of haute couture should be embraced, and luxury fashion brands would do well to flex their creative muscle for a generation that craves the distinctive and the bespoke.
Taking back control
In recent years, it felt almost as if a fundamental aspect of fashion was slipping away: that great style should always speak for itself.
The over-reliance on logos does nothing but weaken brands over time (not to mention the glut of fakes and imitations that, at first glance at least, dilutes a luxury brand’s distinctive nature), and high-end labels need to wrestle back their own brand power in order to survive. Once again, it’s likely that Gen-Z will take on this particular charge: as a consumer group, they’re increasingly wary of displaying large labels about their person, preferring instead to seek out the unique and bespoke or unusual.
Brands like Hermès (at least, in their coveted line of handbags and accessories), Tom Ford and the British tailoring brand Dunhill are arguably strong examples in this regard. While often associated with a slightly older audience, each continues to defy expectations and attract new customer bases by maintaining a seemingly unstoppable air of exclusivity. Rarity and insisting upon the utmost quality remains at the heart of the brands’ MO, while also informing their subtle marketing efforts. The result is a consistent, generation-spanning desirability, embodying elegance, artistry and functionality – features that will never fall out of fashion.
A turning point for luxury fashion
2026 could prove to be a crucial year for luxury fashion labels, and time will tell which will weather various storms and which will continue to fall by the wayside.
Independent luxury brands and smaller labels will either succeed or fail upon their ability to highlight authenticity, show agility in the face of a new generation’s demands, and display proven sustainable credentials. The major players on the scene, however, need to continue working tirelessly to develop real and lasting strategic resilience rather than resting on their laurels and the successes of yesteryear.
