What’s Wrong with Luxury Fashion and How to Fix It

TL;DR: Insights on luxury fashion, backed by years of observation of the field.

Luxury fashion is losing consumer trust because prices have risen while quality, craftsmanship, exclusivity and customer experience are perceived to have declined. Overproduction, constant creative-director changes, indiscriminate influencer marketing and trend-chasing have further diluted brand identity and made luxury feel increasingly mass-market.

To rebuild relevance, luxury brands need to return to the human and cultural foundations of luxury: exceptional quality, visible craftsmanship, transparency, distinctive storytelling, selective influence and personalised experiences before, during and after purchase. They must also understand a changing generation of Very Important Customers, including younger inherited-wealth consumers and new wealth created through technology, investment and entrepreneurship.

Drawing on ethnographic and netnographic research with luxury consumers and Cultural Opinion Leaders, this article explains what is going wrong, why it matters and what luxury brands should do next.