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The future of fashion and luxury

Trends reshaping the consumer landscape

In today’s dynamic consumer landscape, even well-established fashion and luxury brands are having to adapt to stay relevant. Learn more about major forces shaping the future of fashion and explore six key imperatives companies will need to address to shift how they operate to drive sustained growth.

Future of Fashion & luxury
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Remaining relevant in the fashion and luxury industry

Fashion and luxury brands exemplify timeless design and aesthetics. Beyond their visible symbolic value, there’s the emotional appeal that sustains relationships to the brand—sometimes across generations. But in today’s rapidly changing consumer landscape, even well-established brands have to adapt the formula to remain relevant.

Distinct purposes at play—preserving heritage and brand appeal on one side, encouraging renewal and rejuvenation on the other—can pose a meaningful challenge to fashion and luxury. There is an ever-growing list of competing brands, purchasing channels, service models, and platforms. There are new ways to build relationships with consumers. Algorithms populate our screens with style suggestions and recommendations. And increasingly, influence has become a dialogue driven by content creators—amplifying trends around the globe at breakneck speeds. With these conditions on the rise, fashion and luxury brands must balance the need for immediate action with longer-term business model choices and ways of operating to engender future success. 

Trends behind the need to adapt

The fashion and luxury industry must now contend with a mosaic of micro markets, each influenced and inspired in different ways. Driven by forces such as growing income inequality and the democratizing influence of technology, the industry is faced with a splintering of consumer segments—each with its own distinct set of values, identity, and purchasing behaviors.

Refashioned dress codes have transformed every imaginable setting, from the workplace to the airport lounge. The once-rigid boundaries that defined categories and occasions are giving way to a more fluid approach to self-expression and lifestyle. The challenge for brands is to navigate this marketplace fluidity—to be faster to set trend while staying true to craft and quality.

The traditional centers of fashion and luxury are facing a formidable challenge: the rise of emerging micro markets with their own distinct aesthetic preferences and influences. As regions like India, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa gain economic prominence, their impact on global fashion and luxury is becoming undeniable.

Today’s fashion and luxury trends emerge from a diverse, dynamic ecosystem of influence. These influencers amplify their reach through the fast-paced world of digital platforms that go viral, shaping style in real time. The potential impact? A whirlwind of niche aesthetics and rapidly evolving fashion cycles that redefine traditional business practices, from seasonality to demand generation to distribution.

Digital innovation is reshaping every aspect of the fashion and luxury value chain. The identification of predictive signals and advancements in automation will dramatically improve the efficiency and accuracy of business operations, from product design to planning to logistics and delivery.

As climate impact becomes more evident, brands should consider sustainability an intrinsic part of their identity. And the reasoning is clear: Consumers are increasingly demanding transparency and accountability.

Strategic imperatives for a complex future

Companies are far from powerless against the forces shaping the future of fashion and luxury. While leaders should manage operations on a quarterly basis, they should also prepare for a longer horizon. We have identified a set of strategic imperatives fashion and luxury executives need to understand to position their company for competitive advantage in a new and more complex future:

  • Curate iconic lifestyle experiences across the life cycle
  • Unlock new growth horizons
  • Move at the speed of culture
  • Optimize across human and machine
  • Lead a movement of purpose-driven fashion
  • Fuel breakthrough precision and efficiency

Fashion and luxury companies put society’s collective expression, creativity, and values on display. As the industry moves into the future, leaders should embrace new ways of operating to continue to inspire and grow fashion and luxury consumers around the world.

Download our full report to learn how the fashion and luxury industry can create a prosperous future for its employees, customers, society, and the planet.

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