For the first time since the Great Recession in 2008, the luxury brand market has been experiencing a steady decline. According to a study by Forbes, designer brands have lost around 50 million consumers and sales have dropped about 2% over the past two years.
To be considered a luxury brand, a company’s products must be of high quality, precisely made and highly priced. Often, they are handmade and exclusive, reserved for those willing to pay large sums of money for expertly crafted pieces.
“I would say Hermés [is a good example of a luxury brand] because they have very exclusive customers and they have exquisite materials,” said senior Mana Ueno. “[Like] croc leather, for example, that’s very hard to source, so not every brand in the world can have that. Or maybe Cartier because they have a long history as a brand and they have nice materials and are very exclusive.”
It’s also worth noting that even within luxury brands, there are staggering differences in the availability of products.
“When it comes to luxury, people look for exclusivity,” Ueno said. “For example, people wait 10+ years for a [Hermés] Birkin bag and wait to be on their customer list and be a VIP client. Whereas, you can just walk into a Louis Vuitton store and just buy their most basic logo bag. So people want more than just a shelf bag.”
Despite the overall popularity of these designer brands, a decline has appeared nonetheless, which can be traced back to a variety of sources.
Some believe this is due to an increase in a brand’s desire for wealth.
“The quality of luxury goods is hit or miss,” said senior Jaelah Miller. “Luxury brands are more so selling [for] cash grabs now … I noticed there’s a lot of decrease in runway shows and [brands] using fashion as art, and there’s definitely an obvious decrease in quality in luxury brands.”
Others source it to cheap material usage and a decline in craftsmanship as well.
“[Quality] is definitely going [down],” Ueno said. “For example, the Chanel bags, their quality is declining every day because … they’re using cheaper leather and they’re not even using real gold anymore, but they’re charging double the amount they did in the 90s. The quality and the price just doesn’t correlate much anymore and people are not buying into that.”
Moreover, it’s evident that dupes, or cheap copies of expensive items, are contributing to the downfall of luxury.
“Although luxury is becoming a little more inclusive to lower tier customers, people just don’t go and buy the real things anymore because they can access dupes so quickly,” Ueno said. “Now, everyone can go online and buy off a dupe and that’s shifting customers away from the exclusivity of luxury products.”
Similarly, simply thrifting for clothes has increased in popularity as well, opening the market to a wider variety of consumers and eliminating the exclusivity aspect of luxury.
“A lot of people are tapping into the idea of thrifting,” Miller said. “I feel like consignment stores are really big right now … they take items, they either revamp them or resell them. They spin off the designs that designer brands have, which makes it more accessible to everyone else, because that idea of people being excluded [due to luxury superiority], it’s honestly disgusting.”
Moreover, the influence of popular culture figures also impact the perspective of customers.
“A lot of consumers, they’re seeing these alternatives to these cool [luxury] clothes that are trending,” Miller said. “I also see a lot of people in the media, like influencers, movie stars, are not really feeding into these brands anymore. Trends come and go, but I definitely think it is a change in mindset [for consumers].”
Despite this overall loss in popularity, it can still be worth it to buy a luxury item.
“It’s justifiable to purchase a luxury item if it’s something you’ve been wanting, but [sometimes] it gets down to ‘I love this [item] because of the name,’” Miller said. “I see some really ugly shirts, but they’re Louis Vuitton, so people buy them, or recently, Gucci was selling these jeans: they’re normal jeans, but they come with dirt stains on them. I thought they were satire, they’re an actual product they’re selling. So honestly, [luxury goods are] worth it if you really like [them], it’s not when you [want them] for any other reason.”
As the luxury market shifts, it’s clear that changing consumer priorities, declining craftsmanship, and the rise of affordable alternatives are reshaping the industry. Whether luxury brands can adapt to these evolving expectations will determine their place in the future of fashion.
