Transcription
Do you know luxury um fatigue is everywhere at the moment, and the thing is, most of the most of the discussion misunderstands what it actually is. You know, people aren't losing interest in luxury itself. They're losing interest in the behavior around it because too many brands are acting like visibility is the point. You know, there's overproduction, constant novelty, endless campaigns, and this obsession with staying present all of the time. I mean, you see it all over social media, don't you? You see, you know, you see this, it's everywhere.
And I think the signals that once meant this is rare is now routine. And [clears throat] the thing is, when when scarcity disappears, pricing power and desirability disappear with it. True. Yeah. In my opinion, anyway, because, you know, luxury is always dependent on discipline and scarcity and anticipation. And I think the moment those signals weaken, then this is when the fatigue appears. Yes, absolutely. I hear that sort of um withdrawal all the time. People set back when something starts demanding too much attention, right? They disengage. So, not because they don't want the thing, absolutely [clears throat] nothing to do with that, but because it feels kind of overwhelming and forced, right?
Well, this is exactly it. And I I think that's the mistake that the luxury sector keeps making. The the appetite for luxury itself hasn't dropped. If anything, it's increased. But the the appetite for imitation luxury has dropped, you know, and you've got Hermes and Patek Philippe and and and these brands, and they avoid luxury fatigue because they don't behave like they're in a competition with anyone. [laughter] They don't chase the attention. They don't chase the customers. They understand that behavior creates desire. Whereas smaller brands look at these external behaviors and copy them without the foundations behind it, and the result is just noise rather than value.
It's so true, cuz I see that pattern um outside luxury as well. You know, when something stops kind of feeling, I suppose, meaningful, people stop investing in it emotionally, and that motivation, it shifts completely. It does shift. Yeah. Because luxury isn't just a c a category, you know, it's a behavior, and when that behavior becomes completely insecure, which is what's happening right now, the client loses confidence. So the sector has trained the clients almost to to expect constant novelty. So we've created this world where brands panic if they aren't releasing something new every quarter or every month. And when everything is new all the time, nothing feels rare. And I I think that's probably the root of luxury fatigue. Not not boredom with luxury, but boredom with the performance of luxury.
Abs. Yes. And I mean, there's something predictable about the reaction. You know, people used to enjoy waiting, right? They enjoyed anticipation. It's half of the like >> the excitement, or it used to be, and if everything arrives instantly, there's nothing left that kind of feels >> worth waiting for, right? There's >> I agree. Yeah. >> No, I agree with that. You know, waiting, if done properly, not because it's delayed or stuff, you know, if done properly, waiting is kind of a luxury experience in and of itself >> to a degree because, you know, you know that the I'm talking about things like a waiting list or um a private appointment, you know, or you know, a made-to-measure suit, for example, where you're not rushed and, you know, it isn't designed for everyone. That creates meaning. I keep thinking that the industry has spent the the last decade trying to remove friction, which is good, but sometimes friction has friction has value, and now we're seeing the consequence of that. The sector has become addicted to short-term attention.
Right? The problem is the client hasn't become addicted to this. You know, the client still wants certainty. They want reassurance. They want excellence, and they want rarity, whether we like it or not, and they just don't want to be treated like the mass marketer, and that's that's what we're doing in a lot of cases. Yeah, absolutely. There's something about that thing of um, you know, when you put your name down for something or you order something, and then they send you updates of where it is in production, or and there's some that it's just wonderful because >> it's creating this anticipation, >> right? It's hooking you in, but oh, it's delayed. It's not the thing. That's awful. And I think the point is really that people aren't tired of luxury. They're tired of being constantly sold to because when that happens, they, you know, will just protect themselves by pulling away because it's Yeah. Why would you want to be?
Oh, I would agree with that because, you know, the it's not the client saying, "I don't want luxury anymore." It's the client saying, "I actually want luxury to behave like luxury." Yes. Absolutely. Um, you know, it's like it's it's basically act your age. It's not your shoe size. Exactly. Unless you're [laughter] cute size seven, and then Yeah. Thank you. And then you're fine. Exactly. I think the biggest misunderstanding [snorts] is is is this assumption that consumers have become fickle or disloyal. They haven't. They've actually become just more selective. You know, brand loyalty hasn't disappeared, but it has become conditional. You know, Chanel can raise prices again, again, again because their signals remain very much intact, and the client still believes in the value. Whereas a newer brand can't behave that way because the signals just aren't strong enough, right?
And I think you kind of see it then as a loss of consistency, don't you? You know, when something doesn't align with what people believed it was, that the feeling changes, doesn't it? The the the thing is that if you are asking something to behave as luxury and it isn't, you're just going to detach. You're not going to >> You are going to detach for sure. And and that emotional shift has huge commercial consequences in terms of money and sales and stuff. So when the fatigue sets in, the client the client doesn't complain per se. They just stop buying or they buy differently, you know? So they delay purchases. You see this with mobile phones. You see people saying >> that's the new one, but I'll wait for the next one. Oh, this is me. That's me. Too many coming out, you know. So they move their spend >> and they move towards brands that deliver the value that they're looking for, you know, and I think that many of the leaders within luxury think that they're dealing with soft demand, but actually what they're actually dealing with is is a trust problem, I think.
Yeah, absolutely. I Yes, I I hear that constantly, not about necessarily uh luxury specifically, but about overwhelm. You know, people talk a lot about becoming numb. This happens very quickly and easy because they don't easily rather they they don't have the energy to filter everything that they're offered. You know, that saturation, it's too much. It is too much. And I think the industry's instinct is always to solve that particular issue with more communication, more touch points, more storytelling. But I mean I I think when we're talking about luxury fatigue, it's not solved by more noise. Quite the opposite, actually. It's solved by restraint.
You know the most >> the thing is my father used to say, you know, if you have to talk about power, you don't have it, and I think it's the same where that's concerned, you know. And the most powerful brands are the ones that don't panic. You know, look at PC, look at Hermes, look at even the Savile Row houses that deliberately move slowly. I know it doesn't take four, five months to make a suit. That's ludicrous, but they still tell you that this is what it's going to take as opposed to give the impression that, you know, it's >> it's thoughtful and stuff like that. Sitting there going like this. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's that's that's not the case anymore. But, [laughter] you know, we still want to imagine that. So they do less and they communicate less because sometimes silence really is golden, you know. They're they're they're predictable, I suppose, in the best possible sense >> and clients respond to that.
I >> Yeah, because well, yes, of course they do because it comes across as confident. You know, people >> people trust the science as long as it's not stonewalling because there's a big difference, right? There's a difference. Being fobbed off and ignored is not what we're talking about, is it? No. No. No. No. But [clears throat] silence is confident, and it's secure, and it's not needing to explain, and they just don't need convincing, do they?
But no, this is it. And I I think that silence is the signal, you know, the it's and it's not the silence that you know makes you feel ignored. I suppose it's the absence of noise, which is the authority. Yes, that's it. Exactly. Yes, because you know too many brands have confused visibility with desirability, and they're not the same thing. You know, they think attention is the metric, and the thing is, it never was. The real metric in luxury has always been confidence, and it still is. You know, does the brand look secure enough to say no? Do they look secure enough to delay a launch or to hold the line on price? Because a lot of people panic. So they put their prices up. Yes. They think people are being resistant. They panic and they [clears throat] lower the price. Now I can't trust you. I can't trust your price anymore. You know, so and you know, it's also, you know, these these collaborations for collaboration's sake, you know, are you confident enough not to do collaborations simply because everybody else is doing?
Oh, that is such a great point. That idea that you could walk away, you know, you're not doing it just for the sake of it, so important because it is a different sort of relationship entirely. It is. Yeah. Right. When you when you're approaching in that way, it just feels grounded rather than reactive. I agree with that. And I think, you know, I think luxury fatigue tells us as an industry, as a sector, that the sector has almost forgotten that luxury isn't always a performance. It's an attitude. It's the ability to refuse urgency. And this is where entrepreneurs um who are entering the industry and smaller brands actually have an advantage cuz they don't have the same shareholder pressure that the bigger brands do. They don't need to chase scale at the cost of identity. So they can build slowly and they can build depth. And the thing is, depth is becoming more and more rare, really. [clears throat] And you're right, because actually those small brands too have scarcity already built in. Already built in. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Because Yeah. They can't make on the same scale, can they?
This is it. They just can't, you know, instead of apologizing for that. Utilize it. Yeah. Right. You know, going back to that thing about depth is rare these days. You know, people really feel that, don't they? Because it really changes how they respond as well. Yeah. It it really does because I think the future of luxury is simple. You know, the sector will divide eventually into two types of brands. Those who react to fatigue by adding more noise, which is the wrong thing to do, but that's what we're actually seeing. And you know, those brands who return to the fundamentals, and they're the they're the group that's going to win because luxury hasn't changed. Only the behavior around it has changed, you know. And I think the client, regardless of what generation the client comes from, even the newest, youngest generation coming up, they haven't stopped wanting excellence, they're just rejecting, I suppose, the counterfeit version of it, right? So the really it's um the reaction to overexposure rather than the loss of desire.
Then >> but this is the thing I mean you know you know when you see a celebrity all over the place on you know on every show, every magazine, every newspaper, every website >> this overexposure becomes too much, you know, right? Um, and it is too much, and >> and the tide turns, doesn't it? >> And the tide really does turn. Like it syndrome thing happens, is it? You know? And I I I I think, to be honest, the the message for luxury companies, big and small, is is really pretty clear. Behave like luxury. Stop behaving like the mass market. You're not the mass market. Right? You know, exactly. Anyway, that's my rant over. I thought I would have a little rant and get a very important rant. So, [laughter] thank you. Love a rant. [gasps]