From Logo to Longevity: How Generations Are Changing Luxury Everywhere

From Logo to Longevity: How Generations Are Changing Luxury Everywhere

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Luxury is in transformation. Once defined by logos, opulence and conspicuousness, it is now being reimagined by a rising generation of consumers who value sustainability, quality, and experience over mere status. Across continents from Asia to Europe, the Americas to the Middle East luxury brands are confronting shifting expectations, economic pressures, and new definitions of what it means to be “luxury” in the 2020s.

Global Luxury’s Plateau and the Rise of Experience

According to Bain & Company’s Luxury Report 2024, the global market for personal luxury goods that is, items like apparel, accessories, watches, jewellery experienced its first major contraction in real terms (excluding COVID-19 effects) in fifteen years, declining about 2% at current exchange rates versus 2023.  Meanwhile, the overall luxury market (goods + experiences) remained near €1.48 trillion in 2024, essentially flat year-on-year at constant exchange rates.

What is growing more clearly is the experiential side of luxury: luxury cars, hospitality, fine dining, travel, art experiences. These segments are increasing faster than the more traditional luxury goods. People are now often willing to spend less on objects, and more on memories, wellness, environmental quality of experience.

Generational Shifts: What Younger Consumers Now Demand

Gen Z and Millennials are no longer satisfied with luxury simply as a symbol. Their priorities emphasize:

• Quality and durability: A majority want products that last. A survey by Tink found that 73% of Millennials and 64% of Gen Zers want to invest more in long-lasting quality.

• Ethical production and sustainability: Many are willing to pay more for items that are ethically made. In the same Tink research, it was 63% for Gen Z and 62% for Millennials.

• Transparency and reputation: Trust in brand, clarity about sourcing, environmental impact these matter. Younger consumers increasingly factor them into purchasing decisions.

• Experiential and emotional connection: Luxury is defined more by story, authenticity, and experience. Gen Z sees luxury as immersive and emotionally resonant, not just material.

These generational consumers also navigate economic realities: inflation, global uncertainty, rising costs of living. Aspirational buyers the middle-class segment that once aspired to luxury goods are scaling back. Bain estimated in 2024 that some 50 million luxury consumers globally have “dropped out” of the market, or made fewer purchases, partly because of price elevation.

Channels, Digital Influence, and Distribution

The manner in which luxury goods are bought is evolving too:

• Physical retail is under pressure: Store traffic is down in many markets. Brands are rethinking their store footprint, pushing fewer but more experiential boutique spaces.

• Online and digital touchpoints dominate: Online sales of personal luxury goods are rising sharply. While the percentage of luxury sales directly made online is still not dominant everywhere, nearly all luxury purchases are influenced by digital channels. According to McKinsey, about 80% of luxury purchase decisions globally involve at least one digital touchpoint.

• Secondhand / recommerce is growing: Many consumers, especially younger ones, are entering the luxury world via pre-owned items. Branded recommerce (i.e. buying pre-owned products through the brand itself or with its approval) helps address sustainability concerns and stretches value.

What Luxury Means Now: Redefined Values

Putting it all together: the definition of luxury is shifting. Key attributes of what luxury means today include:

1. Longevity over flash items that endure, craftsmanship, materials, usefulness over trends.

2. Purpose over prestige environmental and social responsibility, transparency, ethical labour, sustainable sourcing are no longer optional, especially for younger customers.

3. Authenticity and narrative heritage, storytelling, provenance, emotional resonance, brand identity grounded in real values.

4. Experience over ownership whether in-store experiences, immersive pop-ups, personalization or customer service, experiential differentiators matter.

5. More inclusive exclusivity there are two types of luxury now: ultra-exclusive goods for high net worth individuals (VICs), and more accessible “entry-luxury” items that still meet expectations for quality and ethics. Many brands are trying to serve both segments. However, aspirational buyers are more price-sensitive.

Tensions and Challenges

Even as brands try to adapt, there are tensions:

• Value versus price: Many consumers feel prices have risen faster than true value. Especially in goods categories, inflation and costs are passed on, but customers expect more visible improvements (design, durability, service).

• Exclusivity vs. accessibility trade-offs: If you offer more accessible luxury, how do you maintain aura? If you raise prices too much, you risk losing middle segment consumers.

• Authenticity vs marketing hype: Claims of sustainability or ethics are scrutinized. Greenwashing risks brand damage. Consumers want proof.

• Digital fatigue and overload: While digital influence is pervasive, customers skeptical of over-commercialization, or of losing the “luxe feel” when too many touchpoints are online. Brands must balance tech with human touch.

Markets & Regional Nuances

While the trends are global, there are regional differences in how these shifts play out:

• In Asia, especially China, Southeast Asia, and parts of South Asia, younger consumers still show strong growth in luxury demand, embracing both quality and status, but increasingly also purpose. E-commerce here is especially strong.

• In Europe and North America, consumers are more mature markets; middle-class buyers are under pressure from inflation. Luxury is more often redefined as “silent luxury” less flashy, more subtle, more about material and ethics. Customer base is shrinking in some goods categories.

• In Middle East and Latin America, high net worth segments continue to spend, especially on experiences, travel, fine dining, and prestige goods. But even here, younger wealth holders are asking more questions about ethics and long-term value.

What Brands Are Doing to Adapt

To respond, luxury brands worldwide are deploying a range of strategies:

• Limited editions, personalization, bespoke service: making the purchase experience feel unique, special.

• Enhancing supply chain transparency and sustainability: certifying materials, showing provenance, adopting circular models (repair, resale, rental).

• Curating experiential retail: fewer generic shops, more immersive boutiques, flagship stores that offer theatre, craftsmanship, brand story.

• Integrating digital and physical: omnichannel strategies, digital content, virtual try-ons, augmented reality, livestreaming, personalized online service.

• Adjusting price architecture: offering “entry luxury” smaller items, accessories, more accessible lines while preserving prestige lines. Also more off-price/outlet/duty-free/offline clearance options for certain segments.

Looking Ahead: What to Watch

• Will personal luxury goods continue to decline or plateau? Or will the push for quality, durability, and sustainability reinvigorate demand if brands show value that aligns with new expectations?

• How much will experiences continue to grow relative to goods? Will luxury travel, fine dining, wellness spas, immersive brand experiences become dominant?

• How will Gen Z’s definition of luxury evolve as their spending power increases? They are the ones setting new norms, not just for younger buyers, but for entire luxury ecosystems.

• Will regulatory pressure, environmental policy, social activism force deeper shifts (in materials, production, sourcing, waste)?

• Will recommerce, resale, and circular business models go from niche to mainstream in luxury? And how will that affect the value proposition of buying new?

Luxury is no longer anchored in logos and loud display. Across the world, generational change is ushering in an era where longevity, ethics, quality, and experience matter more than prestige alone. Brands that want to thrive must shift from selling products to telling stories, from conspicuousness to consistency, and from mass reach to meaningful resonance. From logo to longevity is not just a slogan it’s becoming luxury’s defining paradigm.

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