Transforming Luxury from The Business of Fashion

In 2021, in a special six-part series, BoF spoke to 22 pioneering thinkers from the worlds of business, technology and luxury, creative leaders and renowned ecologists, to investigate the forces driving transformative change in the $300 billion luxury goods market.  In this episode, Transforming Luxury's host Robin Mellery-Pratt shares the most actionable insights for the industry from the series, discussing its three salient themes: market disruption, shifting consumer sentiments and technological innovation — with BoF Content Strategist Alice Gividen.

Over the Transforming Luxury podcast series, as we discussed market dynamics, product strategies, customer experiences, emerging technologies, new retail channels and our imminent entry into the metaverse, the pressing need and increasing demand for systemic change to create a more sustainable industry was a consistent theme. In this final episode of Transforming Luxury, a special six-episode series presented by Klarna, we confront the distinct uncertainty and disruption facing the luxury industry and us all, as a result of the climate crisis. In 2020, BoF reported that the fashion industry's greenhouse gas emissions range from an estimated 4 percent to 10 percent of the global total. Without significant intervention, the industry will not align with global goals to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Failure to do so is predicted to have catastrophic consequences for civilisation, outlined in the UN's IPCC report 2021. However, if bold enough leadership is willing to reimagine how the industry operates, equipped with the deep pockets of market leaders and further enforcing the existing, rigorous quality controls already in place, luxury would be " uniquely positioned to transform itself,” as stated by SVP of supply chain innovation at the Savory Institute, Megan Meiklejohn. To hear more about the role sustainability must play throughout the luxury goods industry, BoF gathered four global authorities to discuss how luxury can become more responsible with host Robin Mellery-Pratt. Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

The metaverse — a term originally coined by the author Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi novel ‘Snow Crash' — is now widely used to describe how our physical realities will be augmented and overlaid by ambient and accessible digital experiences and services. Luxury's entrance into the metaverse was expedited by many brands' leverage of new technologies to speak to consumers when lockdowns removed physical interactions in bricks-and-mortar stores and in-person events. But the impact of virtual and augmented reality on consumer behaviour preceded 2020: Forbes reported in 2019 that 40 percent of consumers were willing to spend more on a product they can experience through augmented reality technology first. From stores that guide you from the street to luxury items designed exclusively for the smart glasses that every major tech platform is working on, the future of luxury is already here — it's just not evenly distributed.To discover what impact the metaverse will have on the future of the luxury goods industry, BoF spoke with four global experts to share their insights with host Robin Mellery-Pratt. Expert Commentators: Ommy Akhe is one of the breakout stars of this first generation of AR. The creative technologist specialises in augmented reality, making experiential software and AR prototypes through tools such as Facebook's Spark AR software.. Previously working as an ethical hacker in information security, the London-based developer has now created dozens of filters for platforms such as Instagram Stories and Facebook. “In the digital space, there's obviously a high profit margin because digital products are infinitely scalable. You write one programme or you have one object, and obviously this can be duplicated, whether it be a million times or one time.” Sergey Arkhangelskiy is the founder and CEO of Wanna AR solutions, having previously worked as a lead engineer in Google's search ranking team. Wanna has collaborated with the likes of Gucci, providing the technology behind their virtual try-ons and the creation of the brand's first virtual sneakers. “Digital fashion is for younger people, for Gen-Z, for millennials, for the people who are mobile, native or digital age [...] These people are critically important for those brands — this is the new generation of consumers, they're becoming the purchasing power.” Alissa Aulbekova and Paula Sello are co-founders and creative directors behind Auroboros, the first digital collection shown in London Fashion Week's DiscoveryLAB. Auroboros is also part of the Sarabande Foundation. Aulbekovas previously worked at Dazed magazine as a fashion stylist, while Sello held previous roles as an archive assistant at Chanel and at Vogue as a fashion stylist. “Since coming from this gaming generation, we're really understood drop culture and how these games are becoming so hyperreal. It's more a gamified experience [...] it's all blurring lines between digital fashion and what you wear on your social media.” Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

Today, the channels that consumers can now use to connect with brands to elicit a range of interactions have multiplied, dramatically. With major new platforms emerging all over the world, the retail networks utilised by luxury brands are evolving at an unprecedented pace to include a huge number of customer touch points — each a distinct opportunity for growth but requiring an idiosyncratic strategy for success. Due to mobile-commerce and social-commerce, when, how and why a consumer transacts with a brand has been reimagined entirely. The linear paths to purchase with which we are so familiar are being replaced by new conduits that combine digital content with customer-centric retail strategies to make transacting as engaging, enjoyable and instantaneous as possible. There is one region responsible for the lion's share of retail innovation: China. The engine of the luxury industry's growth for decades is now the epicentre of the most significant retail innovation in the market. From buy now, to swipe up, unboxing to bounce houses, KOLs, KOCs, shoppable video, live streaming, digital clienteling, resale sites, marketplaces, macro and micro influencers — luxury's retail channels have been reimagined at scale. Now, that innovation is beginning to shape global retail strategy. To discover what this means for the future of the luxury goods industry BoF assembled four global authorities to share their insights with host Robin Mellery-Pratt. Timothy Armoo is the CEO of Fanbytes, which supports social media creators to navigate success, while also guiding brands to reach younger audiences on emerging and existing platforms. Selected for Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021, Armoo was named by The Evening Standard as one of the most influential people in marketing and advertising. “When we advise our brands, the best way to go is, you say that you want to reach Gen-Z, but let's go a layer down. Let's go to a sub layer, and what niches — what core niches — are we actually trying to engage within that particular demographic? [...] Who exactly are we trying to engage?” Iris Chan is a partner at Digital Luxury Group, which assists global clients with their digital presence and activities in the Mainland China market. Chan has over 12 years of marketing experience in agencies and consultancies in North America and Asia Pacific markets, specialising in luxury consumer behaviour and working closely with brands including Richemont and Ralph Lauren. “Whether it be Weibo, Douyin, WeChat, TMall, Bilibili, any of these — and there's still so many more beyond that — a lot of it is interconnected: cross-platform inter connections and redirections, so consumers can have a very unique experience and brands can take them on different types of journeys.” Jerry Clode is the founder of The Solution Consultancy, which assists brands in navigating the Chinese market. The former head of digital and social insight at Shanghai's Resonance, Clode launched The Solution Consultancy to help brands understand the consumer mindset and markets of Asian and emerging markets, specifically in China and rapidly expanding digital culture. “Luxury consumption in China is inherently social. So, to have a relationship with a brand means knowing it to a level where I could confidently introduce it to my friends and to my wider group of contacts.” Patrice Nordey is managing partner of Fabernovel Asia — an agency that helps businesses expand into Asia and partner with the largest digital players in China, such as Alibaba. Nordey is an economist who specialises in disruptive innovation, new technologies and digital transformation, with 14 years' experience within the Chinese market. “A normal brand should deliver hundreds of videos per month to be able to sustain its presence and visibility. In this equation, content creators and KOLs, video streamers, become the key strategic partners for brands to convert users into customers.” Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

In recent decades, the race to attract and retain customers saw dizzying amounts of money spent on clienteling — the industry term for building a 1 on 1 relationship with customers. Today, for major players of scale with the resources to invest in it, successfully digitising personalised in store service, which generates much high conversion rates through recommendations and experience, is being looked to as a key driver of future competitive advantage. Indeed, the luxury service revolution is now rooted in creating a single customer view, enabling businesses to guide an individual consumer to the products and services it offers that match their specific needs. An opportunity that stems from significant shifts in generational attitudes towards data sharing and its use. To discover what this means for the future of the luxury goods industry, BoF spoke with three global authorities to share their insights. Sebastian Siemiatkowski is the CEO and co-founder of Klarna. In 15 years, Siemiatkowski has grown Klarna into one of Europe's largest financial institutions, which provides alternative payment services to over 90 million shoppers, partnering with over 250,000 retailers globally and its own direct-to-consumer shopping app. “The whole purpose of digitalisation is utilising data to create value. It's the information that allows us to create richer experiences. If you sit down and have a [...] conversation with a consumer and you say, ‘yes, you are in control of what data is being shared and you have full transparency, and if you then would be willing to share some specific aspects of your data in order to get a better experience, a better price, a better whatever it might be,' then the answer is always going to be yes.” Holli Rogers is chair of renowned concept store Browns and chief brand officer of its parent company, Farfetch. Rogers quadrupled Browns' business while CEO between 2015 and 2021. Previously, Rogers held roles at Chanel and Neiman Marcus before joining Net-a-Porter as a founding member in 2002. “In the past as everything has been separate and disparate in terms of the different technologies. When you speak to different businesses everyone talks about, ‘yeah, I've got a client telling app. We use WhatsApp.' But actually if you break it down, none of them are connected one to the other. So you don't get a single customer view. It's this idea of how do you pull all of these pieces together in one space, collecting all of these hundreds of data points that allow you to give the customer what they want when they want.” Melissa Morris is the founder and designer of Métier, an independent leather maison best known for its logo-free handbags, travel bags and accessories. Prior to launching Métier in 2017, Morris studied sculpture and business at Emory University before working for Armani, Helmut Lang and Belstaff. “The bespoke aspect of our business is such a great way for us to deepen our relationships with our clients and also get a really clear understanding of what's missing in the assortment and gives me a clear direction on what to make next. What I've found is when I've gotten one bespoke request, what's good for one is good for everyone. So a lot of our bespoke requests that I've been brought into the line have turned out to be big successes.” Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

In Episode 2 of Transforming Luxury, BoF's new podcast presented by Klarna, we investigate what will inform the luxury product mix of the future. Indeed, the definition of a luxury good has expanded dramatically in recent years to now include a host of disruptive new categories, from the luxury sneakerhead culture that dominated the past decade, to collectibles, curios, NFTs and even some mass produced products capturing attention in the luxury market. Evolving consumer sentiment is also increasingly influencing luxury's manufacturing process. Today, customers demand brands and businesses authentically represent global cultures in a way that serves the communities themselves and not the industry's shareholders. They also hold brands accountable for the impact of their supply chains and production processes. Yet, workers' rights was among the worst-performing categories in BoF's Sustainability Index. To discover what this means for the future of the luxury goods industry, BoF assembled four global authorities to share their insight. Aaron Levant is an entrepreneur working at the intersection of fashion, culture, events and media. Levant co-founded streetwear and music festival ComplexCon, and streetwear trade show Agenda Today, Levant is CEO of NTWRK, a mobile-first video shopping platform — backed by Drake and LeBron James — that hosts events and exclusive, limited-edition product drops available to purchase immediately within its app. “For the last hundred years, luxury was easily defined as European couture — fashion houses who own the luxury space — and now, seemingly newer brands not only create luxury in their own right, but then collaborate with true luxury brands. I think the definition around luxury is ever evolving as for who fits in that category.” Zerina Akers is an American fashion stylist and costume designer. She is the founder of the self-funded e-commerce site Black Owned Everything and has worked as Beyoncé Knowles Carter‘s stylist, as well as costume designing the 2020 visual album, Black Is King, for which she won an Emmy in 2021. “Generally, many of these companies have benefitted from rap culture and imagery that we've created for them. We've created so much marketing for these companies and I'm just hoping that there continues to be real, sustainable change for them in the way that they shine light on our community.” Bethany Williams is a UK-based menswear designer with a focus on affecting social change. She founded her namesake label in 2017, won the Queen Elizabeth II Award in 2019 and the British Fashion Council and British Vogue Designer Fashion Fund in 2021. “For me, luxury is about having a product that you don't feel guilty owning. Luxury is about beautiful craftsmanship and the slowing down of the manufacturing process, working with artisans and supporting local community projects.” Fewocious is the youngest artist ever to be featured by Christie's — and the first to crash its site. He is one of the most successful and visible members of a growing community of crypto artists finding success in the NFT market, launching a shoe collaboration with design studio RTFKT earlier this year, with more than 600 pairs selling out in seven minutes and netting around $3.1 million. “With the NFT space, art can move. You can interact with art. There's programmable art, you can programme layers so that someone can change how your art looks [...]. There's so much I probably don't even know about yet, just because you can kind of do anything and figure out a way to attach an NFT to it, which I think is so rad and the future.” Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

Critic Robin Givhan, analyst Luca Solca, author Dana Thomas and Métier founder Melissa Morris discuss how luxury became a winners-take-all market and how growing consumer scrutiny is driving change. BoF is investigating how market disruption, new technology and increasing consumer scrutiny are driving transformative change in the $300 billion luxury goods market, in an exclusive new podcast series presented by Klarna. As the extraordinary events of 2020 — from the global pandemic, lockdowns and economic downturns to the accelerating climate crisis and social justice movements — impacted the luxury industry, scale-driven advantages widened the performance gap between the industry's super winners and the rest of the market. In 2020, BoF reported that 75 percent of companies did not generate enough economic profit to cover the cost of their capital. Yet, the leading mega brands and conglomerates reported record sales. However, a growing dissonance is emerging between luxury's traditional values of scarcity and exclusivity, and the emergence of a more inclusive, egalitarian and sustainable global consumer culture, making the luxury industry vulnerable to shifting consumer sentiment. Today, businesses must respond to growing consumer scrutiny around the sociological and ecological impact of how they operate and what they produce. To discover what this means for the future of the luxury goods industry, BoF assembled four global authorities to share their insights. Robin Givhan is senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post, writing on race, politics and the arts. She was the first fashion writer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2006. Givhan's work has also appeared in New York Magazine and the New Yorker, among other publications. “So much of luxury is about being perceived as part of the ‘in' crowd, which underscores this idea that it's not for everyone. When that's the way that you run a business and the culture starts shifting around you — saying that everything should be open to everyone — then it runs contrary to your business practice.” Luca Solca is an investment research analyst and managing director of luxury goods at Sanford C. Bernstein. Formerly a partner of the Boston Consulting Group, Solca has more than 25 years' experience in luxury goods and is a regular BoF contributor. “The number of fronts that luxury goods brands need to manage has continued to explode. The digital revolution has brought so many new things that brands need to invest in. You have brands that make more than €10 billion of revenue per year and invest mid-to-high single digits in communication. That creates a huge amount of fire power. Bigger brands clearly have a scale advantage.” Melissa Morris is the founder and designer of Métier, an independent leather maison best known for its logo-free handbags, travel bags and accessories. Prior to launching Métier in 2017, Morris studied sculpture and business at Emory University before working for Armani, Helmut Lang and Belstaff. “The pace of the industry is getting faster and faster, it's impossible to keep up. And it's impossible to create products that are as perfect as they need to be in the luxury world. From my experience working in luxury brands, you're constantly chasing from a development and production perspective, but also from a design perspective. You can't have the time to properly think things through. That then erodes quality, which is vital.” Dana Thomas is the author of “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes” and the New York Times bestseller “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre.” Thomas is an award-winning journalist covering fashion and culture, she is a regular contributor to The New York Times' Style section and Vogue. “I don't think it's greenwashing. They actually believe what they say, but to do it is another thing. It's a long-term investment and these companies, because they're so wedded to their quarterly returns and their stock market prices, they're afraid to make those long-term investments. It takes a lot of courage and you have to take it on the chin initially in order to make it pay off in the long term.” Follow the series to ensure you never miss an episode and discover actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges a redefined industry will bring and how luxury's transformation will impact your business. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.

BoF speaks to 22 pioneering thinkers from the worlds of business, technology and luxury, creative leaders and renowned ecologists, to investigate the forces driving transformative change in the $300 billion luxury goods market over a special six-part series, presented in partnership with Klarna. The series explores the future of the luxury industry, from what really drives success today to the changing definition of luxury products and the evolution of luxury customer service and shopping channels, as well as the next generation of technological innovations and the pressing need for systemic change to create a more sustainable industry.  The Transforming Luxury Podcast launches on 13th September. Subscribe now to never miss an episode. Sign up for BoF's Daily Digest newsletter. For comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail: podcast@businessoffashion.com. For all sponsorship enquiries, it's: advertising@businessoffashion.com.