Skywire

  There has been no shortage of evidence lately of the nearly three-year “time of plenty” for luxury brands having firmly come to an end. While 2023 proved a record year for the personal high-end goods market, when it exceeded €1.5 trillion, the leading management consulting firm Bain & Company recently revealed there had been a 1% to 3% decline on a year-over-year basis.  This situation can be blamed on various disruptions – not least the impacts of ongoing wars around the globe, as well as a generally volatile economic picture, but also changing expectations among consumers.  One thing that should not be in doubt, however, is the enormity of the present situation, and the challenges that luxury brands face in trying to overcome it.  In the words of Federica Levato, Senior Partner and co-author of Bain & Company’s Worldwide Luxury Monitor: “We are in a moment of great macroeconomic uncertainty at a global level… it’s the first time in history that th...