Decoding Luxury Trends: Quiet Luxury in Apparel

Low-key luxury, stealth wealth or elevated essentials can all be used to define the industry’s hottest topic today, quiet luxury. The quiet luxury aesthetic which embodies both the “less is more” and “if you know, you know” concepts, has allowed numerous brands whose core positioning lies in timeless, understated pieces, such as The Row, Khaite and Loro Piana to stand out now more than ever among high-end consumers. As loud luxury and logomania decline and former loud luxury brands like Gucci are stalling, minimalism is settling in. The quiet luxury trend also allows brands to make luxury increasingly exclusive, considering the decline in spending from aspirational consumers, and in turn targeting high-income consumers who will continue to spend. This begs the question of, what do the collection strategies within quiet luxury brands like The Row and Loro Piana look like? How can luxury brands remain resilient to these market shifts and nail their own strategies to better target the high-income consumer?

Luxury’s leading brands are already leveraging AI to get the answers to these questions, allowing them to finetune their collections and pricing strategies, to ensure success amid an economic slowdown. Find out how your brand can do the same with Retviews, the tailor-made automated benchmarking platform for fashion brands.

Pricing luxury: navigating the market shift

Economic circumstances have hit the fashion industry as a whole, and luxury brands are shifting strategies accordingly. As previously mentioned, entry-level aspirational shoppers are decreasing expenses on high end luxury, and brands are adapting their prices to better target the high-income consumer. What remains key for a luxury brand to keep in mind is how the market is evolving and what they need to do to stay ahead of the market.

As of August 2023, Retviews’ data indicate a strong increase in prices YoY across all main categories in the luxury sector’s leading brands, both in the European and US markets, with leather goods’ prices increasing at the highest rate across the two markets, reflecting luxury’s move into increased exclusivity, accounting for the decrease in spending from aspirational shoppers and the long-lasting impact inflation has had. Access to this type of data in real-time is essential in pinpointing the optimal strategy for your own brand, making AI-powered benchmarking a must-have.

Quiet vs. Loud Luxury: Inside Collections

The emergence of the stealth wealth aesthetic in the industry showcases generally minimalistic color palettes. The subdued color mix showcases a strong shift towards more timeless styles. So, how is the trend actually translating into brands’ color schemes?

Quiet luxury, personifying the essence of "less is more," is in part characterized by timelessness and simplicity, which is often seen in collections with more muted shades. Retviews’ data, which allows fashion brands to track market trends, further proves this trend, revealing a penchant for muted color palettes within the quiet luxury market with brands such as The Row, Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli and Bottega Veneta, with a noteworthy 11% higher use of shades such as black, grey, beige, white, and neutral hues. However, will we also see a shift towards more muted shades in traditionally loud luxury brands as the trend takes over the industry? Retviews’ data has allowed fashion brands to track the progression of trends on the market, in real-time and adjust strategies, accordingly, ultimately reducing lead time.

Style divergence comes to light when examining the assortment mix of brands such as Gucci and Loro Piana. Retviews’ detailed product data reveals that, a considerable 37% of Gucci’s tops have bold styles and colors, the brand being renowned in recent years for its maximalist aesthetic. Data also shows that, in contrast, Loro Piana avoids the use of loud logos and has a wide selection of classic pieces in more muted hues.

Quality fabrics, quality products 

Premium fabrics such as cashmere, linen, silk, and wool are synonymous with higher-quality products, particularly within the luxury industry. Retviews’ data indicate that quiet luxury-focused brands such as Loro Piana and The Row prioritize the use of these fabrics to a greater extent in their apparel assortment, holding 61% more premium fabrics in their apparel selection than Gucci and Prada.

Retviews allows your brand to track competitors’ fabric mix and see where your own collection stands. Should you be focusing more on premium fabrics in your own apparel collection? You can finetune your decision-making with data-driven insights thanks to AI. With the rate at which AI use is growing in the industry, harnessing its power to plan brand collections is becoming ever more crucial.

Luxury brand Loro Piana positions itself on the lower end of the “stealth wealth” brand pricing spectrum, with regards to its most frequent price. When examining luxury brands, Retviews’ data show that there is considerable difference in their entry-level prices. Notably, Bottega Veneta and The Row offer different points of entry, with the latter boasting a 30% lower entry price. Despite this discrepancy, Bottega Veneta maintains a lower average and most frequent price in the cashmere tops category, albeit not significantly below The Row. Could this narrow price range for cashmere tops be attributed to Bottega Veneta’s smaller presence in the ready-to-wear category?  

Diving into maxi dresses, Retviews’ data reveal different pricing structures on the luxury market.  Gucci’s dresses hold both the highest maximum and average prices, standing at 9 800€ and 3602€, respectively. The Row stands close behind with a maximum price of 8 540€, however having a larger price spread, with a minimum price of 830€, compared to Gucci’s 1 600€. Retviews’ data indicate that when looking at maxi dresses, luxury brands are opting for more muted colorways and are refraining from using logos and busy patterns. This exhibition of elevated basics, combined with high price points could further be pushing the exclusivity that luxury represents, moving further away from the accessible luxury consumer.  

Subtlety taking over 

In both apparel and leather goods, fashion brands are catering to the higher-income consumer and in turn, steering away from loud luxury, to make room for a more low-key approach. Even characteristically maximalist brands like Gucci are making the switch, as Alessandro Michele exited the company, and a more minimalist approach is expected in Sabato De Sarno’s inaugural collection next month. What will this mean for the luxury sector? Will brands shift towards a muted approach in the long run, with a higher price tag, and will brands like Proenza Schouler, Peter Do and Totême become the mainstream brands to watch when developing a timeless collection?

Getting the right price positioning and optimizing your collection’s sell-through rate are key, thus making effective benchmarking crucial. Keeping track of your competitors and the market’s leading brands has never been smoother, thanks to AI. Retviews, the automated benchmarking platform for fashion has proven to be the best ally for leading brands today, helping them keep track of pricing and stay on top of industry shifts, in real-time.  As AI is becoming an essential component of a successful brand strategy, make sure your own brand stays ahead of market trends, with the help of Retviews. Find out how automated competitive intelligence can help you here.