‘Luxury’​ Has Lost Its Meaning — Here’s How To Get It Back | Forbes

“The world of luxury is undergoing a major transformation. This redefines the rules of the luxury game profoundly,”​ says Dr. Martina Olbertova of Meaning.Global GETTY

This article was originally published in Forbes, written by Pam Danziger. It was republished by the Luxury Daily and the American Marketer as ‘Luxury Brands Face The Crisis Of Meaning’.

Pardon me for stating the obvious, but luxury has lost its “luxe.” If it isn’t so obvious to luxury brands — and in my experience, it isn’t — it is to the customers on which luxury brands’ future depends. For any of us who make a living talking to and surveying consumers, that fact is as plain as the LV logo on a Louis Vuitton bag.

Take the recent YouGov Affluent Perspective 2019 study surveying 8,000-plus affluent consumers at the very top end of the income spectrum in their markets. For example, the qualifying income for a U.S. consumer was $200,000-plus (8th percentile and above). Those surveyed are not poseurs or “aspirationals,” but consumers with high incomes who can readily afford luxury brands.

Over two-thirds (67%) agreed with the statement “Many mass brands now offer a level of quality comparable to luxury brands.” That is music to the ears of Everlane, which positions itself as “luxury for less,” and a siren call to traditional luxury brands that something is seriously amiss.

Martina Olbertova, who holds a doctorate in media studies from Charles University in…