From February 16th-20th 2024, London Fashion Week offered the brand new 2024 designs of the most iconic luxury-wear brands in the world. But does that mean that luxury fashion is still important?
London Fashion Week just happened, and like always, it has shown us a glimpse on the future trends of Autumn/Winter fashion for 2024. But, as many fashion experts predicted, there was one brand who wrapped up the series of runaway walks on Monday that really stole the show. Known for its elegant pieces such as the iconic beige trench coat, Burberry‘s collection, led by stylist Daniel Lee, focused on just that: timeless and well-tailored overcoats that you can wear for years to come. The colour palette was deep green, beige, grey and muted yellow, really highlighting the shades of London weather in autumn and winter.
This year, Burberry also made headlines this London Fashion Week for having one of the top supermodels in the world – London-based Naomi Campbell – star in their runway.
And that is exactly why so many people believe that Burberry became a luxury fashion staple: the muted colour palette together with a functional and sophisticated outerwear collection lead many people to believe that the brand perfectly encapsulates the stereotypical British style. That is probably the main reason why the Burberry stores in Mayfair, London continue to receive thousands of fashion-obsessed tourists every year, and why the brand has established itself as (quite literally) a synonym of luxury and good taste in the fashion world.
But, even though Burberry seems to have made a good impression during LFW and continues to uphold its reputation as a brand, it also became a symbol for the decline of luxury wear in the past few months. According to the Business of Fashion website, that specialises in analysing the economic impact of fashion brands, Burberry may lose over 100 million dollars of profit estimates during the December 23 – March 24 quarter. That is a huge loss in profit for a luxury brand, especially during the Christmas period, where shoppers tend to be a bit more generous with their spending because of the holiday season. The brand had already warned of a possible reduction in sales numbers over the autumn of 2023, but apparently the sales slump has been the worst in the past five years.
Although many people may not see any significance in these single figure statistics, Burberry’s loss in revenue showcases a public loss of interest in overall luxury-wear. Given that the brand is one of the staples in the luxury fashion world, the fact that sales aren’t as expected showcases a mass movement of people opting out of buying these fashion items. The main question is: why is this happening now?
Newspapers like The Guardian and The Independent are speculating that the decline in luxury wear is reflective of the global economic slump that has been ongoing since the Covid-19 pandemic. Inflation, paired with high interest rates, has led many people to prioritise their spending towards basic necessities more – hence leaving the luxury items wishlist aside for now. But there also may be another reason, relatively unspoken until now: how brands and influencers are turning more to second hand clothes shopping as a way to diminish their carbon footprint and also to reduce overconsumption.
This rise in second-hand clothing businesses is also supported by statistics. According to GlobalData, the clothes resale market is meant to rise by almost 68% until 2026 in comparison to 2022. Other than the reasons mentioned above, thrifting is also beneficial for our pockets. You often can get good quality – and even designer! – fashion items for a very affordable price, which is a very attractive option, especially if you’re on a budget.
This is not to say that there is something wrong with buying luxury-wear, especially if it is a brand you like and have been planning to buy for a while. But Burberry’s attempt to re-establish its items as a must-have for consumers, along with its disappointing sales revenue, suggests that that the luxury fashion market will only continue to decline. As consumers seek out more budget and environmentally-friendly ways to update their wardrobe, the fashion market is also adapting to this demand by leaning into the second-hand clothing market. Brands like Zara and Pretty Little Thing, known for being fast fashion giants, are dedicating entire sections on their website to the selling of “pre-loved” clothes. And now, even famous designer brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton have been investing in using recyclable materials to produce new collections, so that their clothes and bags will last longer and the material will be reused to make new items. This reinforces the idea that people are now more concerned with the environmental impact of the fashion industry. All of this suggests that the boom in the second-hand clothing market hasn’t reached its peak yet, so this can definitely be a sign for you to try focusing more on pre-loved items to update your 2024 wardrobe.