A few weeks after Jonathan Anderson was appointed to the creative helm of Dior, his eponymous London-based label undertook what was likely 2025’s greatest rebrand story. It saw the company expand into the homeware and furniture categories to build a world that customers could buy into from different touchpoints. “JW Anderson is a true reflection of Jonathan’s world. This authenticity is key in cultivating brand love,” says JW Anderson CEO Jenny Galimberti.
In today’s luxury environment, amid a macroeconomic polycrisis and rising prices, cultivating that brand love is more important than ever. Whether it’s a mug designed to look like the one from the designer’s childhood, a branded coffee, or getting your tarot cards read on a humongous yacht in Cannes, brand moments are where luxury labels earn cultural credibility.
“Today’s consumer journey is not linear,” says Jonathan Bottomley, global CMO at Calvin Klein and EVP of group consumer and brand strategy at parent company PVH Corp. “Consumers discover and engage across multiple touchpoints, so we invest in every layer of the brand ecosystem to ensure when they encounter Calvin Klein, it’s ‘brand-right’.”
Among the 3,103 global luxury consumers surveyed by Vogue Business, purchase penetration — the percentage of shoppers who bought from a specific brand — is particularly dispersed: just over a third bought from Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Hermès in the last year, while a fifth bought from Coach, Burberry and Longchamp. This shows that consumer loyalty is not fixed; it’s moving across labels with different price points and positionings.
As part of the survey, luxury consumers were asked to score 25 brands against 10 sentiment metrics focused on both brand and product, including statements such as “is a brand I trust”, “has a rich heritage,” or “offers pieces made with high-quality fabrics and finishes”. They were also asked where they shopped in the last year, where they intend to shop in the coming year, and where they spent the most.
The results show that overall purchase intent — the number of shoppers who say they will buy from a brand — declined 4% across brands, from an average of 21% (those who bought from a brand last year) to 17% (those who plan to buy next year). For some brands, the number of consumers who say they will purchase from them in the coming year is set to decline by double digits — with some of the steepest drops in the aspirational luxury space.
In terms of perception, six brands in our analysis — Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, and Hermès — each high-end heritage players, outperformed. Purchasing rates for these brands — both penetration last year and future intent — is above average. Meanwhile, purchase intent at Ralph Lauren, Coach, Burberry, and Loewe is also above average. A common theme among most of these brands is strong consumer sentiment for their rich heritage, classic and timeless style, trustworthiness, or elevated status. While style and heritage tends to be driven by product design and time in market, trust and elevated status are softer brand equity measures that are harder to cultivate but have a palpable impact on sales success.
Cultivating such brand equity is no small challenge, but the pay-off is worthwhile, according to Jolyon Varley, co-founder of creative strategy agency OK Cool. “[It’s important for brands to] build a world worth coming back to and the spend takes care of itself,” he says.
Here’s how to make your brand work hard for your business.
Step 1: Bet on experiences
For the purposes of this project, Vogue Business conducted paired depth interviews with 20 luxury consumers globally to find out about their shopping experiences across channels and discover how they view brands in different markets. When we asked them about the most memorable brand experiences they’ve witnessed in the last year, the feedback fell into two camps: unexpected, spontaneous, casual interactions that caught shoppers’ attention; and intentional, curated, and intimate experiences, often delivered in-store when a shopper is already highly engaged with a brand.
“Calvin Klein hosted a coffee pop-up in New York where they gave you free drinks if you signed up to their newsletter,” said one participant. “It was nothing new; so many brands do coffee carts. I’ve seen the same with Jacquemus. Someone walking by may not even know the brand, but drinking coffee might introduce them to it and drive them to make a purchase.” This participant was aware of the Calvin Klein brand, but rarely shopped there. A small treat refreshed their awareness while acknowledging that the approach had also connected them with newer brands like Jacquemus.
“Calvin Klein has always existed at the intersection of fashion and culture. Whether through campaigns, social storytelling, or physical touchpoints like experiential pop-ups, our stores and Houston Street billboard [in New York], our goal is to deepen the consumer experience,” says Bottomley. This approach can also help heritage brands cultivate new audiences. “We are constantly evolving how we show up for new generations by tapping into the cultural conversations shaping how younger consumers discover and shop with a focus on strategic partnerships across fashion, music, entertainment, and sport,” he adds.
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But for brands that want to secure loyalty and repeat custom, a more curated experience is vital. “Some years ago, I recommended my mum to go to JW Anderson, before he was at Dior. The store in Milan was very homey; they treated you like you were about to spend a million, even though it was just one bag we bought. It was close to Christmas, and they gave us Christmas postcards. It was the first encounter with the brand for my mum, and she fell in love with it because of that experience,” shared another participant.
This is just one example in a strategy that JW Anderson’s Galimberti says is focused on driving shoppers to stores. “We are focusing our marketing efforts on ongoing brand awareness strategies, driving to our physical stores and online store,” she explains. However, it’s not just awareness that JW Anderson is working to build, but a brand story, too. “Most customers need to want to be a part of the brand, they want to understand its values and positioning. They choose a brand because it represents something for them, whether it’s appreciation for the aesthetic, the craft, or the stories behind it.”
Bottomley agrees: “For loyal consumers, the focus is on creating deeper access and emotional connection.”
Los Angeles-based activewear and wellness brand Alo delivered one of the most talked-about brand activations at Cannes Film Festival last month, with an invite-only Alo Wellness Club located on a superyacht, offering reformer Pilates classes, EMS training, IV therapy, lymphatic drainage, chiropractic care, intuitive readings, and more. “We’ve built an ‘Alo world’ that can flex by market while remaining instantly recognizable — clean, modern, and wellness-led,” explains Summer Nacewicz, Alo’s EVP of marketing and creative.
For Nacewicz, every experience at Alo must align with its wellness ethos in a way that feels true. “The most powerful way to discover Alo for the first time isn’t an ad — it’s a moment you can’t stop talking about,” she says. “We treat experiences as the most tangible way to bring the brand to life. Whether through community events, pop-ups, or cultural moments, these experiences are designed to feel welcoming, immersive, and highly shareable. Whether it’s a wellness takeover on a yacht off the Côte d’Azur, or a community pop-up in a new city, every experience is designed to bring the brand to life through movement, wellness, and genuine connection.”
Varley at OK Cool says the success of these strategies depends on offering something consumers would already want to do. “None of it tries to sell you anything in the moment,” he says. “It just makes the brand feel like it’s wherever culture is — that’s the whole game. The good ones don’t feel like marketing, they feel like things you’d want to be at anyway.”
Step 2: Create the cult of the designer
The last couple of years have been pivotal for the fashion industry, with the majority of luxury houses appointing new creative directors. For most heritage maisons, the creative legacy means the brand reputation outlives their eponymous founders. For newer brands, though, this is a transition some may be facing for the first time.
The persona of the creative director and the brand identity are often intrinsically connected. This means consumers appreciate and buy a brand more when they are particularly interested in the creative direction and wish to acquire products during a “peak season” of creativity.
But there’s a fine line: a constant change in creative direction can also cause confusion. Luxury’s most valuable clients are a small but powerful minority that can account for over 30% of a brand’s sales. Their affinity for design chiefs is therefore paramount. In our focus group interviews, Saint Laurent emerged as a brand whose creative identity has remained consistent against a background of pivoting leadership. “It’s the only brand with consistent creative direction,” said one participant, referencing the (so far) 10-year tenure of creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
In JW Anderson’s case, the rebrand was a way to ensure the consistency of the company’s creative output, as the founder’s workload grew (just at Dior, Anderson has to deliver 10 collections a year across womenswear, menswear, accessories and couture). “The most important milestone we’re working toward is ensuring we strike the right balance between our core business and other categories that we have brought in, so that the new vision is truly reflected in both our product and brand strategy,” says Galimberti.
Jacquemus is another brand that has successfully built a following around the story of its founder, Simon Porte Jacquemus. The eponymous designer has openly shared personal moments across social accounts, especially Instagram, giving followers a level of access to his personal life that is rare among high-profile creatives. This type of content — sometimes vulnerable and often less highly produced than the polished campaigns that dominate Instagram feeds — has helped make Jacquemus one of the most engaged-with brands on Instagram in the last year.
Posts on the Jacquemus brand account generate an average 67,000 interactions, compared to an average of 23,000 across the 25 brands Vogue Business assessed. Most recently, the posts that generated the most engagement centered on Jacquemus’s latest brand ambassador, Liline Jacquemus, the designer’s grandmother, with content featuring the baby boomer attracting a 30% higher engagement rate than the brand’s average.
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Step 3: Harness the hallmarks of brand identity at every touchpoint
In a rapidly changing designer landscape, luxury companies need to find anchors that preserve prestige and remain consistent, even when creative direction changes hands. As an industry famously driven by trends, how do you avoid ubiquity when everyone is doing the same thing?
Many brands rely on signature shapes and visual cues to reinforce brand identity. Semiotics — the science of employing signs and symbols to convey meaning — is an important brand practice. “Every touchpoint along the consumer journey is rooted in Calvin Klein’s iconic DNA, leveraging the brand’s instantly recognizable visual language, minimalist aesthetic, and signature product codes to create a cohesive and immersive brand experience,” says Bottomley at Calvin Klein.
It’s a question all brand creatives should ask: if you remove the name and the logo, how will people recognize that the product, campaign, or space is quintessentially yours? Signature colors, prints, and motifs are valuable assets that can be repeated across other brand touchpoints. This is especially important for those who are scaling from direct-to-consumer e-commerce to wholesale distribution or physical stores. As touchpoints proliferate, visual cues need to carry the brand identity, especially as the brand expands into third-party spaces.
With this in mind, brand strategists need to consider every touchpoint that signifies a brand and replicate these signature assets across them. Packaging is a key example. An embossed paper bag in signature brand colors that is carried out of a store by a shopper becomes a brand advert for everyone who sees it — an association that enhances desirability. These assets are also valued by consumers.
“I went to Chanel in Milan once after a shopping session with Bottega, and they didn’t want me to enter with bags from another store. So I had to put them in a cupboard,” one interview participant said. “The packaging is important. For example, when I’m buying shoes, I don’t just want a nice box, but a matching dust bag for each shoe that will help make them last longer,” shared another.
Selecting brand colors and motifs that will remain unique is just part of the process. The key is to implement them across all other brand assets — from product linings and trimmings to brand stationery, hang tags, and email marketing templates, right down to the carpets in branded concessions. All should carry the visual cues that represent the brand.
However, Varley at OK Cool cautions against relying on these details alone to represent the brand, flagging that what a brand doesn’t do is just as important as what it does. “Logos and colors are evidence of a brand, not the brand,” he says. “What you actually recognize without the tag is a worldview — who they cast, what they won’t do, the crop, the silence, the refusal to overexplain.”
It’s a truth echoed by Nacewicz: “The filter is simple: does this deepen community, inspire wellness, or translate the Alo world in a way that feels true? If not, we don’t do it.”
The new rules of brand
What’s over: Relying on newness and product quality alone to boost purchase intent. Expecting design alone to drive brand credentials.
What’s changing: The story of the creative director. It’s no longer just about craftsmanship and the creative process, but the heritage and personal journey of the designer, too.
What wins now: Wholesome, warm, branded moments that spread joy and leave a memorable impression by giving shoppers something to take away that isn’t just the product.
Spotlight on: Jenny Galimberti, CEO, JW Anderson
How do you define brand success for JW Anderson?
Obviously, we measure commercial success as a KPI, but we are also looking at the spheres of influence we are affecting. Thanks to the introduction of new product categories, such as home and art, we are broadening our perimeter and discovering more areas of influence; not just reaching more people, but also learning from them.
What are the top three brand milestones over the last year, and what’s the most important milestone that you’re now working toward?
Redefining the brand, entering new categories such as interiors, and opening the Pimlico [London] store, which truly represents the new concept. The most important milestone we’re working toward is ensuring we strike the right balance between our core business and other categories that we have brought in, so that the new vision is truly reflected in our product and brand strategy.
Have there been any surprising moments that have ignited shopper interest, like in a product or a collection that boosted the brand’s buzz and conversion in unexpected ways?
I would have to say the pigeon clutch. A bestseller in our current collection.
In many ways, the reputation and awareness of the JW Anderson brand outpace its scale. How have you achieved this?
We have always focused our efforts on a clear image, and even without huge marketing budgets, we have managed to gain fantastic visibility thanks to our content, a growing fan base, and obviously, Jonathan.
What are the brand values of JW Anderson that appear to resonate most strongly with your audience? What are the emotional drivers?
Cultural relevance has always been at the heart of the brand and of Jonathan’s vision. This authenticity is felt throughout the collection and the curated product.
In which spaces — both physical and digital — is JW Anderson positioning itself to boost brand visibility?
We are working on developing our store network further with openings planned in New York, Paris, and Tokyo in the short term, and more locations in the future. Online, we continue to grow our own channels as well as partner with key strategic partners.
Are there any cultural spaces that are particularly impactful?
Craft is at the heart of what we do. Whether it is a Scottish cashmere jumper, a Japanese denim, an Irish linen tea towel, or a hand-woven basket, craft is the common denominator that we want to leverage and celebrate.
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Away from logos and signature products, how do you create recognisability? What are the ‘signals’?
We work on silhouettes, fabrics, and the making. We are also introducing patterns such as the pig on the Nicholas Mosse ceramics, which has been used in knitwear, too.
How does the brand ensure it stands out in multi-brand spaces?
We are reducing our wholesale presence and working with selected partners to build dedicated corners where the full expression of JW Anderson can be displayed.
What strategic initiatives are you prioritizing now to safeguard brand positioning and demand in the future?
We are looking to expand our retail presence in key markets, while focusing our marketing efforts on ongoing brand awareness strategies, driving consumers to our [physical] stores and online store. We are also committed to collaborating with brand-relevant initiatives, such as London Craft Week, which are not commercial initiatives but help cement JW Anderson’s genuine interest in the area of art, craft, and culture.
