The wobble in luxury e-commerce has been hard to miss. Matches wound down last year before being picked up for a planned 2026 relaunch, Ssense filed for bankruptcy in August, and YOOX Net-a-Porter announced restructuring affecting 700 jobs globally. It's a sharp reversal from the platforms' glamour years, epitomized by a 2017 Net-a-Porter and Cartier partnership that sold out a £133,000 Panthère watch in minutes through early online access. Consultancy Bain & Co now forecasts luxury sales will fall a further 2 to 5 percent this year, a slide widely blamed on tariffs, geopolitical tension and squeezed household budgets, with brands leaning on promotions that critics say are fueling outright "luxury fatigue."
Prices keep climbing, quality hasn't kept up
The Business of Fashion's Imran Amed has noted that luxury has always been expensive, but it used to be expensive without feeling out of control. Data from UBS shows handbag prices rising far faster than jewelry's since the 2010s, part of why buyers have increasingly shifted toward gold and gemstones as pieces with lasting, tangible value. Meanwhile, reports of downgraded leather, faulty stitching and gold-toned hardware standing in for the real thing have become common even as sticker prices keep rising, a gap that's hard to justify when what once came from small ateliers now ships from a production line to a doorstep within a fortnight.
Influencers built trust, then burned through it
Social media became the world's biggest advertising channel in 2024, much of it powered by influencers who made luxury feel more relatable and gave niche, underfunded brands cheap access to real audiences. But as feeds filled up, that trust curdled into skepticism: pieces get unboxed, reviewed and discarded within days, which cuts directly against the sense of timelessness luxury depends on. Buy Now, Pay Later has compounded the shift, breaking six-figure purchases into interest-free installments and pulling in a younger customer base, more than half of BNPL users are reportedly under 35, while "see now, buy now" formats compress the old six-month gap between runway and retail into an instant "add to cart." Anna Wintour recently told The New Yorker she isn't sure what the word luxury even means anymore, calling it overused and hollowed out.
Hermès is proof the old model still works
While LVMH reported a 2 percent revenue dip in the first quarter of 2025, Hermès posted 8 percent growth, a gap its admirers trace to tight control over production and a refusal to chase viral moments or trend cycles. The house has still found ways to stay culturally present, through animator collaborations and localized events, without loosening its grip on craftsmanship. Other houses are testing a related idea: building cultural spaces, like Fondazione Prada's public institution, or ventures like Saint Laurent's film arm, that let people feel connected to a brand without necessarily buying anything, a bet that desirability and access don't have to be the same thing.