In the months that followed the Spring/Summer 2026 season, we have seen a series of new hires in the communications, marketing and design departments of all major houses. Our new series ‘Fashion s Real Reset Starts Now’ looks at all these changes and how they will redefine the fashion industry in the years to come.
Late last year, 72% of Gen Z luxury shoppers told Vogue Business that they would rather own a Walmart ‘Wirkin’ than an Hermès Birkin bag. It’s a sign of the times: younger shoppers hold a different view on luxury goods, in part because they can’t afford them, but also because they find it distasteful to spend so much money on a single product.
The past four years of industry growth have been primarily driven by price hikes, says Colleen Baum, senior partner at McKinsey. Last year, this came to a head. Social media discourse about the mismatch between price and quality gained traction, “greedflation” became a key factor responsible for the luxury slowdown, and executives cottoned onto the fact that, perhaps, luxury prices have climbed too far out of reach.
In late 2024, Frédéric Grangié, president of Chanel’s watches and fine jewellery division, told Swiss newspaper Le Temps that the luxury slowdown would persist due to consumer fatigue. “Customers are tired of being bludgeoned by luxury,” he said. Still, prices soared well into 2025. Meanwhile, in an internal memo in November 2025, Kering CEO Luca de Meo reportedly said that the group needed to rethink its pricing and product range.
“In 2025, what we learned is that there can be a cap to luxury goods and that only very rare exceptions are immune to this pricing resistance,” says luxury consultant Robert Burke. “Whether it be unstable economic conditions or uncertainty, or tariffs — we can go down a laundry list of things — it caused the consumer to pause and think twice about what they were spending. We saw people start to question like they had not questioned before.”
Maurizio Catellani, CEO of price and market intelligence platform Competitoor, says that price increases have slowed down as a result. “In our monthly price analysis, handbags in particular had smaller increases [last] year,” he says. The post-pandemic ‘price elevation era’ is coming to an end, agrees Federica Levato, senior partner at Bain Company.
The average price of Burberry handbags, for example, fell 12-18% year-on-year in 2025 across the UK, while the price of their Kensington trench coat rose 1-4% in the same period. “This strategy allows brands to protect their most aspirational pieces while using more aggressive pricing on other categories to drive volume,” says Krista Corrigan, senior retail analyst at trend intelligence platform EDITED.
In 2026, pricing consistency for brands will be more important than ever, Burke says. Corrigan agrees, adding that this year, traditional, ultra-luxury brands will need to work to recapture market share that has been taken by ‘accessible luxury’ brands in 2025. “Struggling heritage brands are eager for a piece of that growth,” she says. Will 2026 be the year executives push for a change?
It’s a period of transition after all: last season, fashion welcomed 15 new creative directors, from Matthieu Blazy at Chanel to Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta. A new chapter brings an opportunity to rethink a brand’s product and pricing mix under this new creative direction. “It’s the perfect opportunity to recalibrate,” Corrigan says.
Yet, this doesn’t mean brands will take the opportunity. In October, Versace’s pre-sale prices on its Moda Operandi trunk show certainly caused some sticker shock. Editors marveled at the $3,450 striped denim pants and $26,000 embroidered lurex crepe midi dress. Now that Dario Vitale has exited the brand, and Versace is now officially under Prada ownership, this is less indicative of where the brand is headed in terms of pricing. But Versace did confirm that the collection will be produced and available in stores, with New York arrivals expected around the beginning of February.
Most brands aren’t keen to talk about their prices. But ultimately, these brands need to sell products to be able to continue their creative pursuits. And analysts and industry insiders have plenty of thoughts on how brands can — and should — approach their pricing strategies in 2026 to set themselves up for a successful year.
An accessible opportunity
Though experts don’t expect fashion houses to suddenly drop their prices this year, they do anticipate that, under new creative teams, they will debut lower-priced products at launch.
“[Pricing] represents in 2026 an opportunity to make sure you appeal to not just the VICs,” Burke says. These high-paying customers are getting all the attention now, as brands focus on this cohort in an effort to appeal to them amid creative transitions, he says. But this ought not be the sole focus. “It’s also a time to bring in that tried and true customer of the brand, and also the aspirational customer. That’ll best be done by really good merchandising and really good pricing.”
Michael Rider’s first collection for Celine illustrates this well. The ready-to-wear prices are consistent with the brand’s existing pricing: the bug-eyed Disc sunglasses are $510; a cashmere crewneck is $1,600, and, at the top of the line, a wool blazer is $3,450. But Celine’s flat cabas new luggage bag, introduced by Rider, retails for $2,100. This is far lower than any typical luxury bag; these days, handbags priced under $3,000 are few and far between. It was a clever move, experts agree, especially for a bag that generated buzz when it first went down the runway during Rider’s debut show in July. “I think Michael is onto something with that,” Burke says. “People will want to be a part of these brands, so you don’t want to outprice them.”
Part of the problem with luxury perception (and sales) in recent years has been the lack of creativity at entry-level price points, says Bain’s Levato. She hopes that, as brands evolve this year, they’ll implement segmented pricing strategies, which means re-introducing more accessible items and more creative, value-packed entry offers, while keeping premium lines for high-end buyers. Catellani adds that brands would be smart to introduce more products like accessories and denim, which can come in at lower price points with higher units per translation (UPT), making people more likely to buy multiple items at once.
Burke expects more brands to take the Celine approach in 2026. “Given the economy, the confidence of the consumer, the uncertainty — I think that they need some feel-good products that are not a major investment,” he says. “It’s important to have [options] for the tourist, for the occasional shopper, something that is entry price.”
The cost of newness
There’s a chance that, even if brands do introduce some lower-ticket items in 2026, some will justify continued price hikes, citing newness.
Burke expects runway collections to be pricey, but cautions brands against rising prices of the core collection, even with the injection of newness that comes with a new creative director. “It would be wise to keep that fairly tight and competitive,” he says, noting that the bulk of purchases come from this, rather than runway.
Some shoppers may be willing to pay more for a refresh, analysts say. “Consumers are more willing to accept price increases when the product offers real newness, feels like a staple item, and delivers strong quality,” Catellani says. That said, the bar is higher than ever, he adds. “The newness needs to hit on a need or desire. If something new is exceptional, there’s certainly a client for that.”
Most of Dior’s price increases were fairly standard. Jonathan Anderson’s revamped Saddle bags start at around $4,800 for the Dracula bag (versus $4,600 for older styles); Bow bags start at $4,200. Anderson’s small four-leaf clover-covered Lady Dior has a major upcharge, retailing for $11,000. His reimagined small Lady Dior, complete with an added leather bow, is listed for $6,400 — a slight increase on the older style’s $6,200. In ready-to-wear, a polo shirt will set you back $2,300; a short-sleeved sweater $3,000 and an embroidered denim jacket is $5,000.
At Demna’s Gucci, meanwhile, a tiger print shearling coat — at the top end of the brand’s new pricing tiers — will set you back $48,000. A Horsebit 1995 belt retails for $620, slightly above the $570 for a GG Marmont belt. The high prices aren’t putting shoppers off; the new denim pants with Horsebit details at the pockets cost $1,700, and sold out online a day after the collection went live.
Still, other customers expect newness as a given, Baum cautions. “Newness is a baseline expectation in luxury,” she says, noting that it can’t be the sole driver of a premium. “Products that are highly coveted — such as those generating strong initial demand from the runway — or those showcasing exceptional craftsmanship and superior quality of materials are more likely to justify a higher price point,” she says. A recent McKinsey report found that ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) customers say that the number one attribute that epitomizes luxury is ‘expertise and quality’ — not newness.
As brand aesthetics shift under a new creative direction, there’s a chance that a subset of VICs won’t be into the new look. Already, reports have emerged of some VICs not wanting to purchase products from debut collections at high fashion brands. Because of this, brands would be wise to introduce more affordable offerings so that those who are fans can buy into the brand and help make up for any lost spend. “VICs can really move the needle, but it doesn’t have to be exclusively focused on VICs. You always have to be cultivating a new clientele,” Burke says. This is especially true at a time of big change.
That said, while creative reboots risk alienating some loyalists, this shouldn’t be a reason alone to introduce lower prices, Levato says. “Brands should aim to deliver enhanced creative value and renewed emotional resonance — investing in product, narrative, craftsmanship, and uniqueness — to justify price levels.” In doing so, for every customer they lose, they’re likely to gain others.
McKinsey’s Baum adds that, while this alienation is a risk, it’s one brands seem to have been cognisant of with last year’s flurry of debuts. “Some of the new creative directors have also been thinking about the archives and how they can build on ‘classics’ from these brands and retain existing loyalists,” she says. Fashion critics noted archival reference across many of the year’s debuts, including Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, Jonathan Anderson’s Dior, Demna’s Gucci, and Glenn Martens’s Margiela.
Still, there are signs that appetites for covetable new luxury pieces persist even at high price points. Haider Ackermann’s first collection for Tom Ford includes a $6,650 blazer and a $6,490 silk robe. But for every $6,000-plus garment on sale at Tom Ford, there’s a $780 denim mini skirt and $850 long-sleeve shirt. Ackermann’s collection arrived in stores in August and has been both a critical and commercial success, Gianluca Tagliabue, CFO and COO of Tom Ford Fashion licensee Ermenegildo Zegna Group, said in October. We’ll see whether these basics are carried through Ackermann’s forthcoming seasons. Tom Ford declined to comment on pricing due to the brand’s focus on the creative process.
Prices be what they may, to get consumers to spend any amount, brands need to amp up their creativity, experts agree. “The winners in the coming era will be brands that reconnect with consumers on values beyond status — authenticity, creativity and relevance,” Levato says. “Thus, ‘newness’ should not be a pretext for price hikes. It should be part of a renewed value proposition: if a product is truly differentiated, distinctive, and relevant, then its price may be justified. Otherwise, consumers will resist.”
