This article is part of the Vogue Business Index: H1 2025, an bi-annual objective scorecard of the 60 top luxury fashion brands, based on revenue. Advanced Members can read the full Vogue Business Index here.
The Vogue Business H1 2025 Index marks a milestone moment in our most authoritative ranking of the top 60 global luxury fashion brands. As the 10th edition, released five years after its launch, it provides a data-driven analysis of brand performance across key strategic areas and time.
In H1 2025, we see Louis Vuitton retain its crowning glory, while Dior and Gucci remain in hot pursuit. Louis Vuitton has continually come out on top in all but one edition of the Index, leaving Dior and Gucci in a tug of war for second and third place, with just decimal points between them.
What’s more surprising is Ralph Lauren, which has leapt into fourth position after dropping out of the top 10 in H2 2024. Its performance is driven by significant wins in digital and improvements in ESG. Meanwhile, Saint Laurent continues to rise, securing its place in the top five. Hermès, Prada, Chanel and Burberry have all witnessed a shuffle downwards, but retain their top 10 positioning; Fendi remains determined to join them, once again defending 10th place.
These results come at a pivotal time for luxury, as green shoots offer hope for an industry that’s felt the heat of the economic downturn over the last year. Against the backdrop of a brewing trade war and the rising cost of doing business, even the most resilient luxury houses have seen revenue declines. And yet, early signals from the latest Vogue Business global luxury consumer survey (4,000+ Vogue and GQ readers in 11 markets), suggest that consumer confidence is creeping back up, with average purchase intent across all 60 brands rising 4.2 per cent in the last six months.
It’s not just economic turnarounds brands await; several are on the cusp of creative change, with debuts queued for the coming months. Gucci is to welcome Demna from Balenciaga, Glenn Martens is to bring Maison Margiela into his creative fold, Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy gears up to lead Chanel, and Dario Vitale is to take over Versace. These recent announcements follow the long stream that dominated fashion headlines at the end of 2024, including Julian Klausner’s promotion at Dries Van Noten and Michael Rider’s move to Celine.
While these appointments herald an exciting new era for creativity, the talents that fill them remain predominantly male, with Louise Trotter’s arrival at Bottega Veneta in December, alongside Veronica Leoni at Calvin Klein and Sarah Burton at Givenchy, making up three of the mere 10 fashion houses led by women in a list of 35 luxury brands. (Vogue Business analysed the diversity of the creative leaders of the top 30 Index brands, plus five new designer appointments — Lanvin, Blumarine, Tom Ford Fashion, Dries Van Noten and Calvin Klein.)
Although it’s not only gender. There is also a patent lack of racial diversity among latest recruits. Out of the 35 brands, Haider Ackermann’s appointment at Tom Ford makes him the only person of colour to have been hired to helm a house in the past year — previous hires being Pharrell Williams (Louis Vuitton), Maximilian Davis (Ferragamo) and Sandra Choi (Jimmy Choo). In a season of change, this feels like a missed opportunity to readdress vital calls for balance.
On the ESG front, a number of brands are hoping to fulfill sustainability targets by the end of 2025. Kering is targeting a 50 per cent reduction in its carbon emissions by 2025, while focusing on restoring and regenerating a million hectares of its supply chain and protecting a million hectares of irreplaceable habitat. Tommy Hilfiger has committed to sustainably sourcing 100 per cent of its cotton, viscose and wool by 2025, alongside making 100 per cent of its packaging (throughout the supply chain) recyclable, reusable or compostable. Meanwhile, LVMH aims for 50 per cent of its leadership roles to be held by women and to eliminate the gender pay gap. It remains to be seen how close these businesses will come to meeting goals, but commitments are a welcome undertaking given how many brands have quietly removed near-term targets, reverting to 2040 or even 2050 deadlines.
Enter Ami Paris, Maje and Jacquemus — the Vogue Business H1 2025 rookies. Jacquemus comes in with a strong digital performance, benefitting from its playful, tongue-in-cheek content, as well as the influential persona of founder and creative director Simon Porte Jacquemus; posts featuring the designer have garnered as many as 12.6 million views on TikTok. For both Ami Paris and Jacquemus, high-profile celebrity content plays an important role in driving engagement. In contrast, Maje’s more niche digital approach sees weaker engagement, despite its hefty follower count and high activity on most major platforms — which goes to show that quality and relevance far exceeds the importance of volume.
Our latest omnichannel analysis reveals that, across all 10 editions of the Vogue Business Index, the average presence of brands in the 30 cities tracked — 14 established, 16 emerging — declined by 10 per cent. Between a global pandemic, rising rents and a cost of living crisis, the last five years double as one of the most challenging periods in recent retail history. Among emerging luxury destinations, Vogue Business has identified the withdrawal of brands from markets including Jakarta (-35 per cent), Ho Chi Minh City (-29 per cent) and Bangkok (-18 per cent). To compensate, brands are now leaning into the rising appetite for travel and leisure, leveraging the allure of far-flung destinations like Mykonos, Saint-Tropez, Athens and Dubai to attract high-net-worth clients. Beyond ephemeral resort activations, luxury brands are exploring opportunities away from the saturated fashion capitals, with cities like Austin and Edinburgh emerging as up-and-coming luxury hubs.
It’s not only investment in physical retail that’s dwindling, activity is declining in spaces such as the metaverse, too. Brands are instead shifting their focus to artificial intelligence and its vast possibilities. While too nebulous to measure, the acceleration of AI implementation can be seen palpably in areas like customer service and communications. Its application in design and product creation is witnessing slower adoption, which is perhaps unsurprising. As brands seek to automate processes and drive efficiencies in production, discovery and clienteling, the power of human creativity will likely become a strong differentiator for luxury brands in the future, especially given the value of artisanal craftsmanship in sustaining both brand identity and consumer perception.
Join the custom insights team on 10 April to dive deep into the findings from the 10th edition of the Vogue Business Index.
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