The Business of Fashion Podcast

Special Episode: The Great Fashion Reset

Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Imran Ahmed (Founder & CEO, The Business of Fashion)
Guest Host: Brian Baskin (Executive Editor, BoF)

Overview

This special episode, "The Great Fashion Reset," explores the complex, precarious state of the luxury fashion industry as it heads into a pivotal post-pandemic Fashion Month. Imran Ahmed, usually the host, is interviewed by Executive Editor Brian Baskin. Together, they diagnose the root challenges facing the sector—surging prices, declining perceived value, shifting consumer habits, macroeconomic pressures, and faltering excitement—while discussing solutions, necessary adjustments, and the high expectations placed on a new generation of designers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Fashion at an Inflection Point

• Fashion Month arrives with unprecedented anxiety and anticipation:
  Imran describes the September season as a “back to school moment” for the industry, but notes that this year’s mood is “even more so the case now… a really consequential period” (03:03).
• Luxury at a crossroads:
  The industry is coming off an unsustainable post-pandemic boom and now faces a "major crisis" (luxury growth slowdowns, price surges, and disillusioned consumers).

2. Diagnosing the Core Problems

a. Vanishing Value Proposition

• Luxury’s value problem:
  Brian breaks the central issue into two pieces: “consumers just not feeling like luxury brands are worth what they're charging anymore, and they're charging quite a lot more… [and] general uncertainty about their financial future” (04:24).
• Imran’s experience:
  • Describes surreal scenes of velvet-roped lines outside luxury boutiques post-COVID, only to enter stores with drastic price hikes and a less-than-luxurious experience (05:08).
  • "It was almost like they were underestimating the intelligence and overestimating the patience of customers" (06:20).
  • Explains price increases of “20, 30, 40, or even 100%” compared to before the pandemic (06:40).

b. Unsustainable Growth & Economic Realities

• Explosive but misleading post-pandemic growth:
  Luxury’s 20-30% annual growth at conglomerates like LVMH and Hermès “did not feel sustainable” for an industry that historically grows at 5% per year (07:15).
• Consumer recalibration:
  Surging post-COVID inflation alongside deflation of bank savings has triggered a “massive recalibration” of spending habits among all but the ultra-wealthy (08:53).
• Compounding factors:
  Industry trust issues, regulatory scrutiny in Italy, geopolitical disruptions (including U.S. policy under Trump), and the disproportionate impact on emerging designers have created a “perfect storm” (09:19).

c. Leadership Blind Spots

• Were executives caught off guard?
  “Of course they get it because the results are speaking very loudly… But I don’t think it’s unusual… that when everything is going swimmingly people lose sight of the signals” (11:35).

3. (Unrealistic) Expectations of Designers and Fashion Shows

• Can runway debuts solve systemic problems?
  Imran: “None of the issues is going to be specifically addressed… this is a series of challenges… that have been building up for quite a bit” (05:08, 09:57).
• Notable quote:
  “Jonathan Anderson can’t fix China’s busted property market” — Brian (10:41)
• Imran doubles down:
  The September debuts by new designers are exciting signals, but “not the season that’s going to solve and change everything, because it’s not. There’s a lot more at work here” (10:30).

4. Quality, Mass Luxury, and the Designer's Role

• Mass luxury is here to stay—at a cost:
  “I wouldn’t say that we’re going to move away completely from mass produced luxury. And I don’t think it’s the designer’s job to change that underlying strategy” (13:28).
• Quality is non-negotiable:
  "For luxury brands operating at scale… the quality of what they execute is still impeccable… that's table stakes" (14:25).
  • Criticizes brands like Chanel for declining quality amidst price hikes.
• Creativity as differentiator:
  Brands like Miu Miu win because “creatively it’s so strong. It’s offering something really differentiated” (15:35).
• Two customer groups:
  • The “mythical 1-2% that drive 30-40% of revenue.” Highly discerning, “do not want to be duped.”
  • The “aspirational customer… really been priced out” (16:57).
  • Brands must “drive some more accessible price points” and recreate entryways, “like wallets or small leather goods… at a price point that was high, but not out of control high” (17:55).

5. The Aspirational Consumer and Generational Shifts

• Exclusion of aspirational shoppers:
  “It kind of feels like the ladder was pulled up and left the aspirational customer behind” (19:50).
• Example: Burberry smartly pivots to serve this market again, breaking with the “Hermès-level only” aspiration strategy prevailing elsewhere (20:21).
• Targeting Gen Z:
  A common industry narrative is that Gen Z no longer aspires to luxury; Imran partly disagrees - they engage via vintage, resale, or even high-quality “dupes,” but cannot access new product directly due to price (23:10).
  • “She still likes the brand, but she wants the brand from the 1980s or 1990s” (23:40).
  • “That generation has somehow validated the fake counterfeit good by calling them dupes” (24:00).
• The rise of accessible luxury:
  Coach, Polène, and others are surging precisely because the genuine luxury tier “increased their prices so much, it's opened up an opportunity for brands… [that are] reasonably priced” (25:32, 26:20).
  • Warns: “That woman who’s currently buying a Coach bag… at some point… wants something else. What’s she going to grow up and want to buy next?” (26:56)

6. The Marketing Malaise

• Former glamor, now white noise:
  Brian: “People just aren’t excited by campaigns… the worlds that these brands are putting out anymore. Curious why you think that is. Did they change? Did the consumer change?” (27:52)
• Imran: World-building and multi-channel storytelling are key:
  Brands are now “competing with other verticals for people's attention,” with fashion's “moment” in magazines replaced by a cacophony of Instagram, TikTok, and beyond (28:17).
• Standout success:
  “Probably the most successful of any of these people has been Jonathan Anderson at Loewe… he has been able to take that multifaceted feed… and find meaningful, authentic and organic ways for Loewe to exist in the sports world, to exist in the film world, to exist in the world of craft…” (29:32)
• Marketing must be “real, genuine, authentic storytelling”—not just airtime (32:06).
  • Formulaic campaigns, logo saturation, and “copy-paste” tactics erode brand equity (31:36–33:50).

7. Can a Bold Creative Vision Scale at Mega Brands?

• Jonathan Anderson at Dior:
  He “had a carte blanche” at Loewe, while Dior is more codified. Imran foresees tension, but also possibility:
  • “He can bring that layer of originality… to something that’s kind of a very tightly defined code” (34:19).
  • The challenge is scaling “creative energy” – not everyone wants the wildest runway look, but they want to feel the brand’s “spirit and direction and energy” (37:06).

8. A Note on Hope and Patience

• The Pressure of the Moment:
  Imran calls for “a little bit of patience”:

  “Despite all the excitement… it all doesn’t rest on a single show… Let’s give them space and time to really, really take their creativity and put it to work. Because this is not an overnight solution” (40:10).

• Why September matters:
  “You have three of the most creative designers… taking over three of the biggest, most important luxury houses in the world… The energy… could be a really meaningful inflection point this autumn” (38:41).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Brands started to treat customers in a way that they were… underestimating the intelligence and overestimating the patience of customers.” — Imran (06:20)
• “None of the issues is going to be specifically addressed… this is a series of challenges… that have been building up for quite a bit.” — Imran (05:08)
• “What’s that customer experience like: you wait 20 minutes outside a big luxury store… then find that prices had been increased by 20, 30, 40, or even 100%…” — Imran (06:40)
• “That generation has somehow validated the fake counterfeit good by calling them ‘dupes.’” — Imran (24:00)
• “Fashion marketing should not be about getting airtime. Fashion marketing should be about connection, engagement, and real, genuine, authentic storytelling.”— Imran (33:16)
• “If you don’t have the energy, then I’m afraid it doesn’t work.” — Imran (37:36)
• “Let’s give them the space and the time to really, really take their creativity and put it to work. Because this is not an overnight solution.” — Imran (40:44)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:28 – Brian’s first question: setting up the Great Fashion Reset context
• 05:08 – Imran details why September’s shows can’t fix root problems
• 06:20–07:40 – The shifting luxury customer experience, velvet ropes, and price hikes
• 13:06 – How designers and brands might respond to “mass produced luxury” fatigue
• 16:57–17:55 – The “two customer groups” in luxury and the need for accessible entry points
• 20:21 – Burberry pivots back to the aspirational market
• 23:10–24:59 – How Gen Z and new entrants relate to luxury (vintage, dupes, resale)
• 25:32 – Coach, Polène, and the “return of accessible luxury”
• 27:52 – The emptiness of contemporary luxury marketing campaigns
• 28:17–29:32 – Imran on Jonathan Anderson and the necessity of thoughtful, multi-channel world-building
• 31:36–33:16 – Why logo-saturation and “copy-paste” marketing undermine brands
• 34:19–38:41 – Can creativity and vision scale at Dior, Chanel, Gucci?
• 40:44 – A plea for patience and perspective as this pivotal Fashion Month unfolds

Conclusion

The episode provides a sobering but hopeful look at luxury fashion’s crossroads, blending acute diagnosis of structural issues with optimism for creative renewal led by a talented new wave of designers. Yet, all agree: genuine transformation will be slow, incremental, and must be supported by patience, realistic expectations, and industry-wide recalibration of value, marketing, and customer experience.

For further insights, listeners are encouraged to check out BoF’s Great Fashion Reset editorial package and Brian Baskin’s “Debrief” podcast in the coming weeks.