WWD January 5, 2026
Even the World’s Richest People Are Pulling Back on Luxury, Survey Shows
Even as
luxury brands intensify their focus on wealthy clients, there are signs of pullback on several fronts.
Twenty percent of affluent and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) intend to spend less on designer fashions over the next 12 months. The percentage of non-purchasers
rises to 30 percent for leather goods, 32 percent for jewelry and 44 percent for watches, according to findings gathered in the third quarter of 2025 by research firm Altiant and interpreted by Paris-based
luxury consultancy MAD.
“The shift from consumer goods to experiential luxury is confirmed,” MAD cofounder Jean Revis added in an interview.
The reasons behind changes in purchase habits differ by category, with mostly clients over age 40 retreating from designer fashions, and affluents shunning leather goods while HNWIs maintain a quite high frequency of purchase, Le Bansais said.
The implications?
Fashion houses should capitalize on healthy appetite among 18- to 39-year-olds, and question how they can entice others back, while there’s clearly an issue of accessibility with leather goods, given steep price increases in the post-COVID luxury boom, she said.
Cosmetics, fragrance and jewelry categories remained broadly resilient, though a closer look at the numbers for jewelry reveals another polarization, with 40-plus males retreating, but women demonstrating a higher frequency of purchase.
Half of female HNWIs reported a median spend of more than $13,000 over the past year, according to the survey.
The data also pointed to North America as the most promising region for luxury firms with rich clients reporting the highest level of multiple purchases and the lowest level of non-purchases. Europe emerged as the most cautious region.
In jewelry, for example, only 29 percent of North American big spenders didn’t buy any in the past year, versus 43 percent in Asia and 52 percent in Europe. For designer fashions, only 16 percent of North American respondents didn’t purchase versus 33 percent for Europe.
Revis described a “moment of insecurity in the luxury industry,” and a hunger for insights into how its wealthiest clients behave from a statistical point of view.
The caution that emerged across the survey reflects a lack of confidence in the financial system, with 61 percent of respondents considering it somewhat or very unstable, and 30 percent expecting the stock market to perform worse over the next 12 months.
(Atliant’s pool of affluent and high-net-worth individuals are split equally between North America, Europe and Asia, with a median household income of $270,000 and median investable assets of $883,000.)
According to MAD’s interpretation of 2025 data, the downturn
“seems to reinforce traditional views,” meaning wealthy consumers — asked which words represent themselves when it comes to wealth —
prefer “tradition” over “modern” — and “local” is gaining ground over “international.”
Le Bensais noted there are still things to cheer about. “The number of people who purchased either multiple or single is always higher than the number of people who did not purchase, which means the segment overall is quite penetrated, which is a good thing,” she said.
Meanwhile,
the study revealed some surprising sentiments about sustainable luxury, with only 56 percent of affluents and HNWIs considering it important, but 74 percent will pay more for sustainable luxury products.
Le Bansais said one possible explanation is that
wealthy consumers are OK “to pay more to make sure that they have safe products for themselves,” especially for categories like beauty.
