No oxymoron here. The exclusivity of luxury is maintained by its price tag. Anyone that can afford it is welcomed.

Luxury brands purposely try to maintain exclusivity, but are hardly racially or ethnically motivated. It is about affordability or, in this case, the opposite thereof. The inequality in luxury is pricey versus not, hardly a social justice issue.

The photo at the top of the page answers the question. The three models look pretty diverse (inclusive) to me. The retailer is Louis Vuitton, a pretty exclusive brand.

Price is the real measure of exclusivity, which is a warning to luxury brands. Don’t reduce you price/quality to attract more customers — it will only denigrate your supposed exclusivity.

At the highest end of the luxury goods industries green is the only color that matters. If you can afford the ante, you automatically get to play. One note on DEI. In the end, I think diversity (people not like us) and inclusion (people we define as part of our tribe) are inherently oppositional forces. Most pro-inclusion folks, for example, don’t want to extend the boundaries of inclusion so far that they permit racists, misogynists, homophobes, etc. to join their group. There’s generally no room for the Klan in the clan. Inclusion – as currently defined – means people with different qualities that agree with us, not exactly a formula for total and true diversity. Next, I don’t think there is “a” luxury goods industry. There are at least three. At the very highest end, anyone with enough cash is welcome. Below this tier are brands like Hermes, Coach, etc. Oddly, this second tier of the luxury market is probably less diverse and more exclusive – it’s part of what they are selling. Finally, there… Read more »

Income inequality is the single biggest challenge to the luxury segment. Luxury itself can only do so much to address this but one strategy is to create on-ramps to make it accessible for younger and less economically advantaged customers and prospects.

Luxury brands have an added challenge over mainstream brands. Luxury customers can buy from any brand. They choose a specific brand because of quality, but equally because of image. With the breadth of unsolicited influencers posting on social media daily, a brand can lose control of its image very quickly. Case in point is Dapper Dan – whose designs transformed what the music industry wears today. Luxury brands could not control the direction he took their products. Fortunately Gucci was smart enough to take the “if you can’t beat em’, join em” approach and hired him on, but in so doing their brand image changed, and so did their customer base. It was a choice they made, and it was right for them, but wouldn’t be right for perhaps Chanel. Luxury brands are unfortunately more reliant than others on cultural perception. I’m a short, middle aged woman and I guarantee Juicy Couture would not want me walking around in one of their velour sweatsuits with “Juicy” stamped across the backside! Inclusivity is an incredibly important… Read more »

Hmm. To be a free market geek (and luxury is really a fully free market exercise), luxury prices and value are supported by exclusivity — by having things a little tough to get. This is a place where friction plays a role in increasing the price the customer will pay. Yet the inclusivity discussion seems to ignore the free market.

Where there is extra money, there is opportunity for luxury. The more appropriate answer seems to be that luxury goods suppliers should be aware that they are missing out on key potential luxury goods markets and should seek them out. They’re not different from other luxury markets — but they come from finding where wealth exists not from forcing some other change.

If DEI is a real concern to those who design, manufacture, and market luxury products, feel free to correct the DEI problems detailed in the Wharton article. As we all know, actions do speak louder than words. Or as some say “talk is cheap.” Rather than self-berating by those who create luxury products, simply flip the luxury dynamic and design product for everyone of every identity at low prices, low, low prices any identity and everyone can afford, just like Walmart.

If a Luxury design is truly aspirational then enabling the masses of any identity to afford aspiration becomes a declaration of true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for all! Luxury DEI challenge solved.

It is not possible for luxury product companies to maintain their exclusivity through differential pricing while at the same time promoting inclusivity and diversity in their general hiring, leadership structure, brand communication, social initiatives, vendor selection, etc.?