Luxury's Great Reset Needs Great Leaders
- Marion Heil
- 15. Dez. 2025
- 8 Min. Lesezeit
Executive Search in the Luxury, Premium and Lifestyle Sector
Let me get one thing out of the way first.
When I tell people I work on executive search assignments in the luxury and premium sector, I sometimes get a raised eyebrow. Really? Handbags and perfume? While the world is dealing with geopolitical instability, economic pressure, and companies cutting headcount across the board?
Fair point. So let me explain why I think this is exactly the right moment to be paying close attention to this sector.
First: the luxury and premium industry is not a peripheral market. It's a €1.44 trillion global industry - that's not a rounding error on the world economy. It employs millions of people across design, manufacturing, retail, and hospitality. It sits at the intersection of culture, craft, creativity, and commerce in ways that almost no other sector does. When it gets its leadership right (or wrong), the consequences are real, and they ripple.
Second: crisis and transformation are precisely when leadership quality matters most. It's easy to run a business when the wind is behind you. What the luxury sector is going through right now is a fundamental reset of its value proposition, its consumer base, and its cost structure. That's the kind of moment that separates leaders who can genuinely navigate complexity from those who could only manage growth. Finding those people is not a luxury problem. It's a serious business challenge.
And third, honestly: this is a sector I find genuinely fascinating. It operates at the intersection of emotion and excellence, of heritage and reinvention, of personal taste and global scale. The leadership questions here are as interesting as in any industry I know.
So. With that said. The numbers are in.
The Bain-Altagamma Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study, published in November 2025, puts global personal luxury goods sales at €358 billion in 2025, down from €364 billion in 2024, and €369 billion in 2023. Three years of contraction in a row. Flat at constant exchange rates, yes, but no growth either.
Zoom out and the full picture of the luxury market, including experiences, hospitality, fine dining, and wellness, totals €1.44 trillion. And here's the thing: that broader number is holding up. Because consumers haven't stopped spending on luxury. They've just stopped spending it on things.
Consumers haven't stopped spending on luxury. They've just stopped spending it on things.
Meanwhile, the luxury consumer base itself is shrinking. From 400 million people in 2022 down to 340 million in 2025. That's 60 million lost customers in three years. New customer acquisition declined a further 5% between 2024 and 2025. Active luxury shoppers have dropped from 60% of the addressable market in 2022 to around 40-45% today.
McKinsey and BoF's State of Fashion 2026 calls it bluntly: "The Great Reset." And Bain goes one step further, calling the shift away from goods toward experiences a "tectonic shift."
From where I sit, with 30 years advising on executive talent across European and global markets, the most visible symptom of this reset is not a strategy document. It's a wave of leadership change at the very top.
Musical Chairs at the Top
Nine of the 15 largest luxury houses appointed new creative directors in the twelve months through end of 2025. Four of those also brought in a new CEO. That's not coincidence. That's an industry collectively asking: do we have the right people to navigate what comes next?
Jonathan Anderson at Dior. Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. New faces at Balenciaga, Gucci, Fendi, Loewe. The Spring/Summer 2026 fashion weeks were essentially a live executive performance review, played out in real time, in front of millions.
The creative side gets all the headlines. But the C-suite transitions happening quietly alongside them matter just as much. A new creative director without a CEO who genuinely understands the commercial-creative tension is a recipe for beautiful collections and ugly financials.
And the financials are under real pressure. Operating margins have fallen to 15-16% in 2025, down from a peak of 21% in 2022. The industry has effectively lost 20% of its total profit compared to 2023 levels. Inflation, tariffs, markdowns, higher operating costs, and softer top-line growth that leaves nowhere to hide.
What Brands Actually Need Right Now
Growth going forward will be more modest and more concentrated. Bain projects 4-6% annual growth over the next decade, but only if the industry adapts. And the adaptation starts with leadership.
Bain projects 4-6% annual growth over the next decade, but only if the industry adapts. And the adaptation starts with leadership.
Knowing your best clients, really knowing them. Top-spending clients now account for close to half of all personal luxury goods sales, and they are expected to drive 65-80% of market growth through 2027. When your entire growth model depends on your top 5%, you need leaders who understand ultra-high-net-worth clients not as a segment, but as individuals. What these clients say defines luxury, according to McKinsey: expertise and quality. Not logos. Not marketing noise. This requires executives who can build and sustain that promise at every single touchpoint.
Being fluent in both creativity and commerce. For years, many luxury houses ran on the assumption that a visionary creative director and a strong CFO were enough. That model is cracking. What the moment demands is leaders, especially CEOs and COOs, who are genuinely bilingual: fluent in brand heritage and craft, and equally rigorous about commercial performance, digital channels, and data.
Selling an experience, not just a product. Bain's data is unambiguous: experiences, including fine dining, wellness, travel, and hospitality, delivered all net market growth since 2023. For premium lifestyle and fashion brands, this means executives who can think beyond product and into ecosystem. Who can design a client journey that competes not just with rival handbag brands, but with a week in Oman or a suite at Aman.
Going deep, not wide. Here's a pattern in the Bain data worth pausing on: more than 70% of brands achieving growth in 2025 were specialist players. Generalists and mega-groups are struggling. That has a direct talent implication: deep category expertise is now a competitive advantage, not just a nice-to-have.
Deep category expertise is now a competitive advantage, not just a nice-to-have.
Making AI work without killing the magic. McKinsey's State of Fashion 2026 reports that over 35% of luxury executives are already using generative AI in client service, product discovery, and creative support. The talent question is no longer "do we have a Chief Digital Officer?" but "does our entire leadership team understand how to make AI work for a brand that is fundamentally about human emotion and craft?" Those two things can coexist, but only with the right leadership.
Categories Worth Watching (and Hiring For)
Jewelry is the clear standout, projected to grow at four times the rate of clothing in unit sales. The secondhand luxury market is now €50 billion and growing at 4-6% annually, outpacing primary market sales. Fragrances and eyewear are also bright spots. These categories are creating genuine demand for executives who combine craft understanding with digital and community-building skills.
Meanwhile, luxury prices having risen 61% on average between 2019 and 2025 has pushed a huge cohort of aspirational consumers out of traditional luxury and into the arms of smart premium brands. This "affordable aspiration" space is growing fast. Executives who can navigate that territory with both brand discipline and commercial agility are in high demand.
Why DACH Is More Interesting Than It Looks
You might think this is primarily a Paris-Milan-London story. It's not.
Germany alone is one of Europe's top five luxury markets, with a luxury goods market valued at around $28 billion in 2025, and luxury fashion leading at an estimated $6.8 billion. The long-term trajectory points to $39 billion by 2035. That's a serious market, even if it rarely gets the spotlight that Paris or Milan enjoy.
Switzerland is a different story, smaller, but structurally unique. It is home to some of the world's most iconic luxury brands and the global watchmaking industry. Bally, Longines, IWC, Richemont's entire portfolio: all headquartered or deeply rooted here. The Swiss luxury consumer is arguably the most discerning in the world. Euromonitor notes that Swiss buyers prioritise tactile, in-store experiences, deep craft heritage, and personalisation above almost anything else. That's a very specific leadership brief.
And Austria? Austria is often the least visible part of the DACH luxury puzzle, but it punches above its weight. Swarovski, one of the world's most recognisable crystal and jewellery brands. Wolford, whose technically sophisticated bodywear has defined a niche category globally for decades. Silhouette, the Linz-based eyewear company whose rimless frames have been worn by everyone from astronauts on the ISS to music superstars to heads of state, and whose premium positioning is a quiet masterclass in how Austrian engineering precision translates into global luxury relevance. Riedel, whose wine glasses became the global standard for fine dining tables everywhere. Lobmeyr, whose Viennese crystal has been supplying royal courts and grand hotels since 1823. And then there are the luxury hospitality groups, the premium outdoor and alpine wear companies, the jewellers and watchmakers whose names are well-known within their categories but rarely make international headlines.
Across all three markets, there are dynamics that don't translate neatly from global playbooks.
The family business layer. A significant share of the DACH luxury and premium ecosystem is still family-owned or family-influenced. These businesses have real strengths: long-term thinking, deep craft identity, genuine brand authenticity. But they also face challenges that publicly listed luxury conglomerates don't. Succession planning that is not just about family dynamics but about finding the right professional leadership to take the brand to the next generation. Governance structures that need to evolve. And the perennial question: how much to internationalise without losing what made the brand worth internationalising in the first place.
The hidden champion dynamic. Many of the most interesting premium and luxury-adjacent companies in DACH are not household names outside their categories. Precision manufacturers, premium materials suppliers, specialist lifestyle brands: companies that supply the global luxury industry or operate at its edges. They face the same leadership questions as the mega-houses, but without the same talent infrastructure around them.
The small market problem. Vienna, Munich, Zurich: genuinely global cities, but the executive market is small. Everyone knows everyone. Confidentiality matters enormously. And the best candidates are often not actively looking, which means successful executive search here requires relationships built over years.
This is where we work. Not just placing executives, but understanding these companies from the inside: their culture, their ownership dynamics, their board relationships, and what kind of leadership will actually fit. In a market this size, that depth of understanding is key.
Some Cautious Optimism
The Bain data ends on a note of cautious optimism: sequential improvement through Q3 2025, a better full-year outcome than the midyear forecast feared, and a long-term growth projection of 4-6% annually through 2035.
But Bain is also clear: the post-Covid era of price elevation is ending. The easy growth is over. What comes next will require a fundamentally different kind of leadership. Leaders who rebuild emotional connection, deliver genuine quality, and create experiences that money can't easily replicate elsewhere.
The easy growth is over. What comes next will require a fundamentally different kind of leadership.
The brands that will win the next cycle are those who find the right people now, before the recovery accelerates and the competition for this specific kind of talent gets even tighter. The Great Reset is not a crisis for brands that respond well. It's an invitation.
That's the brief. And it's one I find genuinely energising.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marion Heil is the founder and managing director of Board+CEO Advisors, a Vienna-based executive search and board advisory boutique. She advises on C-suite and supervisory board appointments across DACH and CEE, including in the luxury, premium and lifestyle sector. She is also currently helping her eleven-year-old son navigate the shortlist for his first life-defining fragrance, which she considers equally complex.
Sources: Bain & Company / Fondazione Altagamma "Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study: Finding a New Longevity for Luxury" (November 2025); McKinsey & Company / Business of Fashion "State of Luxury 2025" and "State of Fashion 2026."
