The new luxury blueprint

Welcome to THOUGHTS, a content series for builders of modern luxury brands

The new luxury blueprint

The late Virgil Abloh’s influence on the modern fashion landscape is significant and far-reaching. He challenged traditional boundaries and redefined what it means to be a luxury brand in the modern era.

His ability to blend art, music, architecture and entertainment with fashion was unrivaled. He understood that luxury isn’t just about expensive materials or exclusive designs; it’s also about the experiences a brand creates and how it connects the customer to those experiences.

He represented different perspectives with his work (something few brands can replicate authentically) and proved that anyone could influence the fashion industry without a traditional “fashion” background.

His approach is a model for other brands to follow to stay relevant and successful in today's ever-changing cultural and business landscape.

Virgil is the blueprint.

But what exactly is the blueprint?

The way things used to be

For the longest time, the "blueprint" was that, as a brand, you just made good, honest clothing and sold it to someone who needed it. Clothing was primarily utilitarian.

There were no growth hacks, capsule collections, scaling operations, or optimizing tech stacks.

But those days are over.

The world we live in is more complicated, and how you build a brand has changed so fast that it's a full-time job just keeping up.

Collabs and drops are interwoven into our cultural psyche. Everything is a drop now. And the more drops you do, the more relevant you are. But can you overdose on drops? Where's the balance?

Then there’s the consumer and what they come to expect from you in every way.

Having a website isn't enough anymore. The user experience and checkout flow must function flawlessly; otherwise, customers will immediately bounce.

“For the longest time, the "blueprint" was that—as a brand—you just made good, honest clothing and sold it to someone who needed it. Clothing was primarily utilitarian…
But those days are over.”

What do you do when that customer starts getting older? How do you connect with younger customers at the same time?

What if you want to open a physical space? Maybe you’re selling well online and are ready to open your first store. Or, you're on to your 10th store. Or, you're looking to expand to an international market. Both experiences require different levels of expertise.

What about overstock? Every brand deals with excess inventory, no matter how well you plan. Is there a way to offload old collections tastefully? Are you even allowed to offload overstock or run sales without looking cheap?

Where's the script for all this?

What playbook do you follow?

The truth is that the blueprint is ever-evolving, even as this is written.

Ultimately, building your brand is grueling, unforgiving work. And while there are more ideas, agencies, tools, freelancers, and widgets than you can keep up with, you often need someone to curate the noise.

You need less hypothesis and more proven thought leadership. You need more real-world stories.

You need actionable advice from decision-makers that have learned the hard way in this business, from the street to the boardroom.

You need less coverage of what dropped and more stories about how it dropped.

THOUGHTS — a content series for brand builders

Meet THOUGHTS, a new kind of content series. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll share stories featuring people running the world’s fastest-growing brands and shaping the new luxury market.

We are the linchpin that connects commerce, collaboration, culture, and community; this is our manifesto.

We believe true thought leadership is about talking and walking the walk. 

We believe that the best way to grow is twofold.

• First, by learning from proven operators who have been there and done that. 

• Second, by going and doing it for yourself.

We believe that good technology is an enabler of growth, and the best tech often takes a brand from 1 to 10.

We believe you don’t need more noise; you need the right noise. We offer perspectives to look beyond the hype to focus on what drives growth.

We believe you don’t need more statistics and case studies. You need more stories brought to life, reminding you that you can do this too.

We are the blueprint; let us guide you with THOUGHTS.

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