CAN BRANDS MAINTAIN THEIR HERITAGE AMID THIS GREAT TECH ACCELERATION?
BY EVANGELINA FYSA
When I was 19, I pretended to be my own manager to attend London Fashion Week. The industry was different then—everyone dressed in black, adhering to a rigid uniform of fashion authority. There were no influencers, no digital front rows, and no live-streamed shows. It was a world governed by exclusivity, captured by Suzy Menkes in her seminal essay The Circus of Fashion, which bemoaned the shift toward spectacle.
Today, fashion marketing has changed beyond recognition, with digital acceleration challenging the very notion of brand heritage.
The question now is: Can legacy brands maintain their tradition and authenticity amid this great technological acceleration?
The Digital Paradigm Shift
Consumers today are navigating an increasingly digital landscape. A recent study revealed that the average American spends over 13 hours a day engaging in multi-tasking digital activities, with video content consumption exceeding five hours daily. Meanwhile, gaming—long an insular industry—has transformed into an expansive digital ecosystem, with 148 million US gamers engaging in non-gaming activities, from social interactions to virtual goods creation.
This led to an inflection point in fashion tech and laid the foundation for the Metaverse. From Gucci’s multi-year partnership with Yuga Labs to Nike’s 97,000 NFT sneaker sales, luxury brands dove headfirst into the virtual world. Dolce & Gabbana’s Collezione Genesi NFT collection fetched nearly $6 million, while Burberry launched NFT accessories in Mythical Games’ Blankos Block Party. Yet, after an initial wave of enthusiasm, interest in the Metaverse waned. Google Trends data reveals a sharp decline in Metaverse-related searches, and brands are reconsidering their digital strategies.
Does this signal a retreat from technology? Hardly.
Instead, it underscores a critical pivot: brands must now align technological innovation with their foundational values rather than chase fleeting trends.
Brand-Building in a Changing World
Brand-building isn’t what it used to be. After years of relying on instantly trackable performance marketing, fashion marketing is undergoing a reset. Rising costs, increased scrutiny on data privacy, and a shift in consumer expectations have fueled a renewed focus on brand storytelling. According to the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2024 Executive Survey, 71 percent of fashion executives plan to increase brand marketing spend in 2024, compared to 46 percent for performance marketing.
This marks a fundamental shift, particularly for direct-to-consumer brands that built their business models on the precision of digital advertising. While brand marketing doesn’t offer the immediate, granular tracking of performance marketing, it provides something more valuable: emotional resonance and cultural positioning. Done effectively, brand marketing can distinguish brands in an increasingly saturated media landscape.
Identity Revamp: Lessons from Industry Leaders
Effective brand marketing is not built on one-off campaigns but on sustained, holistic strategies. Several brands have demonstrated the power of a well-executed identity revamp.
Hugo Boss embarked on a comprehensive repositioning, splitting its branding between Hugo (targeting Gen-Z) and Boss (appealing to Millennials). With new logos, a star-studded marketing campaign featuring Hailey Bieber, and immersive activations like see-now-buy-now fashion shows, the brand generated record sales of €3.65 billion in 2022.
Zegna simplified its branding ahead of its 2021 IPO, dropping Ermenegildo from its name and consolidating three sub-brands into one. Collaborations with Fear of God helped reposition the brand for a younger, luxury-leisurewear audience, leading to a 16 percent increase in 2022 sales.
New Balance leveraged collaborations and strategic inventory allocation to elevate its status. Working with partners like JJJJound, Miu Miu, and Aimé Leon Dore, the brand reinforced its cultural credibility, becoming one of the most sought-after names in sneaker resale markets.
AI: The Next Frontier in Brand Evolution
Artificial intelligence is reshaping fashion in ways that extend beyond marketing gimmicks. AI-powered personalization, predictive analytics, and automated design generation are no longer futuristic concepts but industry standards. LVMH’s Patou has integrated AI authentication systems to combat counterfeits, while Prada Beauty has leveraged AI-driven content creation for product marketing. In a world where hyper-personalization is expected—akin to how Netflix curates recommendations—brands must deploy AI strategically to maintain relevance without diluting their identity.
However, the early excitement surrounding generative AI has met reality. More than a year after large language models captured public attention, even the most sophisticated iterations continue to make factual errors, miscalculate data, and generate imagery with historical or anatomical inconsistencies. Some of fashion’s most hyped AI-driven projects have already faced setbacks. Kering’s AI-powered shopping assistant, Madeline, initially marketed as the answer to endless scrolling, struggled to provide relevant product recommendations and now sits in limbo, indefinitely labeled as 'under maintenance.' Similarly, Levi’s AI-generated model initiative was met with backlash, as critics argued it failed to address real diversity issues within the industry.
Despite these challenges, AI's potential remains undeniable. Analysts estimate that generative AI could contribute up to $275 billion in operating profits to the fashion and luxury industries in the next few years. But widespread adoption is far from guaranteed. According to recent data, businesses have been hesitant to embrace AI at scale, as concerns around misinformation, ethical dilemmas, and technological limitations persist.
Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane (Hollywood Palladium, FW 2016).
Heritage and Innovation: Finding the Balance
Hedi Slimane’s arrival at Saint Laurent in 2012 marked a seismic shift in branding. His rebranding efforts—streamlining the name to Saint Laurent, refining the house codes, and embracing a new visual language—led to giving power back to the people. By stripping away the excess and repositioning the brand with a sharp, youthful edge, Slimane democratized fashion’s cultural relevance, shifting influence from traditional media gatekeepers to the consumers themselves.
Over the subsequent years, you would almost think that the designer’s OCD approach to his sojourn at Saint Laurent was improbable.
Yet Slimane manipulated every minuscule detail to perfection. The model casting? A myriad of unheard indie kids. The music?Something garage from California. The set? Dramatic, dystopian, thunder dome, which makes the catwalk look like an arena stage. But the clothes – as it should be – add a dosage of cool-kit clout. He championed subcultural styles, culling from mod, punk and rock and features the music of young underground bands. It’s a rebranding success story. At least, as far as retail goes the sales are buoyant. The brand’s owner, Kering, announced a 36.9% quarterly sales rise for the third quarter of 2015, to €243.4m, ensuring a colossal boom for the company.
Meanwhile, Hermès has taken a more measured approach, refusing to engage in tech hype while upholding its heritage of craftsmanship and storytelling. While Hermès avoids traditional advertising, it invests significantly in communication and experiences that reflect its values. In 2017, the company allocated €275 million to communication expenditures, prioritizing creative campaigns and global activations that reinforce its heritage and craftsmanship. This anti-marketing approach achieves what many traditional campaigns cannot: it fosters an emotional connection with the brand, ensuring Hermès remains a benchmark of luxury. By focusing on authenticity and timeless design, Hermès redefines what it means to thrive in the modern luxury landscape. Through its unique model, Hermès demonstrates that true luxury lies not in mass visibility, but in the art of creating meaningful, lasting impressions.
The question is not whether brands should innovate, but how they do so while preserving the emotional resonance that defines their DNA.
The Trust Paradox
As technology permeates every facet of fashion, digital fatigue, data privacy concerns, and misinformation pose real challenges. With AI capable of generating synthetic media and deepfakes, the very trust that heritage brands have cultivated over decades is at risk. The industry must navigate this landscape with transparency, ensuring that digital innovations enhance rather than erode consumer confidence.
Apple’s recent AR glasses launch underscores a critical tension: as screens inch closer to our personal space, does technology bring us closer or create barriers? For fashion, an industry rooted in human connection and storytelling, the answer lies in adopting technology that enhances rather than replaces the tactile, sensory experiences that define luxury.
The Future of Fashion: A Tech-Enabled, Human-Centered Vision
As the industry moves forward, we must ask ourselves: Are we driving change, or is technology driving it for us?
The challenge is clear: how can brands embrace technology while safeguarding their heritage? The answer lies in:
Intelligent Integration: Leveraging AI, blockchain, and AR to enhance—not replace—physical experiences.
Sustainable Transparency: Using technology to foster accountability in supply chains and climate initiatives.
Human-Centric Innovation: Ensuring that technology serves to deepen, rather than disrupt, the emotional connections between brands and consumers.
The future of fashion is not about passively surrendering to digital forces—it is about mastering them with intention. It is about a future that is intelligent, ambient, transparent, sustainable, accountable, and—above all—human. The industry must move beyond fleeting trends and use technology as a tool, not a mandate.
Fashion’s greatest legacy will not be in resisting change but in shaping it while honoring its past. The brands that endure will be those that strike the delicate balance between evolution and tradition, proving that true innovation is not about abandoning heritage but redefining it for a new era.
The future is not on our face.
Bungalow 28 is a forward-thinking tech and creative agency specializing in luxury, fashion, art, and culture. We are committed to redefining industry norms by leveraging cutting-edge technology as the foundation of innovative strategies that inspire, connect, and elevate the brands shaping tomorrow's cultural landscape.