Antoine Arnault, chief executive officer of Berluti, doesn’t feel Millennials’ tastes, ideas and purchasing practices pose a threat to the luxury business. In fact, he believes they want similar things to previous generations: Creative, durable, desirable and beautiful products.
Addressing the idea that digital natives would be radically different from those that came before them, and purveyors would have to decipher their strange habits like an occult code, Arnault said, “Frankly, I’m not so sure of it, and I wouldn’t shake our traditions too soon, dispose of all our stores, stop advertising in print magazines, and design only T-shirts or sneakers because we have to attract Millennials.”
Arnault explained that LVMH’s maisons date back to the 18th or 19th century. Over the years, they have had to adapt to technological innovations and to cultural changes that occurred, and they had through creativity to find a “suitable mix between their strong heritage and the new demands or fashions that came up decades after decades.” Arnault said their mission has been to make sure that the maisons are able to remain at the cutting edge of fashion without being “cornered in dead ends: non-diversified product portfolio, non-diversified customer base, non-diversified geographical mix.”
“Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and
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