Luxury Overview

"Affordable luxury to me would be the look and feel of luxury without the high-ticket price. To me, that means quality products and a solid in-store experience as well as a solid digital experience, and easy customer service."

"Net-A-Porter has the loveliest customer service experience and I love their return system. I think convenience and care with packaging and delivery improve the shopping experience."

"Affordable luxury makes me think of a product or service which is approachable for the average person in terms of cost, but offers something of superior quality. I imagine such a product or service would be practical (not superfluous) but provide an exceptionally special experience or top-notch quality."

"For my personality type, a luxury is something that you honestly do not need or only bought to go with one item in your closet. For example, if I bought a peacoat that I knew I was only going to wear once while at an event, I would consider this a luxury. I think we tie luxury to items that cost a bit too much."

"For me, luxury means something that I don’t need. When I can afford to add something I really want, but I could live without it. Sometimes that could also mean splurging for a slightly higher quality version of something that I do need, but from a different seller."

"'Affordable luxury' to me sounds super gimmicky; and something that I probably want no parts of if I’m being completely honest; and then it raises the questions: How did this become luxurious? Were there corners cut in order to make this product affordable? If so, where, why, and how?"

"My true luxury is to be able to go shopping with my mother (I hope this doesn’t sound lame) and walk into Target every Sunday and browse the clothing section (not avoid it) and have a relaxed chat about the clothes, why we like them and not feel bad about thinking something is cute."

"Luxury brands to me are Chanel, Dior, Prada, Gucci, Emilio Pucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Stuart Weitzman. Luxury is what we as a society have decided are haute fashion."

"Luxury means to me when I just feel like splurging on myself! Like I just felt luxurious when I purchased my Brand Blackwood bag. It just makes me feel good."

"Luxury in terms of customer service, is going above and beyond for the customer. Being customer-centric. I love going into a store and feeling like I matter. Being asked if I would like something to drink or if there is anything I need goes a long way."

"Luxury is something that you really want that you can afford only a few times. So, maybe I decide I want a truly nice wool coat: I will treat myself to a luxury coat and spend $600. But I am only buying that coat once every decade."

"When I think of luxury I think of all the high end brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. I think of the Kardashians when I think of luxury: owning 20 cars, wearing everything designer. Luxury, I think,is ‘expensive’ if I had to put it in one word. I would love affordable luxury, I would love to buy nicer things for less."

"I think a high-low collab is genius. That’s affordable luxury. Having a household name brand partner with a designer is such a good look, fashion should be accessible to all."

"Luxury is knowing someone else can’t get this. It’s not necessarily something that looks rich but feels rich, you know it’s high quality silk or cotton, it just feels and hangs differently, you can feel it on your skin."

"Uniqlo U do affordable luxury really well. But I also feel like if everyone started an affordable luxury line it would defeat the purpose of luxury, it could make it too inclusive for certain tiers of people."

"Luxury can also be an experience, going to my local nail salon can feel like a luxury experience. You get to sit back and just switch off and be taken care of. Anything you can do to feel good is a luxury experience to me."

"Luxury - a thing you don't need. Not essential but desirable. I think BR has been so focused on Oooh !! Luxury !!!! As this aspirational selling point to appeal to the upwardly mobile without seeing the other side. Luxury by definition is a thing you don't need – a non-essential."

"Luxury to me means top shelf, best products, best quality, ages well, timeless."

"I feel like I don’t like affordable luxury. Because you’re still trying to remind me that I can’t afford the actual luxurious things, and I just want to luxuriate in whatever the fuck it is I’m trying to buy."

"Luxury is dead. Human-centric customer service is not. And another potentially sizable oxymoron if we want to get to the base root, luxury was actually first born as luxuria, in Latin, and that meant extravagance and excess."

"Aesop stores use the same architects and each store is different and constructed out of its own recycled packaging. Every store is a different luxurious experience. Luxury can come in the form of a clean large and appropriately lit changing room."

"Luxury is time. You can tell because it comes in the form of selvage fabric, aged whiskey, timeless pieces."

"Luxury is anything that makes me feel classic, clean, timeless and inspired. Not too loud but not too subtle. Definitely has nothing to do with price."

"I’m a little old school, the first thing I do is touch, you can sense right away from feel, that this is a luxurious product. Everything starts with the fabric, and then it gets turned into a garment. It has to have that hand, and there are many different types of hand. How do you define that? You know as soon as you touch it."

"My definition equals anything that offers me comfort, ease and satisfies a desire without me having to put in much effort, including the effort to pay for the product."

"An item in my wardrobe that was an investment of money and holds up to its value year over year, is versatile, and I never get bored of wearing."

"Luxury to me means a very high quality product that the average person has to stretch in order to obtain. For example,I have a beautiful cashmere blanket that I just love. It is a sustainable, imported item from Mongolia. It doesn’t even have a brand name on it. It's a luxury because everyone can’t access this item."

"Luxury is the pleasure of dressing up, that is a luxury to me. The notion that I can look in the mirror and throw something together to make it aesthetically pleasing is luxury to me. That that look can then be worthy of the accessories I putting with it. Always less, never more."

"Something that makes me feel good in terms of quality and comfort but I would never buy a piece from a ‘luxury’ brand by how most people define them… Birkenstocks are luxury."

"I think that ‘affordable luxury’ means high quality at a reasonable price. I would expect high quality/premium products, experiences or services, offered at reasonable and accessible price points, from a brand positioning itself in the ‘affordable luxury’ space."