Luxury did not lose its customers to a recession. It priced them out. By Bain's count the active base fell from roughly 400 million buyers in 2022 to 330 to 340 million in 2025, about a sixth gone in three years, with 20 to 30 million more expected to follow.
The mechanism is plain. Prices on the iconic bags rose 50 to 70 percent since 2019 while 70 to 80 percent fewer of them actually launched. More money, less newness. Even the top clients, Bain's partner says, "feel betrayed." A new signature at the same price will not bring back the thirty-year-old who was priced out of her first purchase. Turn the bag inside out: the lining is close to what it was in 2019. Only the toll went up.
