Luxury at the Summit April 19-22, 2024
Technology and creativity: New paradigms and rules of the game.
Artificial intelligence and other technologies have changed the way we work, interact with one another and see the future. Luxury brands have been waking up to the fact that they need to integrate these new developments into their corporate culture, decision-making and annual budgets if they want to remain competitive. Creativity is fundamental but technology gives you that extra agility and reactivity you need to stay ahead in this fast-changing world. How should we relate to technology? What are its boons and banes? What existential threats does AI create and how should we deal with them?
To answer these questions, we united an incredible panel of specialists: Neil Lawrence, inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, Pierre Denis,former Jimmy Choo CEO and founder of the Luxury Innovation and Fashion Tech fund (LIFT), French writer and adventurer Sylvain Tesson, Luxurynsight CEO Jonathan Siboni, AlixPartners luxury specialists Olivier Abtan and Victor Gavrilov and Raul Cruz Bonilla VP EMEA of AI solutions provider imki specialized in fashion and Euan Rellie, founder of M&A advisory firm BDA Partners.
This series of conferences benefited from the support of consultancy firm Alix Partners
Everything was off the record. No other media than Miss Tweed was present. We did not meet to make headlines but to exchange freely, to widen our network and, above all, to have a memorable weekend. Skiing in the morning, conferences in the afternoon and partying at night proved to be a great formula. Participation at the summit was reserved exclusively to Miss Tweed subscribers. That way we formed a homogenous group of independent like-minded people.
The giant slalom ski race for the Miss Tweed Cup was a new experience for many participants. Winners won an engraved trophy, a magnum of champagne from Champagne Barons de Rothschild and a sweater provided by Skidress. That brand of chic après-ski clothes was founded by Charles Diebold, one of the creators of the Val d’Isère ski resort in the 1950s.
On Saturday, we held a concert at La Savoyarde by Baritone Andrey Zhdanov, accompanied by pianist Christophe Maynard.
We concluded our “Luxury at the Summit” by privatizing the Folie Douce complex at the top of the mountain. The gondola lifts were open only for our group. There were lots of fun (and thankfully short) speeches for the Miss Tweed Cup trophy award ceremony, which was followed by a lively cabaret show at La Cucùcina restaurant. In the closing hours, we danced on the restaurant’s long wooden tables and the party continued at La Baraque bar in Val d’Isère.
Some of the best quotes from the conferences:
Olivier Abtan and Victor Gavrilov from AlixPartners:
“It is the first time in history we have had a flattish growth market for luxury. And, to be honest, we don't know what happens next.”
“The rich today are the ones who are buying, and not the affluent masses.”
“Thanks to AI you can now have the brain of Lagerfeld available to you in an instant ... as a result .... craft is going to become more important in the age of AI because creativity will be increasingly driven by technology.”
Raul Cruz Bonilla from imki:
"AI is not going to replace humans. It is as if you had a great assistant."
"AI allows brands to become more creative because it allows them to explore avenues they have not thought through."
"Today, we need to create products that are more on trend."
Professor Neil Lawrence:
“What we see in the latest generation of AI is its ability to copy instinct. But AI can never replace our vulnerabilities …. These are love, death, reputation…These vulnerabilities are the cracks through which there is the risk AI dominates the human experience.”
A point of hope: “Humans will always be most interested in other humans. That interest is unlimited.” But be aware: “social media preys on our cognitive foibles and sells weak versions of the human to each other. Social media intentionally disempowers us.”
On the difference of the radical speed at which AI works via humans: “Machines are communicating at the speed of light while we humans are communicating at the speed of sound … With human eyes we are able to absorb around 10m bits a second but a computer is able to absorb around 1bn bits of information.”
The most specific threat AI poses is to the professions because “there is a separation between those who control the information infrastructure and the professions.” This is a radical break with the past. Tech, in effect, has created “guilds of modern scribes.” “ChatGPT has the potential to do what the printing press did for modern society, which is to democratize the professions” … “in the same way, there is the same potential for good and harm to come from AI as came from the printing press.”
“Ideas of tech utopia and dystopia are clearly rubbish. It is, ultimately, going to be something in between. But the dystopian reality becomes a possibility of the tech companies are allowed to shape this new world.”
Thus: “The quality of the conversation we are having around AI is extremely poor” In short: we need to take back control of the debate from the tech giants and put “the Atomic Human” at the centre.
Pierre Denis:
“The luxury industry does not depend on the tech industry to exist” and this has given the luxury industry power over its destiny. “In reality when luxury talks to Meta and Google, it is all about content … if you remove fashion and luxury from Instagram you only have cats and dogs.”
There is a lot less interest in mushroom leather than there was two years ago. You also don’t know how it ages in time.”
“I believe in online multi brand but it has been done universally badly.”
“I believe AI will help companies to buy better and that will allow them to gain 4,5,6 percentage points of margin which will be the difference between being profitable and loss making.”
Jonathan Siboni:
“Data in the 21st century is like oil in the 18th century: an immensely untapped asset. Like oil, there will be huge rewards for those who sees data’s fundamental value and learn to extract and use it.”
“The growth of the luxury super cycle was underpinned “by price increases rather than an increase in volumes.”
“Between 2019 and 2022 leathergoods market grew by 40 pct. But 60 pct of that growth came from price increases.”
Luxury goods groups are now seeking to sustain growth by expanding their accessible luxury products and drive through prices rises there. Behind the launch of Kering Beauty and shortly, Richemont Beauty, and also the expansion into restaurants is a business plan “to create desirability and visibility of products … and by entering more product categories that speak to consumers at a lower pricing point.” For example, prices for small leather goods have risen 50 percent vs overall price increases of around 30 pct since 2019.”
Euan Rellie:
“India is emerging as the next luxury hub. It is the fastest growing major economy, supported by the world's largest population base. India is set to surpass Japan and Germany in nominal GDP and become the third largest economy by 2027. India's population is projected to surpass more than 1.5bn people by 2030 and reach 2 billion people by 2050.”
“India is projected to become the world's third largest consumer market by 2027 and to more than double its number of millionaires by that time. By 2030, a quarter of India's population will be aged between 20 and 33 years old making it set to be the largest young consumer market in the world.”
“Indian consumers spending on luxury goods is forecast to reach US$32bn by 2030, and the luxury market's consumer base to reach 500m people by that date. That said, India's luxury market has specific characteristics, and it is not a replica of the western luxury market. Weddings are a focus of luxury spending. An estimated US$50 billion was spent on the wedding industry in India in 2023. The sari is also a focus of India luxury dressing, as is jewellery. Thus, the world's biggest brands, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Jimmy Choo, are launching products and brand messages in India specifically targeted to the Indian consumer.”
Sylvain Tesson:
"We are in the reign of the biggest number now."
"What comes out of this flat world? Internet is a system. And is has many dark sides. Having all this wealth of information readily available does not make people more intelligent.... We have never had so many pedagogical tools yet the level of education of children in France is going down.
Stephane Galienni:
"Savoir-faire is great but you also need savoir-tech."
"AI is a revolution we all need to understand. And data is at the heart of that system."
