Resilience is not about standing still. It is about knowing what to hold on to and what needs to change. Bain & Company's latest luxury study offers an encouraging snapshot of the global luxury economy. Global luxury spending reached €1.44tn in 2025, with the market expected to grow by up to 2% in 2026. Personal luxury goods are forecast to return to growth of between 2% and 4% this year, while around 60% of luxury brands are already performing ahead of last year.
It's not the scale of these figures that stands out, but the resilience they reveal in our sector. Over the past few years, luxury has absorbed inflation, geopolitical instability, changing travel patterns, supply chain disruption, softer demand across Europe, a shifting Chinese market and, most recently, the arrival of AI as a new influence on how consumers discover and buy.
What emerges is an industry that continues to adapt without losing sight of what makes it valuable. Bain found that consumer interest in experiences is growing one-and-a-half times faster than interest in products. Bookings for immersive dining, leisure and entertainment have risen by 30% year-on-year, while around half of luxury consumers already use AI somewhere along their purchasing journey.
That ability to evolve has always been one of British luxury's great strengths. Our brands have never succeeded by preserving tradition in aspic. They have succeeded by combining heritage and craftsmanship with a willingness to remain relevant to each new generation of clients.
Today, British luxury contributes £81 billion to the UK economy, supports more than 450,000 jobs, generates £56 billion in exports and sells around 70% of everything it produces overseas. Those figures have only been possible because British brands have consistently understood that international markets never stand still.
At Walpole's Asia Pacific Forum last month, we explored opportunities across both established and emerging luxury markets. Asia-Pacific now accounts for around 22% of British luxury exports, with China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea representing 18% between them.
China itself continues to evolve. Increasingly, consumers are looking for brands that reflect their own identities, values and cultural outlook, rather than simply signalling status. For British luxury, that presents an opportunity rather than a challenge.
Our most successful brands are not exporting a fixed idea of Britishness. They are combining heritage, craftsmanship and material excellence with a deep understanding of local culture. Increasingly, that means creating genuine cross-cultural dialogue, offering highly personalised products, designing immersive retail environments and delivering exceptional hospitality that enables clients to express their own identities.
India offers another significant opportunity. As the UK–India Free Trade Agreement moves towards implementation, Walpole has worked closely with government and industry to help ensure British luxury is well placed to benefit. As tariffs reduce across sectors including luxury cars, Scotch whisky and crafted goods, British brands will be better positioned to serve one of the world's fastest-growing luxury markets, expected to exceed $30bn early in the next decade.
Lower tariffs, however, are only part of the story. Long-term success will depend on what has always distinguished British luxury: understanding local markets, investing patiently and adapting products, experiences and storytelling to meet the expectations of each new generation of clients.
That same spirit of evolution can be seen much closer to home. London continues to attract extraordinary investment, with JLL reporting hotel investment running 60% ahead of Paris, 200% ahead of Madrid and 25% ahead of Tokyo. Hermès' new Bond Street maison, alongside more than 160 hotel developments across the capital, reflects a city that continues to strengthen its position as a global luxury destination.
Nor is the story confined to London. Manchester has emerged as one of Europe's most exciting luxury cities, with Nobu bringing its hotel, restaurant and branded residences to what will become the UK's tallest residential tower outside the capital, while the city's first W Residences has already sold the majority of its apartments ahead of completion. Scotland, meanwhile, continues to demonstrate the enduring strength of British craftsmanship through world-leading hospitality, textiles and premium spirits, contributing £2.8bn to the economy, supporting almost 137,000 jobs and generating £3.2bn in exports.
The same pattern is evident across British manufacturing. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is investing £300 million to expand its Bespoke capability at Goodwood as demand for ever greater personalisation continues to grow. McLaren continues to attract international investment into cutting-edge engineering and design in Woking.
Both illustrate an important point. In luxury, preserving craftsmanship, creativity and authenticity has never meant resisting change. It means finding new ways for those enduring qualities to matter to new clients, new cultures and new generations.
That feels to me like a quietly optimistic place for British luxury to be. The fundamentals remain exceptionally strong. The opportunities are real. And if our history tells us anything, it is that British luxury has always been at its best when it combines confidence in who it is with curiosity about what comes next.
If you would like to share your thoughts on this topic with the Walpole team, please contact [email protected]
