The fashion industry is entering a generational re-mix. Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z & Millennial Survey reveals younger consumers who will make up the bulk of tomorrow’s buyers are no longer motivated only by logos or ladder-climbing status they are balancing money, meaning and well-being. That triad is reshaping demand across value, premium and luxury segments, accelerating resale and sustainability, privileging experiences and personalisation, and forcing incumbents to pivot across product, price and platform.

Deloitte’s survey done from October to December 2024 on 23,482 respondents across 44 countries, highlights several attitudes that matter directly for fashion companies.

Purpose & sustainability matter. Environmental anxiety and purposeful consumption are recurrent themes; younger buyers consider a brand’s values when choosing what to buy and where to work.

Financial pressure coexists with aspirational behaviour. Cost-of-living worries mean younger shoppers are selective they trade up for meaningful purchases but also hunt for value (dupes, outlets, resale).

Skills, tech and social influence shape demand. GenAI, creator economies and social commerce accelerate trend cycles meaning tastes shift faster and micro-brands can scale quickly.

These attitudes translate into commercial fault-lines across three retail strata: value, premium/affordable-luxury, and true luxury each with distinct growth dynamics and strategic levers.

Table: Luxury market growth pattern

The Luxury Resale Market is growing 3 to 4 times faster than the overall first-hand global apparel market. This signals a fundamental shift where consumers, especially younger generations, are prioritizing sustainability, value retention, and conscious consumption over the cheap, disposable model of traditional fast fashion.

How the three tiers are being rewired

Value & fast fashion

Younger consumers under financial pressure still want fashion relevance. That produces three behaviours. Purchase of affordable dupes and fast-fashion trends as in TikTok/TokShop cycles. Business Insider and social-listening studies show a rise in dupe content and acceptance among Gen Z. Increased use of social commerce, live shopping and micro-influencers to discover deals. These channels reduce funnel friction for low-priced, high-turn SKUs. The retail implication is a tight assortment, hyper-localised merchandising and low CAC social funnels win.

Premiumisation and occasion buying

Deloitte and market notes show Gen Z in markets like India is a major driver of aspirational premiumisation willing to spend on meaningful, higher-quality items (occasion wear, sneakers, bags) while trimming everyday spend. In India Deloitte projects Gen Z to be a major consumption engine (Gen Z = significant share of consumption). The retail implication is that brands should build accessible entry points (collabs, limited drops, experiential retail), deepen loyalty, and invest in storytelling and sustainability credentials.

Luxury & resale

Luxury is under a macro pause (price increases drove past growth) but younger buyers are important as they sample luxury via resale, prefer mix-and-match styling and prize authenticity and provenance. Bain/McKinsey show luxury’s growth has become price-driven and that pre-owned luxury is growing faster than new in some categories. The resale market is forecasted to grow rapidly at a CAGR of 7-15 per cent. The retail implications is that legacy luxury houses must balance protecting scarcity and opening curated resale/in-house recommerce to capture younger buyers and locking value into brand ecosystems.

How Deloitte’s attitudes map the sectors

Purpose + sustainability = purchase filters: Deloitte shows environmental concerns shape behaviour; younger consumers will reward brands that show tangible action (materials, traceability, circular programmes). Fashion players must move beyond slogans to measurable commitments.

Financial squeeze leads to selective premiumisation and resale: Cost pressures make Gen Z and millennials pragmatic: some purchases are downgraded while others are upgraded (investment pieces). That explains simultaneous growth in premiumisation and resale.

Platform & creator economy power: Rapid trend cycles and taste formation on TikTok/Instagram/short-form video and creators turning into micro-retailers compress the time between discovery and purchase advantaging nimble brands.

Tech tools reshape trust & inventory economics. AI powers fit, discovery and authentication (critical for resale). Deloitte also flags GenAI as a work/skill shift the same tech is changing retail operations and creative cycles.

Growth shifts to Asia, Tier-II, III India. Analysts project India and APAC as growth engines, with rising branded-apparel penetration and expanding online retail penetration (Deloitte India notes Gen Z’s spending power and online growth)

What’s working and why

Vestiaire Collective/The RealReal: Pre-owned platforms have become a low-friction entry into luxury for aspirational Gen Z. Bain and market reports show secondhand sales outpacing new in segments; platforms invest in authentication and community to convert first-time luxury shoppers into long-term customers.

Coach/Ralph Lauren: Brands that leaned into younger tastes (collabs, token entry pieces, social-native storytelling) have partially insulated themselves from luxury slowdown. Media coverage highlights brands that successfully engaged Gen Z via personalization and accessible luxury.

Indian D2C/mall strategies: Deloitte India and industry analysts note D2C brands and conglomerates are using offline popups and curated mall spaces to convert social followers into paying customers particularly in Tier II, III cities where aspirations are rising.

What the P&L winners will do in 2025-30

Future fashion profits will belong to brands that combine financial discipline with agility and truly understand why people buy. The winners will integrate merchandising, sustainability, and creator partnerships as connected levers for profit and loyalty, rather than siloed functions.

1. Merchandising by intent: Brands will shift from chasing blanket volume to segmenting inventory by purchase intent:

• Trend SKUs: Fast-moving, socially viral styles for rapid turnover.

• Investment SKUs: Higher-margin, slower-churn items that drive repeat purchases. This approach allows for targeted media buys and cohort-based pricing, replacing blanket discounting to capture the full spending potential of various consumer segments, from premium-seeking Gen Z to the price-sensitive end.

2. Owning the circular economy: Retailers must own or partner closely in recommerce. In-house resale programs retain customers longer and turn circularity into a profit center, not just a compliance cost. Integrating resale platforms and trade-in schemes allows companies to extract value from previously lost inventory while appealing to younger consumers' demand for thrift and authenticity (Bain data).

3. Measuring sustainability in revenue: The focus is moving from green marketing to data-backed supply-chain measurement. Brands using technologies like SYDNA to embed lifecycle assessments into sourcing and costing can command a tangible premium for transparency—resulting in margin expansion and brand equity, as purpose increasingly drives purchase decisions (Deloitte 2025 findings).

4. Localization for growth: Companies that localize assortments for India and the broader APAC corridors will outperform global peers. The new consumption frontiers are in Tier-II and III cities. Investing in omnichannel infrastructure, from physical stores to digital discovery and premium entry-price formats in emerging markets, will provide a decisive edge.

5. Creator-led micro-drops: The next differentiator is treating creators as co-entrepreneurs. Social-native brands use limited-edition collaborations, or micro-drops, as low-cost test beds for trend validation. This strategy reduces inventory risk by seeding new categories, measuring real-time traction, and only scaling proven concepts through owned channels.

Scenario thinking to 2030

Global apparel is projected to see moderate 3-4 per cent CAGR, aligning with Grand View Research and Bain. Luxury will stabilize, while resale maintains a strong high-single to low-double-digit growth. India and APAC will outperform developed markets, led by urbanization, rising incomes, and digital retail.

On one side, a faster-scaling circular economy is the key upside. Authenticated recommerce (e.g., ThredUp) could achieve double-digit annual growth, spawning high-margin services like repair and authentication. This turns sustainability into a recurring revenue stream. On the downside, a macroeconomic slowdown with prolonged inflation or weak discretionary income could compress non-essential fashion spending. This would lead to deeper promotions, margin erosion, and potential consolidation in the mid-market. Value and resale would be resilient, but premium and luxury brands will need superior storytelling and innovation to maintain share.

The Deloitte’s 2025 survey is not a consumer trend memo it’s a behavioural map of the cohorts who will account for the majority of future consumption and workplace leadership. Their combined anxieties, aspirations and tech habits are accelerating structural shifts already visible in sales data: premiumisation co-exists with prudence; authenticity with reuse; creators with curated experiences. Brands that translate Deloitte’s attitudinal signals into concrete product, pricing and platform changes and measure the ROI will claim the growth that exists in a large but nuanced apparel market.