Tessa Love is a writer whose work focuses on the undertones of culture and human experience. Her work has been featured in Outside Magazine, The Believer, Longreads, BBC, and more. She is also a cultural researcher and trend analyst specialising in youth behaviours and insights. She has produced reports, articles, white papers, and films that have informed the strategies of some of the world’s biggest brands, and she previously served as the editorial director of Western Europe for the global youth insights and research agency YPulse.

In the turbulent economic environment, money is losing its value. Consumers are reevaluating their spending across sectors. With a looming crisis of trust in financial institutions, how are people managing their budgets? And how can brands navigate the complex relationship between value and cost?

Critical Spenders

In a hyper-connected world, it feels like everything previously ‘insider’ is more available than ever: from behind-the-scenes access to the lives of public figures to travel experiences immersing people into worlds previously deemed unattainable. But while people embrace this community-based inclusivity and unprecedented access to their icons, they still yearn for touches of exclusivity to define their status.

As the age-old understanding of exclusivity is eroded, people are redefining status for themselves using a broad range of factors beyond solely economic ones. This new iteration of status is often based around increasingly niche and local signifiers – from luxury dupes to the rise of members clubs and closed-community spaces based on shared interests. Status is becoming a mode of belonging and connection with like-minded people.

People are erecting walls of their exclusive communities, relying on more subtle markers of identity. This is apparent with middle-class people fetishising working-class aesthetics, athletes turning to niche sports like padel, and social media groups organising around niche interests – spawning companies. As status-defined micro-trends on social media accelerate, brands face a challenge to keep up. If previously certain legacy items were automatically associated with exclusivity, now people are much more trusting of the UGC-defined vision of what status means. More than ever, speed, knowledge, inventiveness, and being plugged into the community determine what – and who – is in.

Insider Status

Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas is a professor in marketing and sustainable business at the British School of Fashion, GCU London, where she runs the innovative postgraduate module in sustainable luxury on the MBA luxury brand management programme. She is also the co-author of 

. Natascha’s cross-disciplinary research spans creative industries practice, sustainable fashion, social enterprise and responsible business, cultural heritage, consumer behaviour, and international fashion marketing. Natascha is a keynote speaker at conferences in China, the US, and Europe, and a contributor to industry and media pieces on fashion business and consumer behaviour.

United Kingdom

Apparel and department stores

Resale and online marketplaces

Clothing, footwear, and accessories

Fashion and Style

Shopping

ChannelX

Statista

The Guardian

NSS Magazine

McKinsey & Company

Yahoo

DJS Research

Business Insider

Interview with Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas conducted by the author

Fast Company

TheIndustry.Fashion

South China Morning Post

Vogue Business

Fashion United

As the fast fashion segment faces mounting scrutiny, Vestiaire Collective is leading the charge in sustainable luxury. Through partnerships, ethical stands, and a nod to nostalgia, the marketplace seamlessly melds heritage and innovation. But what does its success reveal about the retail landscape?