The results arriving from China this month carry the same message in different accents. The conditions that made European luxury a compound-growth machine for two decades have loosened.
Chinese clients have become the most literate buyers in the market. They read construction, ask about provenance, and weigh a coat against a local label before weighing it against a European one.
That literacy has an economic consequence. When a customer can distinguish between houses, a logo stops carrying the price premium it once justified on its own.
Local competitors have closed the craft gap faster than the industry expected. Shanghai labels now supply silhouette, fabric and finish at a fraction of the landed European cost.
The recovery the sector was promised has arrived thin and uneven. Property concerns, cautious saving and a soft labour market have kept aspirational shoppers on the sidelines.
A second response is category. High jewellery, watches and leather goods hold a value debate better than an entry-price handbag, and marketing budgets have moved quietly in that direction.
