The hottest 20 fashion brands of the moment.
Global fashion search platform Lyst analyses the online shopping behaviour of more than nine million shoppers. Its Lyst Index is a quarterly ranking of fashion’s hottest brands and products.
In the two years since The Lyst Index launched, three brands have appeared every quarter: Balenciaga, Gucci, and Vetements – with Balenciaga and Gucci consistently placing among the top three brands. Off-White and Valentino have made the hottest brands list for every Index bar one.
While brands rise and fall, with Bottega Veneta and Loewe being two new additions this quarter, the hottest brands form an exclusive club: to date, just 25 brands have made the cut. 80% of the brands from the first edition of The Lyst Index are still in the report, and on average fewer than two new brands join the ranks each quarter.
“So what does it take to become one of the 20 hottest brands in the world? Beyond creating desirable collections and products that are widely promoted and sold, capturing consumers’ imagination, this quarter we deep dive into two years of data from The Lyst Index to reveal the attributes and strategies shaping the 20 hottest brands,” shared lyst.com.
Lyst identified that the 20 hottest brands in the world do these 12 things:
1. Sell Womenswear and Menswear;
2. Make great sneakers;
3. Featured a prominent logo;
4. Hit the pricing sweet spot;
5. Have a star designer;
6. Get a CEO with a 10 year plan;
7. Be Euro-Centric;
8. Have a Heritage or be a Brand New;
9. Dominate Social Media;
10. Create Major Viral Celebrity Moments;
11. Collaborate and extend the brand;
12. Move towards a sustainable future.
95% of this quarter’s hottest 20 brands are based in Europe
65% of the top 20 brands’ creative directors have a public social media presence, with an average of 2 million followers each. The most followed is Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing with 5.5 million Instagram followers, although several including Bottega Veneta’s Daniel Lee and Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton eschew public profiles. This quarter, social mentions spiked around Demna Gvasalia announcing his departure from Vetements, and Virgil Abloh taking some time away from Off-White. This suggests consumer interest in the designers behind the brands remains high.
The average age of the top 20 brands’ creative director is 47 – Miuccia Prada is the oldest at 70, and Bottega Veneta’s Daniel Lee is the youngest at 32 – and on average they have held the role for 11 years. Currently, just 25% of the top 20 brands have female creative directors, and 90% of the creative directors are white. Addressing diversity and inclusion is a priority among the top 20, with Kering recently appointing a Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Talent Officer. The average tenure of a CEO in the top 20 brands is slightly shorter than the creative directors at 9.5 years, and 15% are female.
The majority of this quarter’s top 20 brands are based in Italy (50%) or France (25%). Five are located elsewhere: Alexander McQueen and Burberry (UK), Loewe (Spain), Nike (US) and Vetements (Switzerland). All of the top 20 brands show collections at Milan or Paris Fashion Week, with three exceptions: Burberry, which shows at London Fashion Week, and Nike and Stone Island, which don’t hold regular fashion shows.
With the exception of Vetements and Off-White, at five and seven years old respectively, many of this quarter’s top 20 brands have decades of heritage. 20% is more than 100 years old, while 45% are 50-100 years old. But the youngest of the group, Vetements, has made the hottest brands list for every Index.
The hottest 20 fashion brands of the moment, according to Lyst Index:
1. OFF-WHITE;
2.BALENCIAGA;
3.GUCCI;
4. VERSACE;
5. PRADA;
6. VALENTINO;
7. FENDI;
8. BURBERRY;
9. SAINT LAURENT;
10.VETEMENTS;
11. STONE ISLAND;
12.NIKE;
13. GIVENCHY;
14. MONCLER;
15. DOLCE & GABBANA;
16. BOTTEGA VENETA;
17. ALEXANDER MCQUEEN;
18. MOSCHINO;
19. BALMAIN;
20. LOEWE;
