Building Credibility in Fashion: What Luxury’s Downfall Means for Emerging Brands
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min reading
What’s the value of transparency in an era where trust is hard to come by?
We’ve entered a moment where people can’t trust what’s around them—or even what they see. Promises from companies ring hollow, and AI-generated content continues to blur the line between real and fabricated.
According to a 2024 Accenture report, 59.9% of consumers doubt the authenticity of online content more than they did before.
Therefore, people are becoming more cautious, more skeptical, and more intentional in their search for what offers real security: transparency. And for fashion consumers, that demand has only intensified.
Meanwhile, just as transparency becomes more urgent, some of the industry’s most powerful players are being held accountable, reshaping how people perceive value, quality, and trust.
In recent months, several luxury brands—once synonymous with trust, craftsmanship, and prestige—have faced growing scrutiny for making misleading and unethical claims about their production practices.
That is to say, investigations have exposed cracks in the narrative: behind the polished campaigns, questions about sourcing, labor, and honesty continue to mount. In fact, this unraveling has been underway for a while now.
Since late last year, headlines have pointed to a growing disillusionment, including data showing that over 50 million people have stopped purchasing from luxury brands, with “broken promises to shoppers” named as one of the key reasons.
Luxury, once shorthand for credibility, is becoming unreliable. And what shifts does that bring to the other side of the brand realm—namely, SME brands, especially those on a conscious production pathway?
It marks a moment of opportunity, and a reckoning with their most powerful tool: transparency.
However, to truly leverage this “tool”, brands need to understand its meaning in today’s landscape (beyond the narrative cues) and grasp where all the scrutiny is coming from. Keep reading.
Luxury’s downfall: sweatshop problem and supply chain omissions
“When you think about fast fashion, you think about people being exploited, underpaid, in filthy working conditions, and not being treated very nicely. But when we think of luxury, that’s the last thing we think of.”
That’s how fashion influencer Sophie Shohet, creator of the YouTube channel Fashion Beauty Lifestyle, opened one of her recent videos—before diving into a series of investigations revealing unethical labor practices behind major luxury brands.
Her video is one of many pieces of content and reports that have highlighted a growing truth: a higher price tag no longer guarantees higher standards, at least not today.
These investigations have shown how outsourcing, subcontracting, and opaque supplier tiers allow even the most established fashion houses to bypass accountability, all while continuing to sell a story of artisanal excellence.
In the same video, Shohet expresses her shock:
With brands like Dior, you only have to look at their social media, where they show artisans in white lab coats, working in pristine environments, putting together bags by hand...And yet those images are a complete contrast to the images that came out last summer.
She’s referring to the 2024 revelations, when both Armani and Dior were placed under investigation by Italian authorities for labor exploitation.
The footage was harsh and stood in contrast to the dream carefully curated across brand campaigns and digital platforms.
However, the scrutiny didn’t stop there. As Caterina Occhio—Sustainability Advisor at the Business of Fashion—put it, the investigations had a “ripple effect on the other brands. They all got scared.”
Fast forward to march 2025: Italy’s Competition Authority dropped its case against Dior after the brand agreed to update its ethics policies, strengthen supplier checks, train employees better and donate €2 million over 5 years to help labor exploitation victims.
Meanwhile, Valentino gets in trouble, being criticized by Milan’s court for failing to improve its supply-chain controls, and being accused by the authorities of still working with exploitative suppliers.
Under the guidance of an administrator appointed by the court, the brand must now go through its own improvement process.
This all came to show that luxury fashion's supply chain in Italy remains plagued by labor exploitation, and one of the driving forces is the widespread demand for the “Made in Italy” label, but at lower and lower price points.
Like we saw, corresponding to this demand means relying on unethical labor while still trying to present an image of craftsmanship and prestige.
Thus, tis all aligns with other exposés that surfaced earlier this year: a wave of viral social media videos (many created by manufacturers in China) resurfaced claims that luxury brands like Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci are producing goods in Chinese factories.
The videos directly challenged brand narratives about origin and authenticity, sparking widespread online conversation: “Many of the intricate embroidery and beadwork is done overseas like in India etc.
These luxury brands just ship the 90% finished product back to Europe so they can claim made in France or whatever.”, expressed a user on Reddit.
But while the internet treated these revelations as new, journalists and labor watchdogs have been reporting on them for more than a decade.
The difference now is that these stories are reaching consumers in more accessible and immediate ways—and they’re not going unnoticed.
All things considered, what we’re seeing is a growing momentum: Luxury is beginning to lose its grip on the narrative and it’s largely because it hasn’t been transparent enough.
For small and mid-sized brands, this moment offers a chance to grow differently and to meet consumer expectations—not with empty claims, but with traceable systems, real accountability, and honest storytelling.
A Window of Opportunity for SMEs and Conscious Brands
In a system where legacy trust is fading, new trust can be built.
Hence, independent, small and mid-sized conscious brands now hold something luxury giants are struggling to regain: credibility. Even though being small (or smaller then most) is often framed as a disadvantage in fashion, when it comes to transparency, it’s actually one of the greatest advantages.
While large brands wrestle with complex, layered supply chains and legacy systems they can’t fully see or control, smaller brands have the rare advantage of being able to build it right from the start. They have the opportunity to:
Know every step of their supply chain
Choose suppliers aligned with their standards
Embed transparency into their operations as part of the business DNA, not as a post-growth fix.
And with that level of control comes something equally powerful: the ability to communicate it clearly.
Why is that a market opportunity? Because transparency builds brand trust.
A striking 87% of consumers say they’ll pay more for a product from a brand they trust, according to a Salsify study. But to earn that trust, product content must be truthful, consistent, and verifiable.
Do it right, and you'll snag the sale. Do it wrong, and they'll have no problem abandoning their shopping carts. — Salsify
So if a brand’s on the early stages of building something, whether it’s a label, a sourcing process, or a product line, now is the time to ask:
How can transparency serve not only our values, but our business model?
And how can being small today help us grow with integrity tomorrow?
Why Transparency Is — and Will Remain — a Strategic Advantage
Referring back to Accenture’s 2024 Life Trends report, 62% of consumers say that trust is a key factor when deciding whether to engage with a brand, and that priority is expected to grow in the years ahead.
To prove that feeling will maintain it’s force among the consumers, WGSN (global authority on consumer and design trends) mapped out future consumer personas for 2027 to help brands anticipate who they’ll be designing for. Among them is “The New Independents” archetype:
In an era of distrust, where opinion outshines expertise, New Independents will be combating disinformation with a rebellious and vigilante approach, and they will be expecting more accountability from brands.
Beyond consumer demand, legislation and policy are also making transparency non-negotiable. In another one of its 2027 foresight reports, WGSN notes that “legislation will demand greater transparency from brands and suppliers surrounding the products they make and sell.”
This signals a shift not just in consumer expectations, but in regulatory frameworks, which highlights the importance of transparency for brand growth.
Demystifying Transparency: Beyond the Marketing Gloss
Transparency has become a buzzword tossed into campaigns and brand statements, often without substance. y.
So what does transparency actually look like when it’s real:
What transparency is often mistaken for:
Turning it into a marketing campaign → talking about transparency more than practicing it
Explaining pricing structure → important, yes, but not the full picture
Listing country of origin without context → “Made in” labels say little about who made it or how
Sharing selective photos or factory visits → visibility isn’t the same as traceability
Publishing a Code of Conduct without accountability mechanisms → policies don’t equal enforcement
Highlighting one ‘ethical’ product line while leaving the rest opaque → partial transparency can still be misleading
What transparency truly demands today:
Documentation → Verified details on fiber sourcing, labor conditions, and manufacturing steps not just marketing copy
Traceability → The ability to follow a product’s journey from raw material to finished good
Consistency→ Systems that make this information accessible , not just during a campaign, but as a baseline for doing business
Why Modern Tools Matter: The Role of Digital Sourcing
To truly shift the system, emerging brands need access to better infrastructure — tools that support real sourcing decisions, not just good storytelling.
That’s where digital textile sourcing platforms come in.
The right platform doesn’t just help brands or designers find materials. It gives them the full picture:
Verified specs and certifications up front
Supplier traceability — so they know who’s behind the fabric
Low MOQ options that support small-scale, intentional production
Real-time availability to keep their supply chain agile
Seamless sampling and ordering to reduce time lost to back-and-forth
Platforms like World Collective are designed to meet this need—connecting emerging brands with trusted, global suppliers who are ready to work responsibly, and at pace.
The Bigger Picture: Rethinking What Fashion is Built On
Luxury’s downfall isn’t just about a few bad actors. It’s about a system that rewards opacity and a culture that’s finally asking better questions.
Ultimately, this is a moment of reckoning, but, as we saw, also a moment of possibility.
For brands willing to be transparent, intentional, and deeply aligned with how things are made, the path forward is open and filled with opportunities.
And for the industry at large, the lesson is clear:
In the absence of trust, what we build next has to be honest, from fiber to finish.
Read more posts about transparency, sustainability in fashion and the importance of traceability in supply chains:
Why Transparency is Key to Fashion Brands and How to Ensure Their Supply Chain is Ethical
Digital Textile Sourcing: The Infrastructure Fashion Actually Needs
Smarter Supply Chains Start Here: Inside World Collective’s Ecosystem
Signs It’s Time to Rethink Your Fashion Supply Chain Partner
Written by Maria Eugênia Lima, Content & Marketing Intern at World Collective
