6 Young Entrepreneurs Who Are Taking Their Family Legacies In New Directions

These next-generation entrepreneurs are carrying forward their families’ legacies in exciting ways.

- Anjuly Mathai

Remember that scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), when Audrey Hepburn, glamorous in a Givenchy gown, eats a Danish out of a paper bag, right outside the Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan? There was such longing in her eyes as she gazed at the luxurious jewellery inside the shop. Today, you don’t have to eat your Danish outside, like Hepburn had to do. There is an eatery inside Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store called Blue Box Café. Shops are no longer just about… well… shopping. They are there to provide an immersive experience because customers want to be inspired and entertained. They want stories over stuff.

But the offline experience is no longer enough in a world in which digital is threatening world domination. According to a Bain & Company report, online luxury shopping grew 22 per cent in 2018 to nearly €27 billion, and it now represents 10 per cent of all luxury sales. Today, many luxury brands like the Italian fashion retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter and menswear label Bonobos have more of an online presence than physical. They are at the helm of exciting innovation.

Globally, the luxury market today is impacted by several factors, says Vivek Ramabhadran, vice president, Asia South and Africa Region, Swarovski Professional. “The trade wars, the current situation in Hong Kong, the drop of the yuan against the US dollar… these are massively impacting luxury spending today,” he says. “Even other strong luxury retail regions like the Middle East are sluggish because of the uncertainties in the political and economic situation there. We are probably entering a more minimal design phase for the next year, after a focus on ‘fantastical’ design.”