Pursuing a Career in Luxury Brand Management in 2025: Key Benefits for Gen Z
As per BBC, Generation Z, or Gen-Z — those born roughly between 1995 and 2009 — today account for up to 27 per cent of the global workforce.
As a former faculty for the Global Luxury Goods & Services Management (MGLuxM) program at SP Jain Global, I spent hundreds of hours interacting, imparting, and learning from this dynamic would-be workforce. Here’s how I think a career in luxury brand management makes for a rewarding career for this generation.
Career choices as an expression of identity
As a digital-first generation, these younger cohorts, ascended into adolescence and adulthood, witnessing an era of climate catastrophe, political instability and global pandemic in some of their most formative years. In barely two decades, they’ve taken in enough information to last them a lifetime, leaving them having greater respect for a sense of purpose. It is important for them to align passion, purpose and progress.
The luxury sector, here, aligns creativity with passion, materiality with purpose and culture with progress, hence enticing our workforce-to-be. Furthermore, brands built on value systems like inclusivity, equality, and sustainability have greater resonance with this younger cohort.
Taking matters into their own hands
If they don’t want their resumes to borrow from the legend of the existing Guccis and Ferragamos, they simply prefer riding the enterprising wave and want to start their own brands. Gen Z-led new indie brands, which are also primarily consumed by the same generation, are challenging the supremacy of many established brands in the ring. As survivors of the pandemic-induced entrepreneurial reckoning, they use culture, community and coolness to launch focused brands high on desirability.
Working with a luxury brand, or launching one’s own, requires a departure from the old silo curriculum. To bridge this gap, the MGLuxM program offers a new playbook that provides a systematic shift to networking and Gen Z favoured immersive industry exposure. Master in Global Luxury Goods & Services Management program offered by POLIMI Graduate School of Management in Milan fuels this further.
New Executive memo for hiring: Young and Diverse
Executive ranks at big brands today increasingly include once-unknown job titles – be it holistic brand activation in an emerging market or creating viral-worthy content moments – the luxury sector today offers newer roles that culturally crossover from authenticity to artificial intelligence. Luxury’s new C-Suite has the likes of Chief Diversity Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and Chief Sustainability Officers. There is also huge acknowledgement for skills like storytelling, styling, influencing and more, which are often brought to the table by this age demographic. Luxury brands invest in international training and grooming perks for their employees, making it a sought-after field for anyone seeking greener pastures (read monetary rewards) and OTT gratification.
Exposure
Elite companies operating in the luxury sector engage with the dominating forces, such as the high-heeled, the public figures and the reigning publications. A career in luxury brings in opportunities to move and network amongst these who’s who. Apart from incentive-topped packages, proficient employees also often receive discounts and travel opportunities.
India: A rising tide lifting all boats
If we look at reliable reports, the global political and economic bust of the past two years has cast a cloud on the luxury sector. However, India has defied the luxury slowdown pattern, not just with consumption but also with the new focus on reinventing the ‘Made in India’ label. With the home-grown Reliance Brands Limited and Aditya Birla Group quickly assuming the thrones of luxury conglomerates (and almost beaconing the sectors to the tune of goliaths like LVMH and Kering), this sector has become fortified with high demand, competitive salaries and roll-call of international brands looking for deserving candidates.
The all-encompassing curriculum of the MGLuxM program is underpinned by the vitals required to groom and impart the skills required to walk the horizons over this rising tide.
If you are Gen Z, do you agree with my notes on how the luxury sector is ripe for you? Let me know what you think.
About the Author
Ankita Brahmi is the Deputy Director of the Global Luxury Goods & Services Management (MGLuxM) program at SP Jain School of Global Management. She has over a decade of teaching experience in various programs and has also served as a faculty member and mentor at SP Jain Global. Her core academic modules include strategic brand management for creative businesses, luxury brand communication, digital marketing, entrepreneurship, branding, and professional development.
