Decoding Luxury Fatigue: How Authenticity, Exclusivity, and Quiet Luxury Shape Consumer Disengagement

In recent years, the luxury sector has begun to show signs of slowdown, a phenomenon partly attributable to the the increasing presence of Luxury Fatigue, namely a form of consumer weariness toward personal luxury goods. This phenomenon can be explained by the increasing pervasiveness of luxury, which has eroded its classical distinguishing traits of exclusivity, heritage, and prestige (McKinsey & Company, 2025). Beyond factors as the democratization of luxury (Kumar et al., 2020), aggressive branding strategies (Han et al., 2010), unjustified price increases (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2021), and limited attention to sustainability (Kapferer & Michaut-Denizeau, 2014) - additional contemporary dynamics further intensify fatigue: the widespread availability of counterfeit products through online channels and parallel marketplaces; renting practices, which allow consumers to showcase luxury without actual ownership; the proliferation of virtual environments such as the metaverse, which are redefining consumption patterns (Mazzù et al., 2025); and new e-commerce mechanisms, such as TikTok Shops, which disrupt the value equation by offering similar products at drastically lower prices (Kumar et al., 2020; Han et al., 2010; Kapferer et al., 2021; Kapferer et al., 2014). This process is amplified by media overexposure: the rise of micro-influencers and their ability to target niche audiences have made luxury highly visible and easily imitable, even among consumers who are distant from its traditional cultural codes. As a result, luxury has increasingly been used as a tool for social self-affirmation, but this widespread appropriation inevitably weakens its aura of exclusivity. One way to interpret this dynamic is through Brand Personality Theory, which suggests that consumers attribute human-like traits to brands and rely on them as vehicles for expressing their own identity (Guido & Peluso, 2015). When luxury becomes too pervasive, however, brands lose their ability to convey distinctive personalities, and their symbolic power as authentic extensions of the self begins to erode. Similarly, Social Identity Theory emphasizes that individuals use brands to signal membership in desirable groups and to differentiate themselves from others (Kim et al., 2001). Yet, when luxury products are overexposed and widely imitated, they no longer serve as reliable markers of status, reducing their effectiveness as tools of social distinction. In this context, luxury progressively loses its symbolic distinctiveness: brands struggle to maintain both identity coherence and status signaling. While existing theories explain part of this erosion, they do not fully capture the structural transformation currently reshaping luxury consumption, where fatigue stems less from isolated brand–consumer misalignments than from a systemic dilution of authenticity and exclusivity. This theoretical gap calls for a broader framework able to account for consumer disaffection in markets marked by saturation and over-commercialization. This research seeks to examine the underlying causes of such fatigue, with particular attention to the role of perceived authenticity and exclusivity, the phenomenon of Luxury Shaming, and the growing preference for Quiet Luxury. The study empirically tested a moderated mediation conceptual model, drawing on data collected through a survey administered to 306 respondents. From a strategic perspective, the findings highlight the risk that the progressive acceptance of luxury as a mass product could diminish its economic and symbolic relevance. If the pervasiveness of luxury continues to increase without a recovery of authenticity and exclusivity, the industry risks shifting toward a logic of mass consumption, with a consequent decline in perceived value. To avoid this scenario, brands must abandon hyper-commercialization strategies and instead strengthen approaches grounded in heritage, craftsmanship, sustainability, and identity coherence, thereby realigning with new consumer expectations and preserving the very essence of luxury.