Coresight Research attended Luxury Daily’s Luxury FirstLook 2019: Digital Acceleration conference in New York. The event was packed with senior executives from luxury brands, retailers, agencies, publishers and service providers. We were there to discuss digital acceleration, but most in the room agreed luxury companies are still in the early stages of adopting cutting-edge technology tools – not keeping up with their more digitally savvy clientele. These are our key takeaways from the one-day event: Casualization will continue to spread as the new normal, especially in the workplace. Mickey Alam Khan, Editor in Chief of Luxury Daily, pointed out how even in the room he could see evidence of this trend, as throughout the seven years of the conference he’d seen progressively more casual clothing. He pointed out how most men were not wearing a tie, whereas a couple of years ago you would not catch a man in a suit without a tie on. A panel discussed how recently luxury branded casual wear was becoming acceptable for formal and work occasions. Asian youth will drive luxury growth and be responsible for the majority of luxury consumption within the next three to five years. Data from Michelle Beeson, a speaker from Forrester Research, said “82% of progressive pioneer luxury consumers are made up of Chinese people.” Progressive Pioneers are individuals open to new concepts and are early adopters of trends. These individuals are the youth of Asia. Karin Tracy, Head of industry for Beauty, Fashion and Luxury retail from Facebook said that 60% of ultra-wealthy consumers in China are under the age of 35. Social and ethical issues will continue to grow in importance. Fflur Roberts, Head of Global Luxury Goods at Euromonitor International, listed sustainability as one of her five top factors that will redefine customers in the future. As millennials and Gen Xers grow disposable income, their higher value on sustainability and other forms of corporate social responsibility will become increasingly important for luxury brands. Companies must show how social consciousness is integrated into their brands. Luxury’s competition may come from non-luxury brands.  Chris Paradysz, Founder/Co-CEO of PMX agency, caught everyone off guard when he announced that “luxury brands should not be competing with each other, the real competition is with companies like Nike,” while wearing a Bottega Veneta shoe on one foot and a Nike the other. Consumers are starting to question the value in spending $2,000 on a pair of shoes when they can get the same quality for $350 from Nike. Sneakers are taking over the luxury market, and companies such as Balenciaga, Gucci and Golden Goose are already creating sneakers. In the meantime, Nike is upping its game, collaborating with brands such as Off-White.