Which fashion brands listen most to their customers?

In the past, fashion brands could tightly control their perception through carefully managed PR and marketing campaigns. Today, a brand’s image is largely in the hands of consumers who enrich, challenge and reframe a brand’s narrative in real time online.

This presents an opportunity for growth if customers mirror the brand’s messaging when they post on social media. Conversely, if customers present a different image, the brand risks misleading other customers and diluting the brand’s long-term value. Consider Burberry’s recent efforts to expand its line beyond tartan and trench coats to luxury handbags, which has confused customers who see the brand primarily as a purveyor of high-end outerwear. In contrast, Parisian fashion house Balmain projects a consistent image of boldness and rebellion, telling its customers that they are joining a fashion movement when they buy the collection, and customers agree. Creative director Olivier Rousteing has even gone so far as to dub the brand’s customers the Balmain Army. These customers share content online that mirrors Balmain’s, allowing the brand to extend its edgy image through its customer feeds.

Which fashion brands are most attentive to their customers and how do they do it?

Measuring Alignment in the BoF Brand Magic Index

The BoF Brand Magic Index is a rigorous brand measurement tool that aims to provide marketers with a data-driven answer to the question of what makes a powerful brand. The Alignment metric measures how well the content of social media audiences aligns with the content created by the brand itself.

We measure alignment in three steps.

First, we assess the values ​​a brand conveys on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, classifying content according to Carl Jungs’ 12 archetypes. We detect archetypes using proprietary AI models created by Quilt.AIwhich have been trained on over a billion cultural expressions to accurately assess images and videos for their underlying emotions.

Second, we analyze which archetypes customers express when sharing content about a brand on the same platforms.

Third, we compare brand archetypes with customer archetypes. Brands whose archetype expressions are most similar to those of their customers rank highest in terms of alignment. Our thesis is that the most aligned brands have a clear identity that resonates with customers and will perform better in the long run.

Who is at the top of the ranking?

Dior, Balmain and Tods lead the Alignment rankings, with the top three spots. Each of them presents a strong and focused identity that has the greatest similarities with their customers.

How they did it

1. Maintain a consistent identity across all product categories

Dior took first place in the Alignment category, with an image of glamour and couture excellence clearly understood and replicated by customers. Content from Dior and its customers was brought to life primarily through the Ruler and Explorer archetypes, associated with themes of leadership, power and journey. For example, images from Dior’s Fall/Winter 2024/2025 collection show Ruler projected, with models walking around an installation of cane sculptures depicting armoured warriors heading into battle. Audiences retransmitted this content into content featuring Dior’s elegant looks balanced by commanding poses.

Dior’s strong alignment is no accident either. Under the leadership of artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri, the brand has overhauled its product offering and communications to increase consistency across its lines, from high-end eveningwear to more accessible beauty products, a strategy known internally as One Dior. For example, an October Instagram post for Dior’s prestige skincare line includes visuals of a pillow and blanket featuring the same Toile de Jouy print as Dior handbags, creating visual alignment and a sense of glamour and detailed craftsmanship across all of Dior’s product categories and price points.

The author shared an Instagram post.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view the content embedded in this article and others that you may visit in the future.Accept

Other brands with a broad product range, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, rank lower in Alignment (46th and 48th, respectively). While these brands are able to generate much of their revenue from outlet stores and lower-priced lines, their decision to play at the lower end of the market comes at a cost to their prestige brand image. Both brands have invested in improving their image in recent years, including raising prices and returning to the runway in the case of Tommy Hilfiger. The next challenge may be to get consumers to appreciate this elevated image while maintaining lucrative lower-priced lines.

2. Stay true to brand archetypes, even when trends change

Even in the midst of the luxury boom, Parisian fashion house Balmain remained true to its aesthetic, with its powerful shoulders, showy textures, and figure-hugging curves, showcased by models with powerful poses and direct gazes. Balmain’s customers translated this identity into their social media posts about the brand, many of which included their own power poses, exercising leadership and control. As a result, Balmain and its customers primarily align with the archetype of the sovereign.

The author shared an Instagram post.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view the content embedded in this article and others that you may visit in the future.Accept

3. Mixing new codes with archetypal codes

Fashion brands, however, must adapt to stay ahead of the curve, which can be a challenge for Alignment. For example, Gucci ranks 45th in Alignment, but also changed creative directors from Alessandro Michele to Sabato De Sarno during the assessment period. It may take some time for customers to get used to Michele’s maximalist take on Gucci and De Sarno’s more understated, timeless looks.

On the other hand, Louis Vuitton managed to maintain a relatively high position at 15th place, even while welcoming a new artistic director for menswear in Pharrell. This may be due to Pharrell's ability to integrate Louis Vuitton's archetypes into his collections. Louis Vuitton's dominant archetypes were Ruler, Explorer, and Sage, characterized by authority, adventure, and contemplation. For example, an article featuring Pharrell's Louis Vuitton collaboration with Tyler, The Creator maintains Louis Vuitton's archetypes of Explorer with an adventurous setting related to travel, and Sage with a contemplative expression.

The author shared an Instagram post.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view the content embedded in this article and others that you may visit in the future.Accept

4. Balance brand consistency with cultural engagement

It’s possible for a brand to be highly aligned but not generate much cultural conversation. Alignment measures how well customers embody a brand’s identity, while the Brand Magic Engagement metric looks at how effective brands are at generating buzz, as measured by customer behavior on Instagram and TikTok. We compared brands’ alignment scores to their engagement scores to identify brands that are both well-understood and leading the cultural conversation, because the most magical brands have clear identities while still managing to be consistently at the forefront of culture. They balance the timelessness of their identity with the timeliness of culture. That’s exactly what Brand Magic measures.

For example, Dior's high score in Engagement and Alignment places the brand in the upper right quadrant of Magical Brands, suggesting that Dior maintains a consistent brand identity while generating buzz.

In contrast, Tods, ranked #2 in alignment but #34 in engagement, generates less buzz online, showing that the brand is flying under the radar with a simple but understated brand identity. To grow, it may need to think about how to generate more engagement without losing the clear identity that Tods has built with its audience.

Information about BoF and Quilt.AI working directly with brands on bespoke engagements to measure brand magic in detail and over time, enabling brands to identify positioning opportunities, deeply understand their customers and measure their marketing impact. Contact our team if you would like to know how we can work with you.

This article is part of a series that dissects the three valuation metrics from the second volume of the BoF Brand Magic Index, which evaluated 50 of the largest fashion and luxury brands over a six-month period from October 2023 to March 2024.

A sample of The BoF Brand Magic Index with more information on the methodology is available available for download here.

Full access to the BoF Brand Magic Index is reserved for Executive Members. For unlimited access to this and all future editions, become an executive member now.

Note that Balmain does not reveal the number of Instagram likes its posts receive, so we were unable to assign it an engagement score.