Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation - Restricted Access (SIA Only)

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Luxury Business

Abstract

The United Kingdom luxury childrenswear market is expanding and is shaped by a shift toward quality, longevity and credible sustainability. Yet the category still fails to address the practical reality of rapid child growth, which shortens wear life and undermines perceived value. This practice-based dissertation evaluates whether a luxury-grade expandable concept can reconcile aesthetic expectations with extended wear and whether a Maison Lune proposition is viable at pre-launch.

A mixed-methods design combined a structured survey of 206 affluent parents with 10 interviews across design, textiles, buying, sustainability, digital and investment, supported by a review of literature on luxury consumption and circular fashion. The survey shows robust demand for verified longevity. Sixty-nine percent would pay at least a 20 percent premium for garments that maintain appearance through growth, and 38.3 percent would accept 31 to 50 percent. Purchasing is frequent, with 55.9 percent buying monthly or more, and decisively digital, with 52 percent conducting 61 to 100 percent of purchases online. At higher incomes, brand salience and visual impact rise to median scores of 9 out of 10 and 8 out of 10 while quality remains paramount at 10 out of 10. Interviews converge on longevity as a new expression of luxury and identify the conditions that must be met for credibility, namely invisible engineering, evidence-based sustainability, clear digital education, and community practice that supports retention.

Alongside these findings, the dissertation advances Maison Lune to a pre-launch blueprint rather than a finished product. It defines brand positioning in quiet luxury, sets design principles for expandable construction that preserve silhouette, maps a staged testing plan for wash, abrasion, colourfastness and recovery, and specifies a style-level sustainability dossier in plain language. It outlines a direct-to-consumer service plan, content and photography guidelines for one-minute adjustment and care demonstrations, a measurement framework for unit economics and retention, and a controlled pilot pathway that includes clear success criteria and risk mitigations. The outcome is a research-validated, pre-launch concept that makes longevity desirable without aesthetic compromise and is ready to proceed to prototyping and pilot testing.

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