European luxury brands seek to lure America's super-rich

European luxury brands have sharpened their focus on the United States, with a surge of store openings and fashion shows to lure a new crop of wealthy shoppers enriched by the AI and tech boom and offset weak consumer confidence in the rest of the world. After two years of contraction, the luxury goods sector was showing signs of stabilisation until the Iran war that began at the end of February, disrupting travel and denting luxury spending far beyond the Middle East. And China, the biggest source of luxury sales growth for two decades, is still struggling to tackle deflation and the lingering impacts of a property crisis, so the sector needs rich Americans more than usual. “The US high-end consumer has been much more resilient than we are seeing elsewhere, especially in Europe,” said Marcus Morris-Eyton, portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein in London, adding that the continued AI rally and healthy wage growth have boosted this cohort of spenders. Luxury brands, such as LVMH, Moncler and Gucci, have been quick to respond. Dior and Gucci showed their cruise collections in the US last month and Italian brand Zegna is set to present its Summer 2027 collection on Friday in Los Angeles. Even last year, North America for the first time took the top spot for new store openings, according to real estate firm Savills’ global luxury retail report, which has tracked data since 2016. The report found North America accounted for about 27 per cent of global luxury store openings in 2025, compared with 26pc of openings in Europe and 19pc in China. Globally, new luxury store openings fell to their lowest level since 2020. US represents significant potential The US has fewer luxury stores relative to its numbers of super-rich consumers than China, according to Savills research. “Many brands still view the US as unpenetrated relative to the scale of its wealth base,” said Todd Siegel, Chicago-based president of US retail at real estate firm Savills. The investment in stores is foc