Switzerland may be renowned for its precision timepieces and discreet wealth, but Felicitas Morhart is proving it’s also a breeding ground for the sharpest minds shaping the future of luxury. Professor of Marketing at HEC Lausanne within the University of Lausanne, her Munich-native voice resonates from lecture halls to global stages.
As one of Europe’s few academics deeply immersed in luxury studies, Felicitas Morhart bridges heritage and horizon through her teaching and research, offering powerful insights into the evolution of luxury—from tangible opulence to its emerging “liquid” essence.
She is the visionary behind the Swiss Center for Luxury Research, an academic think tank for luxury thought leadership, and the founder of Originalluxury, a platform championing traceability as the future of luxury authenticity.
With a journalism background, a communications degree from Munich, and a PhD in marketing from St. Gallen, Felicitas Morhart’s credentials are as robust as her vision.
In this exclusive interview with Worthbury, she shares her insights on luxury leadership, the transformative power of knowledge as the ultimate status symbol, and the seismic shifts redefining the industry.
Worthbury: In addition to your role as a marketing professor at the University of Lausanne, you founded the Swiss Center for Luxury Research (SCLR) in 2020 to create a hub for thought leadership in luxury management. What inspired this initiative, and how has it evolved to meet the needs of industry professionals?
Felicitas Morhart: The idea for the Swiss Center for Luxury Research was sparked indirectly by a request from Edward Elgar, a UK publisher, who asked me to edit the Research Handbook on Luxury Branding. While working on the book, I realized Switzerland lacked an Academic Hub for Luxury Thought Leadership, despite Switzerland being home to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), private banking, luxury horology, and luxury hospitality.
Worthbury: Switzerland is renowned for its watchmaking and hospitality sectors, but how do you see its broader position in the global luxury landscape evolving, especially compared to traditional powerhouses like France and Italy?
Felicitas Morhart: Switzerland has a different approach to luxury than France and Italy. I would say that France and Italy are more “flamboyant” in their approach to luxury while Switzerland is still imprinted by its Calvinist heritage—valuing functionality, usefulness, meticulous engineering and technical expertise, and discreetness. Swiss watches embody craftsmanship and precision rather than opulence, conspicuousness, and flamboyance, which we see more in French and Italian luxury (see, for example, French cuisine and Italian luxury car brands).
Knowledge or expertise is a form of cultural capital that is as much a status symbol as money.
Worthbury: You’ve emphasized ‘luxury competency’ as a key concept, linking it to more conscious consumption by enabling customers to become connoisseurs who deeply engage with luxury products. How can professionals in the luxury industry foster this mindset among their clientele?
Felicitas Morhart: It may hardly surprise you if I, as a university professor, say that the key is “education” ;). I find it fascinating how the younger generations also enjoy becoming knowledgeable about the intricacies of brands or product categories (fragrance geeks on TikTok, for instance).
Knowledge or expertise is a form of cultural capital that is as much a status symbol as money. So, the one who has knowledge of luxury brands or products is a higher-status luxury consumer than somebody who just consumes luxury without much insight.
Luxury professionals can capitalize on this additional “status effect” of luxury competences. Offering masterclasses and expert talks with iconic designers, CEOs, and craftsmen gives a sense of exclusivity and an “insider” feeling. The LVMH certificate is a very popular program among university students. Christie’s and Van Cleef have online academies featuring classes on jewelry, art, auctioning, and more. Bucherer offers explanation videos of watchmaking jargon in their CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) newsletter.
Good storytelling can turn education into infotainment before, during, and after sales, turning any touchpoint into a point of transformation where customers evolve into experts and feel part of an exclusive circle of people who are “in the know.”
Worthbury: You also co-founded ORIGINALLUXURY, a multistakeholder initiative focused on advancing transparency technologies and traceability in the luxury sector. Could you share more about what inspired this effort and how it addresses the evolving challenges and opportunities in luxury through collaboration and cutting-edge technology?
Felicitas Morhart: Original luxury was born out of the insight that traceability will be paramount in the future, especially for luxury brands. And that for several reasons (I just provide 3 here):
- Legislation, activists, and discerning consumers demand more responsible business practices, substantiated by evidence. Traceability unveils a product’s journey—from origin to ownership. It provides transparency about where products are made and through which hands they pass.
- As prime targets of counterfeiters, luxury brands rely on traceability to affirm provenance and safeguard authenticity.
- The “made in” story is a cornerstone of luxury’s allure and one of the reasons people pay so much for luxury brands. Traceability validates this heritage; it is a way to prove that products come from their original birthplace.
Technology enhances provenance security with techniques often imperceptible to the naked eye, making manipulation difficult. Collaboration is critical to prevent power consolidation in the hands of only a few players, which would jeopardize independence and trustworthiness of information. Every brand and every product needs an idiosyncratic solution, so we are technology-agnostic, and give a platform to any technological solution instead of promoting only one.
Luxury is becoming more “liquid.” This shift reflects maturing luxury consumers climbing some sort of “Maslow pyramid” of luxury.
Worthbury: How do you envision the future of luxury consumption, particularly as virtual goods, AI advancements, and shifting demographics redefine what luxury means? What can brands do to stay ahead of these transformative changes?
Felicitas Morhart: Luxury, I feel, is becoming more “liquid,” meaning more conceptual, immaterial, and experiential. This shift reflects maturing luxury consumers climbing some sort of “Maslow pyramid” of luxury—first conspicuous stuff, then conspicuous experiences, then iconic pieces, then intellectual stimulation/aesthetic edification/spiritual enlightenment.
Brands should accompany customers in their maturity stages. Meanwhile, in my opinion, tomorrow’s luxury brands will not be the luxury brands of today. Not everyone is good at everything, and I think digital native luxury brands will have a clear advantage over incumbent pre-digital brands when it comes to technology-powered luxury brands. I could also see European luxury brands losing ground to Asian luxury brands in this new paradigm.
Worthbury: As the luxury landscape evolves—think sustainability, technology, and emerging luxury hubs—how do you see luxury education, including programs at the Swiss Center for Luxury Research, adapting to prepare professionals for this new reality?
Felicitas Morhart: I feel that luxury education—just like iconic luxury brands—must balance heritage and innovation, the past and the future, by acknowledging that the present is messy and full of dilemmas.
My educational approach is discursive—creating a learning environment where the students and the teacher learn from each other through observation, experience, critical thinking, and real-world cases. Luxury consumers evolve constantly, and yesterday’s triumphs don’t guarantee tomorrow’s success. This truth also applies to education itself. Luxury educators must embrace uncertainty, be ready to be wrong, discover alongside luxury professionals, and learn from them, too.
Worthbury: How has your perspective on luxury leadership evolved over your career, from your academic roots to founding the SCLR and beyond? What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone aspiring to lead in this dynamic industry?
Felicitas Morhart: My perspective on luxury leadership has always been, and still is, that luxury needs a different mindset and company culture than growth-driven FMCG companies. In particular, management greed is poisonous to a luxury brand. I rather relate a luxury leader to a good king or queen, an aristocrat who stands for strong values and cares for the people and family legacy while relying on a trusted advisor to intelligently and creatively embrace change.
Worth sharing
A book worth reading: My current favorite is Very Important People by Ashley Mears – a fascinating field research into the global VIP party circuit and the waste of money and beauty for status.
A luxury leader worth knowing: Aurelia Figueroa (Head of Sustainability at Breitling)
Your definition of ‘worth’ in one sentence: Something of profound meaning
Three qualities that define a great luxury leader: Elegance, joy in aesthetics, education of head AND heart.
At Worthbury, we celebrate the luxury leaders shaping the industry. Our Leaders of Luxury series brings you conversations worth reading with those worth knowing, offering exclusive insights into their vision and impact.