I remember perfectly when, a few years ago, Carlos Azuaje first told me that Wilde would not be participating in Black Friday or offering aggressive discounts. My initial reaction was one of disagreement. From my experience working with other luxury brands, I am very familiar with the logic of the commercial calendar: sales peaks, aggressive remarketing, and artificial urgency. My entire “marketing manual” was screaming: we are missing an opportunity.
But over time, when I began to look at the context and results more calmly, his decision began to make sense.
Over the past five years, the global fashion industry has continued to grow, but in a much less glamorous way than the fashion shows would have us believe. Revenues rose from around $1.28 trillion in 2019 to around $1.40 trillion in 2024, following a 7.5% decline in 2020 and another contraction in 2022; average annual growth for the period is barely 1.8%. At the same time, fast fashion has continued to inflate: from around $91 billion in 2021 to more than $136 billion in 2024. In other words, more is being sold, faster and cheaper, but not necessarily better.
The fall of giants such as Farfetch is a symptom of this tension. A platform that was once valued at more than $20 billion has become a case study due to its stock market crash, need for emergency financing, and subsequent accelerated sale to Coupang, with shareholders virtually wiped off the map. The digital luxury that wanted to be the “technological backbone” of the sector ended up showing how fragile a model based on discounts, dependence on third parties, and growth at any price can be.
In that context, I understood Cao’s position better. Amulets are not “products” in the classic sense: they are objects that condense narrative, ritual, and a certain intimate promise. They follow a slow path: design, workshop, specific hands, specific gazes. Labeling them “30% off today only” reduces them to a commodity, breaks the spell, and sends a very clear message to the community: this was an accessory; the important thing was the price.
From my experience, I could argue in favor of Black Friday with segmentation, bundles, and LTV. But when I see how the Wilde community (customers and ambassadors) relates to the brand, I understand that the main asset here is not volume, but trust. That trust is built precisely in those moments when you decide not to give in to the collective discount hysteria.
Today, I see Cao’s decision as going against the grain, yes, but also as a lucid defense of the brand’s symbolic value. In a market where almost everything is discounted, choosing not to do so is also a powerful way of saying who you are.
Article by @uncamacaro
