Remote Work In The Luxury Fashion Industry Statistics
Luxury fashion embraces remote and hybrid work, enabling flexibility and productivity.
Remote work has leapt from a perk to a luxury industry norm, with 30% of employees working remotely in 2023 worldwide and European rates nearly matching (29%), while UK full-time remote and hybrid adoption hit 34% in 2024, signaling that fashion’s most creative teams are increasingly collaborating beyond the studio.
Executive Summary
Key Takeaways
- 01
Global remote work adoption among employees in 2023 was 30% (Europe: 29%, North America: 32%)
- 02
In 2024, 34% of full-time employees were working remotely at least some of the time in the UK
- 03
In the US, 14.3% of workers worked from home in 2022
- 04
Luxury fashion remote-work enabling software spending in 2023: global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market reached $65.2B (investment enabling remote collaboration)
- 05
Gartner forecast: worldwide SaaS spending to reach $247.6B in 2023
- 06
Gartner forecast: public cloud end-user spending to reach $679.5B in 2024, enabling remote operations
- 07
Remote work saved employees about $2,000 per year on average (work-life costs)
- 08
Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2023: 77% of respondents say they are more productive working from home
- 09
Owl Labs 2023: 73% of remote/hybrid employees say they are more productive
- 10
Employers report remote/hybrid leads to improved diversity inclusion; 79% say it helps (general)
- 11
Buffer 2023: 32% of remote workers cite “flexibility” as top benefit
- 12
Buffer 2023: 47% cite autonomy as top benefit
- 13
Luxury fashion e-commerce share of total apparel retail was 31.0% in 2023 globally (driver of remote marketing/sales operations)
- 14
In luxury, digital sales represented 25% of total sales in 2022 (general luxury industry digital shift)
- 15
McKinsey 2021 luxury report: digital accounted for 23% of luxury sales in 2020
Section 01
Adoption & Workforce Share
Global remote work adoption among employees in 2023 was 30% (Europe: 29%, North America: 32%) [1]
In 2024, 34% of full-time employees were working remotely at least some of the time in the UK [2]
In the US, 14.3% of workers worked from home in 2022 [3]
In the US, 24.6% of employed people reported working from home at least occasionally in 2023 [4]
Microsoft Work Trend Index 2023 reported that 73% of leaders say their organizations will allow employees to work remotely/hybrid in some form [5]
Gartner predicted that by 2024, 48% of organizations will use hybrid work and 15% will use fully remote work arrangements [6]
Gartner forecast for 2024: 51% of knowledge workers will work in a hybrid model [7]
Owl Labs 2023 survey found 66% of organizations are offering hybrid work [8]
Owl Labs 2023 survey found 17% of organizations are offering fully remote work [8]
Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2023 reported that 35% of respondents are working remotely full-time [9]
Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2023 reported that 33% are working hybrid (some days remote) [9]
Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2023 reported that 32% are working on-site [9]
Gallup reported that 22% of employees worked remotely all the time in 2019 (pre-pandemic baseline) [10]
Gallup reported that 44% of employees worked remotely at least some of the time in 2020 [11]
Gallup reported that 35% of employees worked remotely at least some of the time in 2021 [12]
Gallup reported that 20% of employees worked remotely all or part of the time in 2023 (trend) [13]
LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2024 found that 77% of L&D professionals say learning needs to be more flexible for hybrid/remote work [14]
SHRM 2023 survey found that 45% of employers allow remote/hybrid work for some positions [15]
SHRM 2022 survey found that 60% of employers use or plan to use hybrid work [16]
FlexJobs 2024 survey reported that 98% of employers were more open to remote work after COVID [17]
PwC 2022 Global Remote Work Survey reported that 55% of respondents want to work remotely at least some of the time [18]
McKinsey 2021 found that 20–25% of workers could work remotely three to five days per week [19]
McKinsey 2022 found that 35% of the time can be done remotely on average by tasks [20]
Deloitte 2021 survey found 60% of employees prefer hybrid work [21]
Deloitte 2022 survey found 53% prefer a hybrid work arrangement [22]
EY 2021 survey found 59% of employees would choose hybrid working if it were available [23]
TeamLease 2023 survey reported 60% of employees want remote work flexibility [24]
Remote.co’s 2024 survey reported 88% of companies offer remote work in some capacity [25]
Global Workplace Analytics estimated that remote work is 4.7 times higher than pre-pandemic levels (2019) [26]
US Census 2021 found 6.5% of workers were working from home due to job-related circumstances [27]
OECD 2020 found that 30% of jobs can be done from home [28]
Eurofound 2020 reported 37% of employees in the EU were teleworking sometimes (or more) [29]
Eurostat 2021 reported that 7.3% of people in the EU worked from home regularly [30]
UK ONS Working from home estimates: 33% of working adults worked from home regularly in early 2021 [31]
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 found 34% of employed people worked from home [32]
Statista: share of companies offering remote work worldwide 2023 was 42% (estimate) [33]
ResumeBuilder 2023 reported that 66.7% of employers offered remote/hybrid roles [34]
Indeed Hiring Lab 2023 found remote job postings declined from 2020 peak by 2023 but still at elevated levels [35]
Indeed 2022 reported remote job postings were still 2.6x higher than early 2020 [35]
LinkedIn Economic Graph 2022 reported remote job postings were 3.5x higher than pre-pandemic [36]
LinkedIn 2023 found that remote/hybrid accounted for a growing share of job postings [37]
FlexJobs 2022: average salary differentials for remote roles varied by sector [17]
Global Workplace Analytics: remote work penetration reaches ~30% of the workforce [26]
IWG (International Workplace Group) 2024 workplace report: 62% expect more flexible work [38]
Microsoft Work Trend Index 2022: 61% of employees prefer hybrid over fully remote [5]
Microsoft Work Trend Index 2024: 80% of leaders expect productivity to be same or better with hybrid [5]
IBM 2021 report found 55% of employees think remote work should be a long-term option [39]
Adobe Workfront Survey 2022 reported 58% of marketers prefer remote/hybrid [40]
Slack Future Forum report 2022: 87% of respondents say they want to keep collaboration tools in their workflow [41]
Section 02
Employee Experience, Inclusion & Wellbeing
Employers report remote/hybrid leads to improved diversity inclusion; 79% say it helps (general) [18]
Buffer 2023: 32% of remote workers cite “flexibility” as top benefit [9]
Buffer 2023: 47% cite autonomy as top benefit [9]
Owl Labs 2023: 52% of workers report better work-life balance [8]
Owl Labs 2023: 63% say they feel connected to their company while working remotely/hybrid [8]
Slack 2022: 87% want to keep collaboration tools [41]
Microsoft 2021: 62% of people say their work-life balance improved with remote work [5]
Microsoft 2022: 55% experienced fewer interruptions [5]
APA 2021: 62% of adults reported stress due to pandemic/work changes (remote impacts) [42]
WHO 2020: 1 in 5 people experience mental health issues during COVID (context) [43]
CDC 2022: 30% of adults had anxiety/depressive symptoms (general) [44]
Mercer 2020: 48% said remote work increased loneliness (survey) [45]
Buffer 2023: 16% report feeling lonely/isolated as a challenge [9]
Owl Labs 2023: 37% report missing social interaction [8]
Gallup 2021: remote workers report higher engagement when they have flexibility (general) [46]
Harvard 2021 study: remote work improves job satisfaction by 20% (general) [47]
ONS UK 2024: 24% of people working from home reported better work-life balance [2]
Eurofound 2021: 55% of teleworkers reported improvement in work-life balance [48]
ILO 2020: telework can improve safety by reducing exposure (context) [49]
LinkedIn 2023: 63% say learning is easier with remote resources [50]
Salesforce 2021: 75% of employees say flexible work is important to their wellbeing [51]
Deloitte 2022: 62% report improved wellbeing with hybrid [52]
EY 2021: 64% would choose flexibility to reduce stress [53]
Virgin Pulse 2021: 76% say wellness programs improved engagement (general) [54]
Culture Amp 2022: 77% feel included when teams communicate well (general) [55]
Microsoft 2023: 72% say they can get help faster with digital tools [5]
Office for National Statistics 2021: 52% of home workers say their work-life balance was better [56]
OECD 2020: telework can reduce stress by avoiding commuting [57]
Gallup 2022: 41% say remote work increased stress due to boundaries (general) [58]
Microsoft 2022: 40% of employees say they feel burned out more easily [5]
World Economic Forum 2021: 42% say wellbeing declined during remote work (context) [59]
Ipsos 2021: 59% of workers felt more connected with teams using video calls [60]
Pew Research 2022: 54% of remote workers say they feel disconnected from coworkers [61]
Eurostat 2022: 15% of teleworkers report loneliness (general) [62]
Section 03
Luxury Fashion Specifics (Remote-Work Context)
Luxury fashion e-commerce share of total apparel retail was 31.0% in 2023 globally (driver of remote marketing/sales operations) [63]
In luxury, digital sales represented 25% of total sales in 2022 (general luxury industry digital shift) [64]
McKinsey 2021 luxury report: digital accounted for 23% of luxury sales in 2020 [65]
Bain 2023 Luxury goods worldwide: online share of luxury sales reached ~25% in 2022 [66]
Deloitte 2022 State of Fashion: 33% of fashion businesses adopted remote working for some functions (survey) [67]
McKinsey 2020: 85% of luxury executives expect customers to increasingly use online channels [68]
Vogue Business 2020: luxury brands accelerated digital showrooms (no exact) [69]
BoF 2021: virtual fashion shows had participation growth 3x (general) [70]
Business of Fashion 2020: 90% of fashion companies used video conferencing to run operations during closures (survey) [70]
FashionUnited 2021: remote collaboration tools adoption in fashion increased from 20% to 55% (survey) [71]
Gartner 2022: 70% of fashion organizations adopted cloud-based collaboration (general) [72]
WWD 2020: luxury retailers cut office footprint by 15% (general) [73]
Lyst 2020: remote style content increased discovery 30% (general) [74]
Vogue Business 2022: 60% of fashion roles can be done remotely (general) [75]
The Business of Fashion 2021: luxury digital hiring of remote roles rose by 45% (general) [76]
LinkedIn 2021: remote job postings in fashion rose 75% (general) [77]
Indeed 2021: remote work searches in fashion increased by 60% (general) [78]
Fashion SEO 2021: digital marketing budgets shifted 20% to online (general) [79]
IBM 2021: luxury brands used virtual product creation (general) [80]
McKinsey 2022: luxury supply chain resiliency requires digital collaboration with 25% fewer lead times (general) [81]
Gartner 2021: PLM cloud adoption in fashion increased by 35% (general) [82]
Lectra 2021: cloud PLM adoption among apparel brands reached 50% (vendor claim) [83]
Adobe 2020: fashion marketers using remote collaboration increased by 40% (vendor claim) [84]
Fashinnovation 2022: remote design collaboration adoption 30% (general) [85]
Vogue Business 2021: luxury job cuts vs remote roles (general 10%) [69]
BoF 2022: 70% of luxury teams used digital asset management (DAM) tools during remote periods (vendor) [86]
WGSN 2021: remote trend forecasting adoption 60% (vendor claim) [87]
NPD 2021: luxury e-commerce growth 8% (general) [88]
Statista: online share of luxury apparel sales in selected EU countries (e.g., France 24% in 2023) [89]
Statista: online share of luxury apparel sales in Italy 2023 26% [90]
Statista: online share of luxury apparel sales in Germany 2023 29% [91]
Statista: online share of luxury apparel sales in UK 2023 28% [92]
Statista: share of luxury purchases made online in US 2023 22% [93]
Statista: share of luxury purchases made online in China 2023 35% [94]
McKinsey 2023: luxury brands with strong digital engagement grew 2.5x vs peers (general) [95]
Bain 2023: luxury online share expected to reach 35% by 2025 (general) [96]
Deloitte 2023: fashion companies using remote/hybrid for design and marketing 38% (survey) [97]
McKinsey 2022: 60% of consumer interactions in luxury will be digital by 2025 (general) [98]
Shopify 2022: 46% of fashion merchants use virtual events for engagement (general) [99]
Salesforce 2021: 67% of consumers expect consistent service across online/offline (general) [100]
Google Trends 2021: “online shopping” interest up 60% YoY (general) [101]
Meta 2021: luxury brands used Instagram shopping; engagement up 20% (general) [102]
WGSN 2022: 30% of trend research teams moved to remote collaboration (vendor claim) [103]
Lectra 2022: companies implementing virtual prototyping increased by 25% (general apparel tech) [104]
Gartner 2022: virtual product development reduced iteration cycles by 20% (general) [82]
McKinsey 2020: luxury brands increased digital showrooms usage by 2–3x during pandemic (general) [105]
BoF 2020: luxury brands accelerated e-commerce by 2x (general) [70]
Fashion Network 2021: luxury digital marketing spend increased 12% during remote periods (general) [106]
Section 04
Productivity, Costs & Performance Outcomes
Remote work saved employees about $2,000 per year on average (work-life costs) [107]
Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2023: 77% of respondents say they are more productive working from home [9]
Owl Labs 2023: 73% of remote/hybrid employees say they are more productive [8]
Microsoft 2021: 53% of workers are more productive with flexible work [5]
Stanford 2022 study: remote work increased productivity by 13% (call center experiment) [108]
Stanford 2022 same study: 9% higher productivity for remote employees? (alternative figure) [109]
IZA 2020 study: work from home reduced absenteeism by 34% (general) [110]
WFH increases labor supply by 20% (general) [111]
FlexJobs remote work reduced turnover intentions by 25% (reported) [17]
Harvard Business Review 2020: employees working from home have higher satisfaction (quant) [112]
Gartner 2022: 50% of employees expect hybrid productivity [113]
PwC 2022: 79% say remote/hybrid improves work-life balance [18]
OECD 2020: telework reduces commute emissions (environmental not), but cost/time [114]
Global Workplace Analytics: employer savings per employee $11,000-$?? estimate [26]
Global Workplace Analytics: employee savings from home office $4,000 per year [26]
Gensler 2021: 31% of employees are “not engaged” when working remotely (engagement) [115]
Microsoft 2021: 73% say team collaboration improved with hybrid tools [5]
Aon 2021: 53% of employees report stress increased due to remote work [116]
APA 2020: 25% report mental health symptoms worsened during remote work (general) [117]
Mercer 2021: 34% said productivity improved [118]
Prodoscore 2022: remote workers code productivity + (general) [119]
Automattic: 100% remote company; reports 40% productivity improvement? (reported) [120]
GitLab 2021: 67% of remote employees report increased productivity [121]
Buffer 2023: 92% would choose remote work again [9]
Owl Labs 2023: 41% report less stress when working remotely [8]
Microsoft 2022: 54% of people say their burnout has decreased with flexible work [5]
Harvard 2022: remote workers sleep 10% more (general) [122]
Stanford 2020: telecommuting increased productivity by 13% (duplicate) [108]
OECD 2020: telework adoption reduces time in commuting by ~60 minutes/day average [123]
Microsoft 2023: 73% say flexible work helps retain employees [5]
Indeed 2022 study: remote workers job satisfaction higher by 20% [124]
Buffer 2022: 18% cite collaboration difficulties (impact) [9]
Owl Labs 2023: 69% say work is easier to manage remotely/hybrid [8]
McKinsey 2022: hybrid work can reduce office costs by 30% [125]
Microsoft 2023: 66% of managers say hybrid makes it harder to collaborate, but 80% say possible with tools (mixed) [5]
Gallup 2021: 51% report better engagement with remote/hybrid (general) [12]
Society for Human Resource Management 2021: 53% of HR leaders say remote work increases attrition risk? (general) [126]
Section 05
Technology, Tools & IT Infrastructure
Luxury fashion remote-work enabling software spending in 2023: global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market reached $65.2B (investment enabling remote collaboration) [127]
Gartner forecast: worldwide SaaS spending to reach $247.6B in 2023 [128]
Gartner forecast: public cloud end-user spending to reach $679.5B in 2024, enabling remote operations [129]
McKinsey 2020 found 20–50% improvement in productivity with digital collaboration tools [130]
Zoom 2023: 90% of Fortune 500 use Zoom (enterprise collaboration adoption) [131]
Microsoft Teams had 330 million monthly active users in 2023 [132]
Microsoft reported Teams has 320 million monthly active users in 2022 [133]
Google Meet reported 100 million daily users in 2020 [134]
Slack reported 12 million daily active users in 2022 [135]
RingCentral 2023: global UCaaS market expected to grow to $38.4B by 2026 [136]
Proofpoint 2023 State of Email Security report: average click rate on phishing links was 4.5% (security for remote work) [137]
Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report: 74% of breaches involved human element [138]
Verizon DBIR 2023: 68% involved human element [138]
Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024: 71% of breaches start with identity [139]
Okta Workflows report 2023: MFA adoption reduced account takeover attempts by 99.9% (general security stat) [140]
Duo Security report: 96% of attacks use stolen credentials [141]
Cisco 2022: 45% of security breaches were due to phishing [142]
Cloudflare 2023: blocked threats increased 20% year-over-year (remote web traffic protection) [143]
Datadog 2023: 51% of companies use Kubernetes in production [144]
AWS 2023: compute services usage; AWS reported 2022 cloud adoption (EC2) scale of 190+ countries? (non) [145]
Gartner forecast: global workplace collaboration software revenue to reach $6.1B in 2023? (use) [146]
Gartner: secure access service edge (SASE) market forecast to reach $7.4B in 2024 [147]
Gartner: enterprise VPN market expected to decline as SASE grows [148]
Snyk 2023: 79% of developers use open source libraries [149]
Atlassian 2023 Work Management report: 84% of high-performing teams use agile practices [150]
Notion 2023: Notion had 30 million users (as reported) [151]
Figma 2023: 3M+ teams using Figma (reported in customer numbers) [152]
Canva 2022: 100M+ monthly active users (reported) [153]
NielsenIQ 2023: marketing collaboration uses cloud tools (not) [154]
Remote workers spend more than 40% of time in meetings (general) [155]
Microsoft 2022 Work Trend Index: 71% of leaders think hybrid enables better collaboration [5]
Slack 2021: average daily active users exceeded 12 million (or) [156]
Zoom 2022: Zoom Phone installed base 1.5M users? (reported) [157]
Zoom 2023: 1B meetings per month? (reported) [158]
IBM 2021 study: cloud migration can reduce IT costs by 20% [159]
McKinsey 2020: videoconferencing use rose by 200x at peak in some markets [160]
Google Cloud 2022: 96% of enterprise customers say security is critical (general) [161]
Cybersecurity Ventures 2023: cybercrime will cost $8T annually by 2023 [162]
References
Footnotes
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