The global youth population is expected to reach 1.3 billion by 2030, with Gen Z making up a significant portion of this group, wielding a combined disposable income of $360 billion.
As the luxury fashion industry gradually comes to grips with a younger audience like Gen Z, heritage brands face a unique challenge: how can they maintain their classic appeal to a new generation grown up surrounded by social media and instant connectivity?
TikTok has over 1.5 billion monthly active users and is expected to reach 2.35 billion users by 2029, especially with its rising popularity among Gen Z. Consequently, TikTok today has become one of the key social media platforms for fashion brands to showcase their brand identity and engage with their customers.
Loewe, the Spanish luxury fashion house founded in 1846 and currently led by Creative Director Jonathan Anderson, sets an example of how a heritage brand can successfully adapt to the unique tastes of Gen Z, notably by leveraging TikTok. Thanks to its carefully crafted TikTok strategies, Loewe has succeeded in balancing its historic heritage with a bold, playful digital presence on TikTok, driving engagement and desirability among Gen Z consumers.
Loewe’s Digital Transformation and Rise on TikTok
Loewe’s brand revival began under the creative direction of Jonathan Anderson in 2013, who brought a fresh, contemporary outlook to the brand’s classic Spanish craftsmanship. With Anderson’s vision, Loewe evolved from a “quiet luxury” label to a bolder, artistically driven heritage brand that embraced a more youthful, eclectic aesthetic.
The brand started to actively post on TikTok in 2022, a platform that perfectly suits Anderson’s experimental approach. Its TikTok campaign prioritizes an approach more suited to Gen Z – creative, quirky and approachable – over traditional alienating top-down luxury advertising.
Understanding Gen Z’s Unique Preferences
Before diving into Loewe’s TikTok strategy, it’s essential to understand Gen Z’s defining characteristics in their consumption habits. Gen Z values transparency, inclusivity, and individual expression, diverging from prior generations that often pursued luxury for exclusivity or status alone. This generation seeks brands that align with their social values, while also looking for unique, statement-making pieces to showcase their identities.
As the first generation of digital natives, they value “instant escapism” and immersive, interactive experiences online, especially on platforms like TikTok, where the short, fast-paced video format is designed for quick consumption and easy sharing. When it comes to advertising, they prefer authentic, engaging content that prioritizes entertainment or education over conversion.
Key Elements of Loewe’s TikTok Strategy
- Playful and relatable content
Loewe distinguishes itself by breaking the mold of traditional luxury brand content. Rather than focusing on polished, aspirational images shot on expensive sets and high-end cameras, Loewe’s TikTok videos often showcase whimsical, chaotic, or humorous elements simply recorded on a smartphone that resonate with Gen Z’s love for irony and authenticity.
@loewe Our models be like: 👁️ 🪶👁️ #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
For example, this 14-second video contrasting 2 different views of its runway, one of the audience in a more formal and traditional with the original music choice, the other of its model’s POV (point of view) shot accompanied by a viral sound on TikTok, gained 2.7 million views, and a high engagement of 323.5k likes and 10.1k shares.
@loewe If this gets two thousand likes the intern gets to stay another week. Watch the #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
In this video, they made a direct reference to Gen Z by creating a Gen Z’s version of their Spring Summer 2025 women’s runway show teaser.
This imaginative approach aligns well with Gen Z’s preference for fun and memorable experiences rather than straightforward promotional content.
- Savoir-faire excellence rhythmé à la Gen Z
As a heritage luxury fashion brand, Loewe’s unique value proposition lies in its excellent savoir-faire on leather goods. A part of its TikTok content aims to put forward Loewe’s savoir-faire demonstrating the skill and dedication that goes into creating each piece. These videos not only educate their audience about the brand’s heritage and justify the luxury price point to a generation that values transparency and quality but are also produced in a Gen Z preferred format that provide emotional values.
@loewe Making the #LOEWE classic Puzzle bag in our Spanish atelier. The Puzzle is the debut bag for LOEWE by Creative Director Jonathan Anderson and comes in both ‘classic’ and ‘edge’ constructions. #MakingOf #ASMR ♬ Waltz No. 10 / Chopin , Piano(1085818) - Noi m knot
For example, this behind-the-scenes video (10 million views, 452.3k likes and 10.3k favorites) of the making of a Puzzle bag in Loewe’s Spanish workshop, filmed and edited to suit the rhythm of the music chosen, makes it an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) video – a relaxing video format much appreciated by Gen Z.
- User-Generated Content and creative community engagement
Loewe encourages community interaction by reposting viral user-generated content and showcasing the “Loewe community”.
@loewe @theartrevival discusses the art shown at the #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
For instance, during the rollout of 2025 Spring Summer menswear show, the brand invited “theartrevival” to introduce and the art pieces presented on its runway (1.4 million views). By integrating these types of posts into its main TikTok content, Loewe effectively validates the individuality of its fanbase while fostering a sense of belonging and co-creation.
@loewe POV: You get a surprise invite to the #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
Furthermore, recently they even brought this virtual interaction into real life by engaging their community in the creative video-making process. In this viral video, they invited one of their fans to participate in the 2025 Spring Summer men’s runway show and documented the whole experience. This creative way of community engagement and storytelling is proven to be a success (1.4 million views, 76.2k likes) as it highly resonated with its community.
- Cultural relevance and cultural capital
In line with Jonathan Anderson’s vision and ambition for Loewe, integrating culture into the brand and building cultural capital is also key to a brand’s success. That’s why Loewe, under his direction, also tapped into costume design in collaboration with Italian director Luca Guadagnino, notably on Challengers and Queer.
@loewe Paula’s Ibiza Sunglasses and I TOLD YA T-shirt now available on Loewe.com #LOEWE #Challengers @Liv ♬ original sound - LOEWE
@loewe Never let Josh on the aux #LOEWE #JoshOConnor ♬ original sound - LOEWE
@loewe @Omar Apollo asks his co-star #DrewStarkey the important questions about their new film, #QUEER. #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
On their TikTok, they make sure to stir up discussion around their brand and interaction in the cultural sphere. For example, by putting forward the Challengers film related designs, interacting with one of the main cast Josh O’Connor from Challengers, inviting Omar Apollo and Drew Starkey, the main actors of Queer, to create entertaining content. In this way, Loewe not only generated millions of views on its TikTok page, but also increased the brand’s cultural capital thanks to its cultural relevant content.
- Recreate pop culture and feed the fandom in Loewe’s way
In addition to the awareness of cultural relevance, it’s also important to note Loewe’s ability to recreate pop culture in its own way.
Unlike other luxury brands that would put the celebrities they interact with on a pedestal with a highly promotional fashion concept resulted from a costly and highly choreographed production, Loewe’s TikTok team tries to shorten the distance between these celebrities and their fans. They do this by using selfie camera, using natural light already available in the setting, ask pertinent questions that delve deeper into a celebrity’s personality between breaks of fashion shows entirely shot on an iPhone.
This strategy allowed Loewe to deliver valuable and exclusive pop culture content that is in line with the brand’s authentic personality, attracting traffic and attention not only from the brand’s own audience, but also from these celebrities’ fandoms, making Loewe a pop culture maker for Gen Z.
- Enlarge the audience with both in-channel and cross-channel collaborations
@izzipoopi @Carla Ginola ♬ original sound - brookewilliams🎀
Collaborating with popular and releveant creators and influencers is integral to the Loewe’s TikTok success. By partnering with Gen Z–approved fashion influencers like izzipoopi, Loewe taps into a dedicated fan base that already trusts these figures as authentic style icons. Izzi’s appearance at the Loewe’s fashion show, shared extensively on her social media channels, boosted the brand’s visibility and authenticity with her millions of young followers. These collaborations drive organic engagement, as followers are more likely to interact with brands that their favorite influencers endorse.
@loewe Trick rider @belladacosta galloping in #LOEWE ♬ sonido original - BRAYAN DEL REY
@loewe Mum is cooking and @pribel is serving. #BRAT #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
@loewe Champion Diver @Stefanobelottiii fullbody workout routine: - Russian Twist 3 Sets / 8-16 Reps - Push Up 3 Sets / 12-16 Reps - Lunge with weights 3 Sets / 15-20 Reps - Pull Up 3 Sets / 8-12 Reps - Biceps Curls 3 Sets / 8-12 Reps - Stairs Climbing 3 Sets / 60-80 Steps - @On #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
@loewe Listen to your mum, Emma! @The Rosenthals shows us how it’s done. #LOEWE ♬ original sound - LOEWE
@loewe Smooth. @CeilingfanCEO wearing #LOEWE ♬ Confidence (sped up version) - Ocean Alley
In addition to the fashion insiders, Loewe has extended its collaboration featuring diverse talents across different interest channels, such as professional trick rider Bella Da Costa, comedian Pribel, champion diver Stefano Belotti, internet’s mom The Rosenthals, and meme-based influencer Ceilingfan CEO. It is important to note that Loewe gives creative freedom to these collaborators to make sure that the content produced align with the content creators’ own style that resonate with their own audiences. These cross-channel collaborations allowed Loewe to diversify its brand’s image, expand new content types and creative formats, inspire new audiences, and broaden Loewe’s cultural appeal to Gen Z.
Summary
By Nov 7, 2024, Loewe has built up 2 million followers, 35.7 million likes, and a high engagement rate of 4.29% (much higher than the fashion industry average of 0.85%), a real testament to its effective Gen Z engagement.
Loewe’s TikTok success illustrates that a heritage brand can become highly desirable to Gen Z by balancing its historic roots with fresh, digital-forward strategies. By creating a sense of community and embracing playful content, Loewe has managed to capture the attention and loyalty of Gen Z previously resistant to traditional luxury fashion marketing.
Loewe’s investment in TikTok has also generated tangible financial results. According to recent market reports, Loewe is the most popular brand during the second quarter of 2024. Its profit reached 207 million euros at the end of 2023, a 62.5% increase compared to 2022, with Gen Z (18-to-24 age group) being the fastest growing customer. These figures demonstrate how a well-executed social media strategy can strengthen brand loyalty among Gen Z audiences, converting them from passive viewers into potential lifelong customers.
As heritage brands continue to look for ways to capture Gen Z’s attention, Loewe’s approach on TikTok is likely to become a blueprint for best practices across the industry. In terms of strategy, according to Loewe’s TikTok Content Creative, Marie Dinlaportas, a key takeaway is that brands who want to success on TikTok today should focus on “bringing the social back into media.”