In 2026, the race for data is as intense as any modern gold rush, thanks to the explosive growth of AI. Tech companies want to know your jeans size, how you sleep, even what parts of a store you’re drawn to upon entering. At the same time, fashion brands are chasing personalization and promising it as a benefit to improve the shopping experience both on and offline.
Much of AI’s promise for the future of retail and shopping — from hyper-personalized online recommendations and brand marketing, to in-store clienteling that pre-empts your needs — thrives on as much data input as possible. It’s in the interest of companies like Meta and Google to find new ways to collect more and more data — their business models rely on advertising for most of their revenue — and they’re investing heavily in data storage to stay competitive, increasing their spending this year by 77% to a record $725 billion. As AI makes personalization in both advertising and clienteling more commoditized, both tech companies and fashion brands need evermore data to compete.
Customers, however, are showing signs of fatigue around how much data they’re willing to give. They’re also questioning whether giving away their data is worth the benefits they receive in return — benefits that the entire data grab is predicated on. When Vogue Business surveyed hundreds of Vogue and GQ readers worldwide about their AI use, only 1% find AI shopping recommendations “entirely useful”, fewer than a quarter (24%) trust the recommendations and summaries made by AI, and only 3% look to AI chatbots for style inspiration. Respondents reported outputs that feel misaligned or generic, making it clear the execution of AI tools is what’s holding adoption back so far.
Now, luxury customers in particular are going out of their way to keep their data private, via opting out of data gathering, targeted ads, and even subscribing to encrypted digital services. More affluent and educated consumers are increasingly clued up on what increased personalization requires, which is bad news for luxury brands that rely on delivering a high-touch, hyper-personalized client experience.
“It’s a very fine line for brands to tread, because, obviously, there’s a lot of big business involved, but more and more people are aware of a certain abuse that’s been happening,” says Carol Aquino, head of consumer tech at WGSN.
If privacy is the new luxury, how can brands lean in?
Agency is the new inequality
The privacy and data use of fashion companies using AI was the fourth biggest concern among Vogue Business AI survey respondents. Big Tech’s processing of personal data is increasingly part of the cultural conversation, as consumers grow frustrated by the volume and increasingly personal targeted ads on social media — changes that have been accelerated by AI. It’s inspired various “offline” movements among younger consumers, in particular, who are increasingly turning to alternative platforms like Reddit and Pinterest, which they perceive as less commercial.
This is driving a new industry shift among social platforms and toward paid, ad-free experiences as a perk for those who can afford them. YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook have all recently introduced paid subscriptions for ad-free versions of their platforms (which are known to target customers by mining their data), while newer platforms like Vero and Mewe are built around that model from the start.
“It’s definitely the younger and more affluent consumer who’s empowered to make these decisions, because there’s a very strong correlation with understanding these privacy issues and actually understanding how these tools work,” Aquino says.
