Luxury and Lifestyle

Translating Luxury and Lifestyle texts in a unique way

Watchmaking, fashion, perfumery, design, jewellery: the world of luxury and lifestyle is multifaceted. Uniqueness and style are the driving factors of every brand that shines in this macro sector and all translations in the luxury and lifestyle sector must live up to expectations.

There’s no room for compromise when it comes to the quality of translations in the luxury and lifestyle sector: customers buy top-class products and expect the accompanying text to be on the same level. They expect the best.

Not only that: in the luxury and lifestyle sector, the main element brands strive to convey to the user is their own story, their identity. The experience that represents the dream behind the product itself. Storytelling therefore becomes a key factor and knowing how to translate the story correctly and in a culturally relevant way is essential to engage the potential customer. Products in the luxury segment must maintain the aura of exclusivity that makes them desirable, without ever slipping up and using a pushy selling language: the niche market is for a select few, it distances itself from mass products and therefore requires those in charge of texts and translations to maintain a sophisticated tone, creating a strong desire not supported by any actual real requirement.

Translators specialised in the luxury sector must have certain indispensable characteristics:

• Knowledge of the terminology: a good linguist must be familiar with the materials and processing techniques, as well as the product components, as these are what makes the brand stand out.
• Knowledge of the brand history: in most cases, the producers of luxury and lifestyle products and services are historic companies with whose evolution the translator must be familiar in order to best understand their identity.
• Versatility: an in-depth specialization is required but many luxury brands sponsor sporting or cultural events and translators must be able to use different writing styles for different subject matters, or have strong research skills.
• Knowledge of the rules that regulate the sector: especially in certain segments, such as beauty or fashion, specific regulations that must be respected in order to avoid legal issues. In Italian, for example, brands are not allowed to promote products using terms such as 'synthetic/cruelty-free/imitation leather' when referring to leather, as these “creative solutions” are considered misleading for the buyer. Only in the case of genuine leather may the precise term ‘leather’ be used.