Across categories, access is reshaping markets. GLP-1 medications, lab-grown diamonds, and accessible luxury fashion each show how quickly scarcity can lose power when new rules, technology, or ways of selling make once-exclusive things easier to get.
But this isn’t simply a move toward cheaper alternatives. It reflects a changing definition of luxury, where value is judged by what feels truly worth paying for.
For brands, the opportunity is not to dilute premium, but to redefine it. As our 2026 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Canadian Brands report shows, brands best placed to win will be those that combine aspiration with accessibility, and support it with quality, trust, transparency, and emotional rewards.
GLP-1s – from exclusivity to mainstream possibility
Few products illustrate this shift more clearly than GLP-1 medications. Until recently, GLP-1s were defined by limited access, high prices, and significant cultural buzz. According to Kantar Canada MONITOR in 2025, users and prospective users represented a relatively small share of Canadians, with more than 90% of the population not considering GLP-1s. Yet growing awareness and improving affordability suggest the category is at an inflection point.
The US offers a glimpse of where the market may be heading. Gallup data shows GLP-1 usage among adults rising from 3% in 2024 to 11% in 2026, partly supported by lower-cost options entering the market. Canada looks to be on a similar path. In June 2026, Health Canada approved Sevmia, Apotex’s generic version of Wegovy, the first generic cleared specifically for weight management in Canada. Pricing is well below what the brand-name option has cost. Novo Nordisk has also received approval for its own lower-cost versions, meaning that even the original drugmaker is positioning its offering to compete on price. With more generics under Health Canada review, prices are likely to keep falling.
This has real implications for businesses in adjacent categories. Brands in wellness, fitness, and nutrition will need to shift from selling transformation to supporting maintenance, and treat this as an attainable luxury opportunity rather than one built on scarcity.
Lab-grown diamonds offer more sparkle for less
Diamonds tell a similar story through technology rather than regulation. As production has scaled, the price of lab-grown diamonds has fallen dramatically, making them accessible to a much wider audience. But price alone doesn’t explain their appeal.
From a Kantar perspective, lab-grown diamonds bring together several factors that are becoming increasingly important to luxury consumers, including trust, responsibility, and reassurance. They address concerns around the environmental and human impact associated with traditional diamond mining while offering consumers greater confidence in what they are purchasing. This may explain why many consumers don’t see lab-grown diamonds as a compromise but rather as a smart expression of luxury.
For jewellery brands, the opportunity is not to defend older definitions of exclusivity. It’s to build Meaningful Difference around value, craftsmanship, credibility, and emotional significance. Shoppers are not necessarily buying lab-grown because they cannot afford the real thing. They are buying into a version of luxury that better fits how they define value today: beautiful, credible, responsible, and more financially realistic.
Accessible fashion brings premium within reach
Fashion provides perhaps the clearest example of how premium is evolving.
Coach shows that accessible premium can still feel aspirational. After losing relevance through much of the 2010s, the brand has found renewed momentum with younger shoppers. CNBC reports that more than two-thirds of Coach’s nearly 900,000 new North American customers in the latest quarter were Gen Z and millennials, and that Coach passed Michael Kors in 2024 to become the second-largest player in the U.S. luxury handbag market. This is also supported by Kantar BrandZ data, with Coach’s Different Index increasing from 84 in 2019 to 104 in 2026.
Aritzia brings the idea closer to home. Its “Everyday Luxury” positioning sits between fast fashion and traditional luxury, offering a premium feeling without premium-only pricing. The company reported record Q3 fiscal 2026 net revenue of $1.04 billion, up 42.8% year over year, with US net revenue up 53.8%. Kantar BrandZ Canada also identified Aritzia as the fastest riser in the 2025 Canadian ranking, up 55% year over year.
Quince has pushed the model even further, using a factory-direct approach to offer premium products without traditional luxury markups. Together, these brands demonstrate that accessible premium isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about making quality, design, and emotional satisfaction feel within reach.
A generational shift in luxury
Gen Z and younger Millennials are playing a leading role in this transformation, but cost pressures are encouraging people of all ages to scrutinize premium purchases more carefully. While they remain willing to pay more, they increasingly expect a clearer return for that investment.
The implication for brands is significant. As access expands, scarcity alone becomes a weaker source of competitive advantage. Brands must earn their premium through quality, trust, emotional rewards, and Meaningful Difference.
View the full 2026 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Canadian Brands report here.