The culture strategist who reads what consumers want before it goes mainstream. Pascal Monfort explains why good taste, not follower counts, is becoming one of luxury’s greatest competitive advantages.
Pascal Monfort is the founder of REC, the Paris-based cultural foresight and strategy agency built around its Research, Experts, Consumers methodology, with work spanning luxury, fashion and sport for brands including Lacoste and GANT.
He spent nearly 10 years at Nike working across consumer culture and innovation, was Art Director at Issey Miyake, founded Ephemera, the Paris bookshop dedicated to rare fashion documents, and teaches the history and sociology of fashion.
In 2026, Pascal was named Chief Creative Officer of Le Coq Sportif, where he is helping lead the next chapter of the historic French sportswear brand founded in 1882.
In this episode of Beyond Luxury, Pascal breaks down the REC method and his consumer pyramid, from “seeker heads” to early adopters, and explains why he needs only 24 of the right people to crack a strategic question.
We discuss:
• How to identify cultural shifts before they go mainstream• Why 24 carefully selected people can reveal more than thousands of data points
• The difference between creating culture and buying visibility• Why follower counts are a poor proxy for cultural influence• What Lacoste, Prada and GANT understand about cultural relevance
• How Nike taught Pascal to read consumers and subcultures• Why human taste still matters in an algorithmic world• Why good taste is expertise, not decoration
• What it takes to rebuild an iconic heritage brand like Le Coq Sportif
Beyond Luxury explores the forces reshaping the global luxury industry through conversations with the people building what comes next. Hosted by Carlota Rodben, the podcast brings together leaders across luxury, fashion, hospitality, technology, culture and innovation to understand changing consumer behaviour, brand strategy and the future of luxury.
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