Fashion, Lvmh queen of revenues, Prada at the top of the Italian podium – Corriere.it

A sector in recovery is that of fashion, which after the setback caused by the pandemic has seen a recovery with double-digit revenues. A turnover that, for the major world players, is around 15%. The European market is driving the sector, which in the first six months of 2022 marked a + 24%, followed by the American one (+ 19%), while at the bottom, with a much lower growth (+ 3%), is positioned in Asia, penalized by the restrictions. These are just some of the data in the new Mediobanca Research Department report on the fashion system in the world, produced by analyzing the financial data of the 78 major multinationals in the sector (35 in Europe, 29 in North America, 12 in Asia and 2 in Africa) with revenues exceeding one billion euros each, which they sell and produce all over the globe.

Among the aspects under the magnifying glass are turnover, investments, workforce (part-time and gender quotas), employment trends, production chain and the commitment of companies to green.
The general picture, on a global level, is positive with an overall turnover that exceeds the pre-crisis levels by 8.5% at 497 billion euros. Investments, on the other hand, are struggling which rose by 20.6% compared to 2020 but fell by 5.9% on 2019. Overall, the fashion multinationals show that they have a more solid financial structure than the average for large manufacturing.

Nine of the 35 European multinationals are located in Italy, which ranks first for representativeness at a numerical level. But as regards the turnover, France is pushing the sector, with a share of the aggregate turnover of 40%. It is no coincidence that LVMH, with 64.2 billion, confirming itself in first place among world leaders, followed by Kering who would be in advanced negotiations for the purchase of Tom Ford, wrote the Wall Street Journal yesterday citing some sources, according to the which Este’e Lauder would also be in progress. Our country reaches only 6%. The first of the Italian Prada, in 33rd place in the ranking, with 3.4 billion, followed by Calzedonia Holding (46th position), Moncler (52nd) and Giorgio Armani (54th). The sum of the turnover of the nine Italians is five times lower than the sum of the French ones. An aspect that highlights the typical characteristic of the Italian industrial fabric, with a number of companies, but of a smaller size. Among the Italians, only Moncler, Prada, Ferragamo and Zegna are listed.

Regarding the average age of the workforce, Italy is the bottom of the world, with its 32% of employees under the age of 30 compared to the continental average of 37%. Lower value for Italy also in terms of part-time. Only 8%. But not so far from the French (9%) who are distanced from the Americans (50%). And also the presence of women, especially in the boards of directors in Italy, is lower than that of European colleagues. But an element that brings Italy to the fore is high-end production: over a quarter of the suppliers of the major European players are in our country (up to 80% in the high-end range), a distinctive element of the excellence of Made in Italy. On the issue of environmental sustainability, companies show a growing pay attention to esg issues. But it is the Europeans, compared to their stars and stripes colleagues, who are committed and believe in it the most.