2021 for the big names in fashion marks the return to pre-covid levels but this does not apply to Italian brands that will need an extra year to recover.
This is what emerges from the Fashion System report produced by Mediobanca's Research Area, reviewing the data of 70 multinationals and 134 large companies in the sector in Italy.
In the first nine months, the major world players (those with a turnover of at least 1 billion euros) saw a rebound in turnover of 32% thanks to China (+ 38% excluding Japan) and America (+37 %, driven by the United States), while the European market was in pursuit (+ 25%), penalized by still limited tourist flows.
For the whole of 2021 Mediobanca expects a sudden 'V' recovery with an aggregate turnover growth of 28%, which allows multinationals to exceed pre-crisis levels (+ 10%).
The turnover of large Italian fashion companies (with a turnover of more than 100 million) should instead rise by 22% in 2021 with a return to pre-pandemic levels expected in 2022.
The Mediobanca study highlights that an important contribution came for everyone, even in the past year, from
online sales (+ 25%
) which reached over a quarter of the total turnover.
But other trends are emerging beyond those that parade on the catwalks, first of all
the growing attention to ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) issues starting from the environment
.
On gender diversity, the report highlights the female presence at the top even if it decreases as responsibility increases.
To have more female directors (37.9%) are the US groups compared to the European ones (32.5%) where the French brands shine with a share of women present in the board of directors equal to 41.7% while the Italians stop at 27.5%.
However, the least represented are Japanese women
(one in 10 directors). .
Among the 30 European brands, Italy with its seven big names is the most represented country in terms of numbers but it is France, with a share of 38% of the aggregate turnover, that wins the first place in terms of turnover.
In first place for revenues among the world giants is the transalpine group
LVMH
(44.7 billion), followed by
Nike
(36.3 billion), by the Spanish
Inditex
(20.4 billion), which controls Zara, by the German
Adidas
(19.8 billion), the Swedish
H&M
(18.6 billion), the Japanese Fast Retailing (15.9 billion), which owns the
UNIQLO brand,
and the EssilorLuxottica eyewear group (14.4 billion), based in Paris even though its major shareholder is Leonardo Del Old.
First among the Italians is Prada (2.4 billion) only 38th in the world rankings.
For all, together with the turnover, profitability also contracted (EBIT margin aggregated to 9.7% from 13.3% in 2019) with
Hermès confirmed on the podium
in front of LVMH Fashion division, the Italian Moncler and the other big transalpine, Kering.
(HANDLE).