PARIS — If there’s anything to be said about the business of fashion in Europe, it would surely include the words “change” and “growth.”
Over the past month, European firms (and suppliers to the market) have delivered strong results and warned against possible margin weakness, while eyeing new markets and hiring new managers to drive business in 2007.
For example, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia SpA posted a double-digit jump in sales last year, but its executives were cautious about the future, concerned with the margin-eroding effects of a strong euro. Ferragamo chief executive officer Michele Norsa said best-selling categories like accessories and men’s wear allowed the company to post preliminary 2006 sales growth of about 11 percent to 640 million euros, or $806.4 million at average exchange rates for the period.
“Business in the U.S. is going extremely well,” Norsa said, speaking on the sidelines of a press preview for Ferragamo’s men’s collection. He said U.S. sales in the last quarter of the year spiked 25 percent, riding a boom in luxury sales during the holiday despite a generally lackluster period for retailers overall.
Meanwhile, niche swimwear label Colors do Brasil, which was conceived in Brazil and delivered in France, is now bowing in the Americas. Launched in 2004, the bikini and beach accessories line, which already sells overseas, moved to the U.S. with designer Amanda de Montal in September. It is soft-launching here for summer and then will show in Miami this July. “The brand is quite linked to my personal story,” de Montal said. “I am French, but I had always had a passion, which was Brazil.”
Regarding icon denim brand Levi Strauss & Co., WWD learned that the company has tapped a new European president. Armin Broger, currently chief executive officer for Seven For All Mankind in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has been selected to take Levi’s top spot in Europe, which has been vacant for almost a year. The 45-year-old Italian, who is noted for sharp managerial skills and a savvy, energetic business sense, could not be reached for comment.
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