The fashion sector confirms that it is one of the flagships of the Italian economy: in 2017 the growth trend of recent years was strengthened with the industry reaching a aggregate revenue of 70,4 billion, up 4,5% compared to the previous year. If compared with the 2013 data, the increase is even worth 28,9%. These are the main data that emerged from the report by the Mediobanca Research Area on local fashion companies.
The average annual growth in turnover in the period 2013-2017 rewards Italian companies: with Valentino growing by +22,2% and Moncler by 19,7% which are respectively second and fourth in the ranking dominated by the Danish Pandora at +26,1%.
At the European level, the big fashion groups registered in 2017 aggregate revenues of 226,2 billion, up 33% on 2013. Although Italy is the most represented country in terms of numbers with the presence of 15 of its large companies in the sector, it is France, with 30,3% of aggregate revenues, that wins the record for turnover.
Among the main groups, the French giant Lvmh is confirmed as the absolute leader in size, with 42,6 billion, followed by the Spanish group Inditex (company that controls Zara) with 25,3 billion. Third in the standings is the German company Adidas with 21,2 billion, fourth the Swedish H&M with 20,3 billion, followed by the French Kering, owner, among others, of Gucci and Bottega Veneta (15,5 billion). Luxottica with its 9,2 billion is the first among the Italian operators and ranks seventh, while the Prada group with 3,1 billion is ranked fourteenth.
Europe in 2013-2017 achieved an average annual rate of increase in turnover of 7,4%. In this context, Denmark (+13,6%) and Spain (+10,1%) stand out, the only ones to achieve double figures, while below the European average, however, there are the United Kingdom (+5%) and Italy (+3,5%).
Il The employment issue is encouraging both at Italian and European level: in Europe there are about one million employed in the fashion sector where in 2017 the 43 big names in fashion gave work to almost 990 thousand people.
The Italian groups stand out for having increased the workforce by more than 30 thousand units, second only to the Spaniards who expanded their workforce by 48 (mostly referable to the Inditex group, +44,7 thousand).
The annual report of Mediobanca's Research Department shows that as many as 40% of the main Italian fashion companies are actually in foreign hands. Of the 163 companies in the sector with a turnover exceeding 100 million, 66 are under foreign control: in particular, 26 are in the hands of the French and six each in the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland.
Of the turnover achieved in 2017 by Italian fashion, 34% was generated by foreign-controlled companies, where the French are still kingpins who control 12,4% of the sector's turnover, with Lvmh alone covering 4,8% of the share and Kering 4,3%.
