Prada, Luxottica Group, Calzedonia, Moncler and Giorgio Armani. These are the companies that are placed in the top 5 places in the ranking for turnover of companies in the Italian fashion. A sector that recorded double-digit growth in 2022 and which will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace, also in 2023. This is what emerges from the new report on Major Italian fashion companies made byMedibanca Research Area and published on the day it opens its doors Milan Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2023. The study aggregates the financial data of 152 fashion companies based in Italy with individual turnover exceeding 100 million euros. The report
Italian fashion: 2022 billion euros in revenues in 82 (+20%), 2023 growing
The uncertainty of the macroeconomic context due to the war and the energy crisis and the fourth quarter influenced by the resurgence of the Covid-19 in China, have not managed to stop the Italian fashion run which, according to the preliminary data, closed 2022 with a growth ofnominal turnover at the aggregate level of 20% per share 82 billion euros (+21% on 2019). Driving the revenues are the overseas sales, up 24% on 2021. Strong progress also for investments, which should reach +35%.
even the 2023 it will be a good year for the sector. Mediobanca in fact foresees a further one 8% turnover increase which would bring the aggregate of the major Moda Italia companies to almost 90 billion, "within a scenario of macroeconomic slowdown, in a context of interest rates that are normalizing upwards and with inflationary tensions decelerating", the report states that it underlines how, on the sales front, "there are signs of a recovery in consumption and the reopening of China is foreshadowed as an opportunity and an important driver of growth".
What about 2021? In 2021 the turnover of the 152 major fashion companies highlighted one "V" shot at 68,6 billion euros, +32,7% on 2020, exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 0,9%, with the employment of almost 260 thousand employees (+1,3% on 2020 and -4,4% on 2019). Foreign turnover recorded a more sustained rebound (+35,7%) than the national one (+28,7%). THE high-end manufacturers they reacted more strongly than the mass-market ones, exceeding 2019 levels by 1,1%, while producers in the cheaper range were still traveling below pre-crisis levels (-3,6%). The Italian-controlled medium-sized enterprises recorded a more incisive recovery (+6,6% on 2019) compared to large companies (-1,7%) and foreign-controlled companies (+3,3%), confirming the greater dynamism and flexibility of this size class, flagship of the Italian industrial system.
Italian fashion: added value equal to 1,3% of GDP
The 152 major fashion companies based in Italy analyzed by the Mediobanca Research Area recorded a added value equal to 1,3% of GDP national in 2021 and are distributed throughout the peninsula, with a prevalence in North part (111 units), followed by the Centro (32)
From a sectoral point of view, among the manufacturing companies theclothing which determines 28,6% of 2021 aggregate revenues, followed by hides, leather and footwear (23,1%).
The productions referable to thehigh range 73,2% of the total clothing, leather goods and textile sectors are Cuban. The presence of is also important foreign groups in Italian fashion: 58 of the 152 companies have foreign ownership that controls 43,6% of the aggregate turnover (24,2% is French), confirming the appreciation of Made in Italy across the border.
Going forward with the data, 73,7% of the total turnover of these companies comes from abroad, led by jewelery (80,3%), eyewear (78,0%) and hides, leather and footwear (76,9%), while the production base is mainly Italian: 68% of the manufacturing plants are located in Italy (83% for high-end companies), while the remaining 32% are in foreign countries: 17% Europe, 8% Asia, 5% Africa and 2% the Americas.
From Prada to Armani: the revenues of the big names in Italian fashion
The top twenty companies alone represent more than half of the aggregate turnover. Wanting to draw up a ranking by turnover, it is placed in first place prada, with revenues of 3,4 billion euros. Silver medal for Luxottica Group, consolidated by the multinational Essilor Luxottica, with 3,2 billion, bronze per Calzedonia Holding with 2,5 billion. They follow Moncler e Giorgio Armani with a turnover of 2 billion each.
Fashion and the Stock Exchange
Another interesting feature is the distance of Italian fashion from the Stock Exchange: only the 17,5% of turnover the aggregate, equal to 12 billion euro, is produced by the eleven listed companies among those analysed, namely: Aeffe, Basicnet, Brunello Cucinelli, Lir-Geox, Moncler, OVS, Piquadro, Prada (listed in Hong Kong), Safilo Group, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tod's (Ermenegildo Zegna which is based in the Netherlands is excluded). The remaining 82,5% (56,6 billion euro) is generated by the 141 unlisted companies.
After the rebound in December 2021 (+29,4% on 2020), the capitalization at the end of 2022 it closed down by -14,4% on 2021, settling at 37,6 billion euros, equal to 5,3% of the industry value of the Italian Stock Exchange, excluding Prada. "In the first glimpse of 2023 there is a recovery (+15,8% in mid-February 2023)”, underlines the report.
As of 15 February 2023, the stock market podium is occupied by Prada (15,9 billion), followed by Moncler (15,7 billion) e Brunello Cucinelli (5,5 billion); wooden medal for Salvatore Ferragamo (3,0 billion), fifth Tod's (1,2 billion). “All the other companies in the panel have a capitalization of less than one billion euros,” concludes the report.
Work and sustainability
26,5% of the workforce of the major fashion companies are on average less than 30 years old, while 84,6% of employees are hired on permanent contracts. From the analysis of the variety of gender it emerges that the female presence decreases as the level of responsibility increases: the share of women in the total workforce is on average equal to 69,5%, but drops to 35,7% in management roles and to 22,6% at board level. The highest female presence on boards is the prerogative of listed groups (41,9%), followed by that of medium-sized enterprises (33,0%).
In terms of sustainability “the growing attention to ESG issues, accelerated by the pandemic, emerges”, reads the report. Numbers in hand, Italian fashion companies on average decrease emissions CO2 (from 1.766 tons of CO2 per million of turnover in 2020 to 1.462 in 2021; -20,8%) and waste produced (from 2,9 tons per million of turnover in 2020 to 2,4 in 2021; -17,2%), while the use of renewables (from 38,4% in 2020 to 43,4% in 2021) and the share of recycled waste (from 65,5% in 2020 to 73,5% in 2021).
