The sector of the Italian fashion in 2021 it has not yet regained its pre-covid levels, but the recovery path continues so that it expects a full recovery for this year.
The large Italian fashion companies, those with a turnover of more than 100 million euros, in 2021 are seen registering a turnover growing to 49,8 billion, 0,9% of the national GDP, although still down by 22,8% on 2019 and by 9,7% on 2016.
In the first nine months of 2021, the twelve fashion companies listed on the Stock Exchange saw an increase of 32,7% compared to the same period of 2020.
2022 will be the year in which a return to pre-covid levels with an estimated turnover of around 110 billion. The says it Mediobanca report which takes into consideration 134 Italian companies, 89 of which operate in manufacturing, 30 deal with wholesale sales and 15 in retail. Most of them operate in northern Italy (53 in the north-west and 47 in the north-east) and the other 34 in central, southern and island Italy.
Fashion, Mediobanca: globally, 2021 growth is stronger
Worldwide the recovery will be stronger, according to the study which takes into consideration 70 fashion multinationals. The data for the first nine months of 2021 show a rebound of for the major world players turnover of +32%.
The European market pushed less (+25%), penalized by the still limited tourist flows, while the Asian one saw an acceleration in the wake of China (+38% excluding Japan) together with the American one (+37%, driven by United States).
For the entire year 2021, the first data indicate a sudden recovery in a "V" with a turnover growth at the aggregate level of +28%, which allows fashion multinationals to exceed pre-crisis levels (+10%). In 2021 online sales continued their growth with +25%, growth already accelerated during the pandemic with +60% in 2020, reaching over a quarter of the total turnover.
In Italy, clothing is the leading sector, followed by leather
Returning to Italy, clothing is the leading sector, with 43,9% of aggregate revenues, followed by hides, leather and footwear (27,1%).
The sales trend in the 2019-2020 period saw the greatest drop in textiles (-34,6%) while jewelery was the sector that suffered the least (-19,8%).
This also had repercussions on profitability with theEbit margin aggregate which fell to 1,8% (from 7,8% in 2019), but jewelery and textiles are the most profitable sectors in 2020 with an Ebit margin of 6,9% and 3,2% respectively.
Fashion, the foreign presence has done the Italian groups good
The fashion industry over the years has seen a strong presence of foreign groups, which in the midst of the crisis proved to be a positive factor.
Of the 134 large Italian fashion companies, 59 have foreign ownership which controls 38,5% of the aggregate turnover (19,1% is French, including Kering with 8,7% and LVMH with 6,4%) .
According to Mediobanca data, Italian-controlled fashion companies felt the impact of the crisis more strongly than those with foreign control. First in terms of scaling the turnover, down by 23,3% for the former and 22,0% for the latter, but also in terms of profitability down by 6,5 pp Ebit margin for the former compared to -5,0 pp for the latter, although the former remain slightly more profitable (Ebit margin at 1,9% vs 1,7%).
Moreover – the report shows – 66,6% of the total turnover of Italian fashion manufacturing companies come from abroad, with jewelery in the lead (75,7%), followed by clothing (69,9%) and textiles (68,3%).
Employment also suffered in 2020, with around 15.400 fewer employees (-5,5% on 2019, but +6,0% on 2016), for a total workforce of almost 265.000 at the end of 2020.
Mediobanca: the Italian fashion system is the world's third largest exporter
Considering the Italian fashion system as a whole, looking at exports, Italy appears to be the third world exporter with a market share by 5,3% and the second in the segment of skins with a market share of 14%.
With regard to cheap imports, China remains the main supplier of the Italian fashion system, with a 25,7% share in 2020.
Fashion is the third Italian sector by export, with 11% of the total in 2020. Compared to 2019, the value of goods and products sold abroad decreased by 18,5%. This trend has involved all segments of the fashion industry, almost all with double-digit reductions. Clothing (excluding fur) was the driving component of exports in the sector, representing just over a third of the total value in 2020, despite a decline of 16,7%. Then come suitcases and leather goods, with about 21%, even with exports down by 23,8%. The third segment is represented by footwear, representing 19% of the sector, with exports down 15,8% compared to 2019.
