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Armani Bounces back from Pandemic as Sales Rise 34% in First Half

The logo of Italian fashion company Giorgio Armani is seen at a shop in Zurich, Switzerland July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian fashion company Giorgio Armani is seen at a shop in Zurich, Switzerland July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Armani Bounces back from Pandemic as Sales Rise 34% in First Half

The logo of Italian fashion company Giorgio Armani is seen at a shop in Zurich, Switzerland July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian fashion company Giorgio Armani is seen at a shop in Zurich, Switzerland July 8, 2021. (Reuters)

Sales at Giorgio Armani jumped 34% in the first half of 2021 as business in China and the United States helped the Italian fashion group bounce back, although it said it could be next year before it fully recovers from the pandemic.

“The goal is to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, with... over 2 billion euros in direct consolidated revenues,” Chairman and CEO Giorgio Armani said on Sunday in a statement announcing 2020 results and the trend for January-June.

The luxury group said consolidated net sales had fallen 25% last year to 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion), with most of the decline occurring in the first half of 2020.

Luxury goods sales around the world fell sharply last year for the first time in years as the pandemic forced shop closures and brought international tourism to a virtual halt.

“The drop in revenues in 2020 should be read not only as a consequence of the pandemic... but also in line with Giorgio Armani’s own strategic principle of ‘less is more’,” said Armani Deputy Managing Director Giuseppe Marsocci.

The Milan-based group did not give the value of total sales in January-June but said the positive sales trend so far this year pointed to a much better profitability scenario for 2021.

For the whole of last year the group made a consolidated net profit of 90 million euros but an operating loss (EBIT) of 29 million euros.

It also said on Sunday that its financial position improved significantly in the first half with net cash and cash equivalents of 1.088 billion euros “ensuring the financial resources necessary for the Group’s medium to long-term stability and growth”.

Speculation about succession plans at Armani has come to the fore recently, especially after the 87-year-old designer said he could consider teaming up with another Italian company.

Sources told Reuters earlier this month that John Elkann, scion of Italy’s Agnelli family, had explored a possible tie-up as part of plans to build a luxury conglomerate.

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Fashion

Goosebumps and Stars as Paris Fashion Week Kicks Off

Kendall Jenner at the L'Oreal show on the first night of Paris Fashion Week. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Kendall Jenner at the L'Oreal show on the first night of Paris Fashion Week. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
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Goosebumps and Stars as Paris Fashion Week Kicks Off

Kendall Jenner at the L'Oreal show on the first night of Paris Fashion Week. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Kendall Jenner at the L'Oreal show on the first night of Paris Fashion Week. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

Hollywood stars braved the rain to open Paris Fashion Week at L'Oreal's giant outdoor show Monday as rumors swirl of musical chairs at the top of fabled French brands.
The cosmetics giant persuaded Jane Fonda -- in snazzy silver sneakers -- Kendall Jenner, Eva Longoria and several of its other brand ambassadors to walk in a spectacular public show in front of the gilded glory of the Opera Garnier.
With invites to the big luxury shows strictly limited to the glitterati and fashion insiders, L'Oreal said it wanted to democratize the glamor of fashion week.
Introduced by singer Celine Dion, the "Walk Your Worth" show also featured Andie MacDowell, Indian star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, models with prosthetic limbs and Brazilian supermodel Luma Grothe proudly showing off her bump.
"The idea is to let the public see for themselves the beautiful clothes, settings and people that they would never normally have access to," L'Oreal's Paris director general Delphine Viguier told AFP.
Fashion's young guard had earlier endured a stormy start to the nine-day extravaganza -- Rising French star Victor Weinsanto staged his spring-summer show on the wet and windy roof of the Pompidou Centre museum, his fishnet and mesh ensembles created around Croatian drag queen Le Filip being tested by the elements.
The Paris shows started as falling profits at the two luxury giants LVMH and Kering have sent a shudder through the industry, fueling talk of a "Game of Thrones" among top designers.
Celine's Hedi Slimane and Simon Porte Jacquemus -- the young French designer who made tiny handbags and tiny everything else a thing -- are being talked of to fill Karl Lagerfeld's empty chair at Chanel after Virginie Viard, who took the reins after the death of "the Kaiser" in 2019, bowed out in June.
Hotly anticipated
Tongues are also likely to wag at the spring-summer shows over where John Galliano might go, with his contract at Maison Margiela nearing its end.
The first shows from the big-hitter French houses will come Tuesday with Dior and Saint Laurent, with a packed calendar confirming Paris's crushing dominance over rivals Milan, New York and London.
And there is no let-up at the end: Chanel opens the final day on October 1 by returning to the vast Grand Palais, the scene of some of Lagerfeld's most jaw-dropping shows, after an absence of four years.
The house is shelling out 30 million euros ($33 million) to stage its shows at the iconic Belle Epoque edifice, which reopened after a major facelift to host fencing and taekwondo at the Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games.
With Viard -- long Lagerfeld's right-hand woman -- gone, observers expect a collection drawn from Chanel classics.
In contrast, there could well be fireworks from Alessandro Michele, the mercurial Italian designer who transformed Gucci, who may be keen to make his mark with his debut show for Valentino.
Equally anticipated is French duo Coperni, who are staging their show at Disneyland Paris on the final night, with an after party in the theme park that promises to go on into the wee hours.
The brand's founders, Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer, pulled off a coup with their outfit for Belgian singer Angele for the Olympics closing ceremony, and are clearly in a mood to celebrate.
Another hot duo, the Olsen twins, the Los Angeles child actors turned designers, have kept their place for their luxury line The Row in fashion week proper thanks to a cash injection from the owners of Chanel and L'Oreal.
Paris will, however, be without Givenchy this time, with its new British designer Sarah Burton, a stalwart at Alexander McQueen for a quarter of a century, just made creative director.