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Ferragamo revenues declined 1 per cent at constant exchange rates to €221 million in the first quarter of 2025 ended 31 March, with weak demand in Asia weighing on results.
“The luxury sector is facing a difficult market context, characterised by ongoing geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainties weighing on consumers,” said executive board member Ernesto Greco. “Confidence in the first quarter traffic remained weak, in particular in Asia-Pacific, only partly offset by a higher conversion rate and an increase in average ticket [price]. In this highly volatile and uncertain scenario, we continue to execute our strategy, optimising the product offer, putting a renewed focus on our core business and balancing our DNA codes with a contemporary set.”
Ferragamo is still without a CEO, following Marco Gobbetti’s exit in March. The brand has been experiencing sales declines since Q1 2023. Nevertheless, Ferragamo’s results this quarter are moderate compared to the rest of the market. By comparison, on the top end, Prada Group’s revenues grew 13 per cent in Q1, Tapestry’s grew 8 per cent and Hermès’s grew 7 per cent; on the bottom end, LVMH’s fashion sales dropped 5 per cent while Burberry’s dropped 6 per cent and Kering’s 14 per cent.
Sales in EMEA (Europe and the Middle East) increased 8.3 per cent at constant exchange rates, with demand across local customers and American tourists visiting the region. Sales in North America inched up 1.5 per cent, while Central and South America were up 12.2 per cent. Japan sales grew 3.6 per cent, mainly driven by tourist spending, while the rest of Asia-Pacific declined 13.7 per cent as a weak consumer environment impacted traffic.
So far, April has been “certainly negative” according to Greco, but the brand has seen some improvements in May. “We have seen the pressure of the financial market [on the luxury sector] and a commercial war between the US and China, with the imposition of tariffs. So certainly, all these events impacted the consumer attitude in buying and certainly we have seen a decrease in traffic, as well as in the level of sales,” he added. “In terms of geography, probably the most impacted markets were the US and Europe. In the US, the problem is related to the local customers, while in Europe, we have seen a certain decrease in the tourism level, especially American tourists.”
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) net sales declined 4.5 per cent, with negative results in Asia-Pacific outweighing positive performance in Europe, Japan and Latin America. Wholesale net sales were up 10.3 per cent, with positive performance across all geographies. “Still, I believe that the wholesale channel remains volatile and for the time being, the good performance in Q1 was at least partially related to a certain stock build-up activity,” said Greco.
Ferragamo confirmed its priority is on its core leather goods business (which posted positive performance in the first quarter), consolidating the handbag category and introducing bestsellers like the Soft Bag. The brand is also “optimising” the footwear categories across menswear and womenswear.
Ferragamo plans to increase prices by mid-single digits due to tariffs, but is also rethinking its entry-level offering. “We want to reemphasise the focus on the pyramids,” said Greco. “We believe in the market polarisation, the special focus should be put on the high-end products, like in the new handbag models, which are quite a high price point. On the other hand, we are working on introducing entry-price models, because, as I said, there are customers who are ready to buy luxury products but are not ready to spend too much.”
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