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Italian luxury group Aeffe said sales dropped 9 per cent to €319 million in 2023 as it navigated changes that included a “radical reorganisation” of the Moschino brand.
The company, which also owns Alberta Ferretti, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini and Pollini, swung from a positive adjusted EBIT of €1.2 million in 2022 to a loss of €20.5 million. Its net loss widened to €32.1 million in 2023 from a €9 million loss the previous year.
“2023 was a year of transition for our group, which saw a radical reorganisation of the Moschino brand in terms of both creativity and distribution and, at the same time, a transformation of its internal structure through a series of corporate mergers and incorporations,” said Aeffe executive chairman Massimo Ferretti in a statement. “The results we are presenting today, expected but not positive, are clearly the result of these transformations and the strong investments of recent years, which will bring positive effects as early as 2024.”
Moschino has been through some turbulence over the past year. Jeremy Scott, who had been steering the brand as creative director for 10 years, departed in March 2023. Davide Renne was named the new creative director in October 2023 but died in November, just 10 days after starting the role. Adrian Appiolaza joined as creative director in January from Loewe and presented his AW24 collection for the brand during Milan Fashion Week. With only a month between his appointment and the show, we’re yet to see what Appiolaza’s full vision for the brand will be. Ferretti said he is “sure [Appiolaza] will best guide the brand in a new phase of growth”.
Aeffe said group sales in Europe, excluding Italy, decreased 16.3 per cent due to poor performance across both wholesale and retail channels. In America, sales dropped 20 per cent, while Asia and rest of the world grew by 4.9 per cent. Across all geographies, sales via the wholesale channel declined 13.9 per cent, while retail channel sales increased 9 per cent.
Nevertheless, Ferretti is positive about Aeffe’s prospects for 2024. “We are certainly operating in an unstable economic and political context at the moment, dealing with a challenging market,” he said. “However, we look to the future with great positivity and optimism, leveraging on international brands offering unique creative and high-end quality.”
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