As e-commerce falters and brands tighten control, Italian multibrand retailers are rebuilding around curation, stores and new business models.
WWD
by MARTINO CARRERA
At a time of uncertainty for the fashion and luxury sectors - just now seemingly reversing their downturn- retail is facing disruption and change across geographies. Italy has traditionally had one of the strongest representations of independent luxury and fashion retailers, which over the years have been instrumental in launching and supporting both hot labels and up-and-comers.
Scattered throughout the country are boutiques that have grasped the fashion taste and sensibility of local consumers, forging strong ties with luxury brands and acting like closet curators with distinctive product and brand mixes.
They were also quick to jump on the e-commerce bandwagon, when that channel promised fast growth and boundless geographic exposure. But it came with its own drawbacks as some players relied too heavily on the gray market - a source of revenue for independent retailers for more than a decade, but one that left them ill-equipped when fashion brands tightened their distribution.
And as the days of e-tail dominance have given way to a renewed interest in the in-store experience, luxury brands' direct retail strategies have reduced independent stores' access to marquee names. The discount policies of online retailers have been to the detriment of small - and often brick-and-mortar - entrepreneurs, and the reality check for local multibrand boutiques has been hard to digest.
They were faced with a pressing need to reinvent the value proposition. The consensus among retailers was the need for a return to basics, as in rediscovering their unique selling proposition, hinged on offering curation tailored to their customer base that can attract big spenders to their stores.
Moving into the second half of the year and the lucrative holiday shopping season, retailers' retooled strategies are expected to come into focus. Perhaps the best-known Italian player, LuisaViaRoma eventually found its white knight in a pool of Italian investors with industrial backgrounds, led by veteran fashion executive Paolo Corinaldesi, a former chief executive officer of Woolrich and CEO and president of Filson. This was the first successful step in LuisaViaRoma's court-mediated procedure called "Concordato Semplificato," under Italian liquidation law.
The cohort submitted an irrevocable purchase offer to take over LuisaViaRoma's business. In a first vote of confidence, a Florence Comt granted the lease of the beleaguered Italian e-tailer's business operations to LVR Srl, the newco established and promoted by the investors. The outright acquisition of the business is expected to be approved by the court in few weeks.
In an exclusive interview last July, Corinaldesi said the retailer plans to focus on more selective buying, streamlining its brand selection and stock keeping units per brand, focusing on up-and-coming talents, as well as on its in-house labels. "Over the past two years, LuisaViaRoma has been more transactional, whereas we want to become a go-to [fashion and luxuryl authority again," he said. The great retail reset could yield a healthier business model.
As part of the new plan, LuisaViaRoma Is targeting sales of between 120 million and 140 million euros in 2027, its first full year under the new ownership. This would compare to sales between 280 million and 300 million euros in 2025.
A similar approach has guided the return to business of Modes a little more than a year ago, when newco Garments Milano leased the company's retail branch and reopened units in Milan, Portofino, Porto Cervo and Forte Village in Italy, as well as Saint Moritz in Switzerland.
Modes SpA had been placed under judicial liquidation after failing to go forward with its business restructuring plan. That procedure is still ongoing. Last year Modes president Aldo Carpinteri told WWD that in its new guise the retailer would focus on niche and up-and-coming brands and a more approachable offering.
In the first six months of last year, the company logged sales of 1.56 million euros, paperwork reviewed by WWD revealed. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization stood at 93,800 euros, or 6 percent of revenues, while the net margin amounted to 3.82 percent ofsales. The retailer has yet to fully relaunch its e-commerce site, which largely fueled its growth in its prejudicial business days, when Modes logged yearly sales of 150 million euros and operated 19 stores globally. Another early adopter of e-tail, Giglio. com - which is listed on the AIM Italia program of the Milan Stock Exchange dedicated to small and medium-sized companies - has been feeling the pinch of macroeconomic headwinds and dented consumer confidence. It did see an improvement in business in the first quarter of the year, with total sales inching down 3 percent as of March 31. The decline was offset by Europe, which grew 22 percent, and Italy, up 6 percent. These regions were the best-performing ones, since the rest-of-the-world area fell 36 percent.
By comparison, in 2025 sales dropped 14 percent to 39.5 million euros, but Giglio.com managed to improve its average order value by 5 percent compared to 2024 and increase customer retention by 2 percent. "It's a challenging moment for our industry, which caters to an audience purchasing discretionary products. The company has demonstrated resilience in navigating these conditions. Focusing on Europe not only indicates that we have identified a region where the performance is stable but also reflects a strategic redirection of investments to ensure this region offsets performance challenges elsewhere," Giuseppe Giglio, chairman and co-CEO of Giglio.com, told WWD earlier this year.
The company has leveraged its marketplace-like business model to boost performance, by introducing a new omnichannel service called 'Community Shopping," which allows Giglio.com partner stores to rely on t he platfornt's entire digital stock, resorting to fellow boutiques for products they do not carry or that are sold out.
To this end, last June the company completed a capital increase of more than 590,000 euros through the issuance of 1.21 million new ordinary shares, aimed at expanding the network of multibrand boutiques affiliated with its marketplace. Players traditionally rooted in brick-and-mortar have also adjusted to the new reality, aiming to stay focused, nimble and up to date.
Antonia and 10 Corso Como in Milan, Tessabit on Lake Como, Nugnes 1920 in Trani in Italy's Apulia region and Franz Kraler in the Dolomites are just a few of the retailers that have all continued to foster tie-ups with luxury brands, playing host to events and activations, leveraging also the tourist footfall in their locations.
As reported, the latter has been at the forefront of hospitality and has opened the state-of the-art Chalet Franz Kraler - Club Moritzino in Cortina d'Ampezzo, one of the sites of this year's Winter Olympics.
Similarly, Antonioli - which boasts flagships in Milan, Lugano, Switzerland, and Ibiza, Spain - has expanded his retail business into a brand- and lifestyle-buildinq hub, after acquiring the Ann Demeulemeester fashion house, establishing the 44 Label Group brand, which recently parted ways with its cofounder Max Kobosil, the influential Berlin-based techno producer, and opening hip Milan restaurant Sogni and influential nightclub Volt hinged on electronic music.
A business pivot was also in the cards for Luca Benini's Slam Jam, which he established in 1989 as the first Italian company to distribute cool American and increasingly global streetwear brands in the country and grew into a store network with three doors in Milan and Ferrara; a shop-in-shop at Beijing's SKP-S; a hybrid retail space in New York, as well as an online presence through e-commerce.
After evolving it into a hub for partnerships, incubation of emerging brands, co-creation and events, Slam Jam most recently ventured into consultancy, working with global labels on brand elevation, including Bluestar Alliance's European partner Sportlux, Kontoor Brands, Iconix, VF Corp. and Nike Inc., among others.
