Valentino reported that 2021′s sales and profits grew ahead of pre-pandemic levels as the Roman couture house bounced back from a bruising 2020.
Revenues jumped 41 percent year-on-year to €1.23 billion ($1.36 billion), rising 3 percent over 2019, the company said.
Valentino did not disclose figures for net or operating profit, which have yet to be finalised, but said both metrics had also grown ahead of 2019, marking a sharp comeback from the pandemic. In 2020, net profits swung from €33 million to a net loss of €127 million.
The announcement comes as the company works to refocus its positioning at the top end of the fashion market under chief executive Jacopo Venturini, who joined in June 2020 from Gucci.
Under Venturini, the brand has raised prices for its leather goods—including its key rockstud and revamped “Roman stud” lines—and released commercial collections that more faithfully reflected creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s hit runway shows, with ready-to-wear apparel that features couture-inflected detailing like ostrich feathers or intricate embroideries.
The company is phasing out its more affordable sub-brand, Red, and has said it’s working to instil haute couture values in its customer service and internal culture.
“You have to create a culture where humans and creativity are at the centre,” Venturini told BoF in an October interview. “If we establish this kind of couture culture, there’s an effect that trickles down through the company.”
Sales of perfume and beauty products via licensee L’Oreal doubled, Valentino said.
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A New Valentino Is Taking Shape
CEO Jacopo Venturini and designer Pierpaolo Piccioli are working to transform the Roman brand from the inside out, reinvigorating the company’s internal culture as well as its commercial offering.
