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Prada looks to China for growth after rough year for sales

Prada on Monday reported a ten percent fall in sales for the year through January but said it was encouraged by a better second-half performance, notably in mainland China.

Published: 13 February 2017 16:17 CET
Prada looks to China for growth after rough year for sales
A model presents a bag for fashion house Prada at the Spring-Summer 2016 Milan's Fashion Week on June 21, 2015. Photo: AFP

The Italian-based but Hong Kong-listed fashion powerhouse saw sales fall across all regions with revenue in the 12 months to January 31 falling to 3.18 billion euros ($3.4 billion), down from 3.55 billion euros in the previous financial year.

The overall fall — 10 percent at current exchange rates, nine percent at constant rates — was broadly in line with expectations for the luxury handbag producer.

The biggest drop was registered in Japan, where sales fell 13 percent after five consecutive years of growth. The company attributed the trend to a reduced flow of tourists from China due in part to the yen appreciation.

Sales for the rest of Asia-Pacific were down 12 percent but Prada said the rate of decline had slowed in Hong Kong and Macau while “rapid growth” resumed in mainland China from the third quarter.

Europe was hit by a reduction in the number of high-end shoppers visiting France and Italy, while Russia, which registered double-digit growth, and post-Brexit Britain bucked the trend.

The British market, subdued in the first half, was helped by a tourism boom fuelled by the fall of sterling in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

After several years in the doldrums largely as a result of an economic slowdown in China, Prada predicted in August that it would return to earnings and sales growth in 2017 after taking the scissors to its cost base.

It is also aiming to double online sales in each of the next three years.

“As noted in my comments on the first six-month results, this past year we implemented a profound phase of business process rationalization that is still underway and identified important strategies to secure the group's future growth,” said CEO Patrizio Bertelli.

“I am confident that this new global vision will enable our brands to fully express their strong potential, and generate sustainable growth.”

Prada will hope the second-half momentum is sustained as their 2017 spring-summer collections begin to hit boutiques around the world.

After several seasons in rival Gucci's creative shadow, Miuccia Prada's latest collection was hailed as a return to form at the catwalk shows in Milan in September.

FASHION

Paris exhibition celebrates 100 years of French Vogue

A new exhibition in Paris will tell the story of 100 years of French Vogue - from the post-war 'New Look' of Christian Dior through the sexual liberation of the 1960s to the dangling-cigarette waifs of the 2000s.

Published: 7 October 2021 08:21 CEST
French Vogue celebrates 100 years
French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance. 

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