«We closed the 2022 fiscal year with revenues of 73 million euros, to which must be added 12 million from footwear, which we licensed. The goal for 2023 is to rise to 80 million, even more, in revenues and 14 million in licenses. And the first signs from the spring-summer 2024 sales campaign are positive: even if on a small sample, we recorded increases of 20-25% compared to the previous year». The Fgf Industry group is heading straight towards the target of 100 million euros in turnover, as explained by the patron and president Enzo Fusco. The group from Montegalda (Vicenza) specializes in men’s and women’s clothing and outerwear with the brands Blauer Usa (which absorbs 80% of revenues and includes Blauer HT and Blauer Junior), Bpd and Ten C.
Farewell to Pitti and the decision to anticipate the sales campaign
After the pandemic – which did not have a negative impact on the group’s economic results, but obviously had a significant impact on logistics and supplier management, which are mostly abroad (except for Ten C, produced in 50% in Italy) – Fgf Industry has decided to anticipate the start of the sales campaign by a few weeks and thus give up a historic presence at Pitti: «It remains the most important fair in the world for menswear – explains Fusco – and I think it is a exceptional platform for new brands. We have decided to take another path and the results are proving us right». As already mentioned, the summer collections of the Blauer Usa, Bpd and Ten C brands for next spring/summer are having a positive reception, thanks to the offer that combines good value for money, innovation and sustainability. In this collection, attention to the environment takes shape in some light duvets made with 100% recycled Our-ocean repreve fabric, made from plastic collected in the oceans and with sorona eco-down padding.
Focus on foreign markets
Fgf Industry’s goal is to increase its presence abroad: «Blauer USA is now sold in Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria, Portugal and the Czech Republic, among others and we have recently made its debut in France, Benelux and the United Kingdom . The idea is to start from the development of a wholesale network with a focus, for example, on high-end department stores. Then there are other interesting markets such as South Korea and Japan, where you need a partner to enter. In short: the potential is there and our idea is to invest in an increase in the export quota to bring it above 50% from the current 35% within a couple of years».
The expansion of the single-brand network starts from Rome
Among the investments of Fgf Industry, this time in Italy, there is the retail channel with 20 points of sale between directly managed stores and franchises: «We will open a Blauer store in the center of Rome in July and in January 2024 we should open in Turin – he says Fusco -. It all started from the fact that we realized that we were not present, not even with our wholesale customers, in some strategic areas of the most important Italian cities and therefore we decided to fill this gap». Then there is the e-commerce channel which, after the boom recorded under the push of the pandemic, is slowing down: «In the first three months of the year we recorded sales up 50% on the first quarter of 2022, while in this second quarter have slowed down slightly: perhaps people are waiting for the balances to shop». The focus of the group is also on the women’s line which absorbs 45% of the sales of the Blauer USA winter collection but stops at 30% in the summer: «We have renewed the womenswear because our goal is to rise to 35% of sales”. With a proposal that, while remaining faithful to the cornerstones of Blauer (a brand that was born in the US in the 1930s to dress police and military forces) but reinterpreting them in a contemporary key, with bright colors but also floral embroidery and sequins. Under new customers, the Veneto group also includes “teenagers, who came to us after some projects we made on social networks”, explains Fusco. Who concludes by avoiding the hypothesis not only of a transfer of control of the group, but also of an opening to managers outside the family: «I wouldn’t be able to work in a different way. But I know that it is right and necessary to evolve: for example we have an external consultant to better structure the company from a managerial point of view».