A quick recovery, an increase in turnover of 28% which has already brought the most important companies in global fashion back to pre-pandemic levels, marking + 10% compared to 2019. Positive data are those of the new report on the Fashion System of the Mediobanca Research Area , which aggregates the financial data of 70 fashion multinationals (almost half based in Europe) and 134 Italian companies in the sector with over 100 million turnover.
The rush of the United States and China. Europe suffers from a lack of tourism
In the first nine months of 2021 Asia and North America marked the largest recovery on the annus horribilis 2020, the slowest (and by more than ten percentage points lower) the recovery in Europe: “What made the difference was above all the lack of tourists , especially from China – explains the editor of the report Nadia Portioli -. The United States and China can count on larger domestic markets ». Among the large European multinationals, the first nationality is the Italian one, with seven companies (Prada, Calzedonia, Giorgio Armani, Moncler, Otb, Max Mara and Zegna) and for the 134 Italian companies considered in the report, 2021 should close with a consolidated turnover a + 22%: the return to pre-Covid levels is expected this year, driven by textiles, which has already passed 2019 and is the industry category with the best profitability (6.9%). Fifty-nine out of 134 companies are owned by properties with offices abroad, they generated 38.5% of aggregate turnover and also recorded the best trends in terms of sales: “The large French groups have the characteristic of maintaining production in Italy and to focus on brands, with large capital to invest – notes Portioli -. When foreign investors, at least European ones, come to Italy and do well, the results are excellent ».
The strength of made in Italy: excellence and specialization
The heritage of Italian companies remains their savoir faire, that high craftsmanship that in some cases also creates 95% of luxury products, but also the solidity of medium-sized companies, strong in their niches of excellence. The pandemic also underlined the risks of a strong dependence on Asian suppliers, in relation to 61% of global companies examined, with peaks of 90% for fast fashion: “Reshoring is not yet such an extensive phenomenon – explains Portioli – . For a new company it is probably cheaper to produce in Europe, but changing is still too expensive for those with consolidated channels with Asia ».
The commitment to sustainability is more concrete. Italy below the European average for women at the top
The report then examines the levels of sustainability achieved by the industry: «We are starting to act concretely – underlines the analyst -. In 2020 emissions and consumption also decreased due to the production lockdown, but the change of pace is confirmed by the historical data: more sustainability reports and much richer data are published. Pandemic aside, if we compare the change in emissions with the same turnover, we see that water consumption has dropped by 13% and there has been a boom in the share of energy from renewable sources, from 42.8% in 2018 to 57.6% in 2020 “. The growth in the presence of women in the top positions of companies was less positive: only 32.7% in the board of directors, with the highest share in the United States (37.9%) compared to Europe (32.5%) and with the Italy unfortunately stops at 27.5%.