MILAN — Trend retailers aren’t proof against the havoc being wrought by the present macroeconomic headwinds and LuisaViaRoma, amongst them, is streamlining enterprise operations to beat monetary hurdles.
Based on Italian media studies, the retailer, a pioneer of e-commerce since 1999 and primarily based in Florence, is planning to close down its unit and workplace in Milan.
The transfer would have an effect on 22 staff required to relocate to Florence, commerce unions Filcams Cgil stated.
In an unique interview with WWD on Saturday, LuisaViaRoma chief govt officer Tommaso Maria Andorlini set the document straight.
“The closure of LuisaViaRoma’s Milan workplace is a part of a broader reorganization technique,” he stated. “This second calls for a swift and thorough rethinking of each our distribution technique and inside construction. Effectivity and a renewed deal with our core enterprise have develop into important. Centralizing presently dispersed groups at our Florence headquarters will assist us rebuild cohesion, velocity up decision-making, and strengthen our sense of shared goal.”
The 22 workers in Milan work in several departments together with advertising, IT, and shopping for, amongst others.
Andorlini believes that the Milan unit was non-strategic.
“It was as if a part of the corporate’s expertise and know-how was working from a subsidiary and this affected firm tradition,” he stated. “Reuniting distant groups will foster belonging and alignment. We are going to guarantee most flexibility to help our workers all through this transition.”
The manager will meet commerce unions on Wednesday, submitting the broader plan for all the firm’s workforce, which, he stated might entail resorting to the “cassa integrazione,” a state-funded wage help measure.
There are not any plans for layoffs or redundancies in the meanwhile, Andorlini stated.
“We’ve approached this streamlining course of with nice duty, dedicated to sustaining tangible ties with the people who contribute to our success daily. Staff from the Milan workplace shall be reassigned throughout the group, with consideration for his or her abilities, private circumstances, and particular person journeys,” he stated. “We hope everyone seems to be prepared to row in the identical course,” he stated concerning the assembly with unions.
The CEO additionally squelched rumors that for the previous yr have recurred regularly that the retailer was in search of to enter a court-mediated composition with creditor process. It’s nevertheless in negotiation with monetary collectors.
The opening look of the “LVR Digital Runway” present.
Courtesy of LuisaViaRoma
Based on preliminary figures, the retailer logged gross sales of 310 million euros in 2024.
Monetary debt presently stands at 30 million euros. A capital improve was efficiently accomplished this month, the manager stated, whereas declining to reveal its quantity.
“The shareholders of LuisaViaRoma are totally dedicated to this [restructuring] path…. the investor group stands able to help the corporate’s future progress, a future all of us consider in,” Andorlini stated. “We additionally consider that it’s exactly in unsure moments like this – of uncertainty but in addition alternative – that imaginative and prescient and resolve can forge a stronger, extra related, and future-proof path forward for the corporate.”
In July final yr LuisaViaRoma opened its second brick-and-mortar unit in New York’s NoHo, flanking the storied boutique on Florence’s Through Roma.
Andorlini stated that within the 18 months prior the corporate had closely invested within the U.S. market, which had develop into its largest, rising within the excessive double-digit vary.
In gentle of geopolitical instability and dented shopper confidence, the onset of 2025 has seen a combined efficiency within the nation.
Looming tariffs on imported items to as a lot as 30 % may additional influence enterprise within the area.
The LuisaViaRoma flagship retailer in New York.
Douglas Lyle Thompson/Courtesy of LuisaViaRoma
“Till February 2025, the U.S. was our largest market, registering double-digit progress. However from March, and extra sharply from April, we’ve seen a sudden, dramatic downturn. The introduction of tariffs comes amid a broader disaster of confidence in vogue pricing. Customers have lengthy began to sense a rising disconnect between value and precise worth. The added value from U.S. duties dangers additional alienating them,” Andorlini defined.
“This isn’t merely an financial subject — it’s a matter of notion. In the present day’s customers evaluate costs globally with ease. When geographic value gaps really feel unjustified, they breed uncertainty and distrust. If this example isn’t resolved shortly, we shall be compelled to rethink our complete strategy to the U.S. market,” he continued, urging the style system, Italy and the European Union to behave synergistically.
Following years of overconsumption and post-COVID-19 luxurious spending euphoria, the U.S. tariff threats come as different areas expertise uneven enterprise performances, together with the Center East and Russia, suffering from ongoing conflicts, in addition to China, in gentle of a progressive shift towards home manufacturers and retailers.
Abby Champion walks the runway on the LuisaViaRoma & British Vogue “Runway Icons” present at Piazzale Michelangelo on June 14, 2023, in Florence, Italy.
Getty Photographs
As a part of his strategic imaginative and prescient, Andorlini stated that the retailer has been retooling its providing and model combine to align with demand of a discerning clientele rising bored with megabrands’ progressive shift from product- to experience-centricity.
“LuisaViaRoma acknowledged this shift a yr in the past and started refining its model combine to make it extra selective and coherent. Our viewers has persistently proven inclination to sustainability and social duty. On this panorama, we consider our position is to raise manufacturers and merchandise that align with these values, with specific consideration to balancing ethics, high quality, and pricing,” the CEO defined.
Acknowledging that Italian impartial multibrand retailers are going through related or typically greater challenges, Andorlini reiterated his dedication to the enterprise mannequin.
As reported, LuisaViaRoma is partnering with the Digicam Purchaser Italia and its market THEBS.com to create a multistore on-line vacation spot to be launched later this yr.
LuisaViaRoma was established by president Luisa Jaquin — the grandmother of the retailer’s president Andrea Panconesi — who planted the seeds of the household firm’s success by opening the idea retailer in 1929.
Following Type Capital’s funding of 130 million euros to amass a 40 % stake within the retailer in 2021, Panconesi left his submit as CEO — now held by Andorlini, who succeeded Yoox veteran Alessandra Rossi — to be president of the corporate, whereas his daughter Annagreta serves as artistic director of each the web site and bodily shops.
