Is Sergio Rossi up for sale? Four years ago, the San Mauro Pascoli (Forlì-Cesena) shoe factory came under the control of the Chinese of Fosun Fashion Group, enriching the brand portfolio of the fashion division that Fosun later renamed Lanvin Group. Business, however, is not great. Neither for Sergio Rossi nor for Lanvin Group. And there are rumors that the Chinese are already selling assets to rake in cash.
The difficulties
Lanvin group has called 2024 a year of transition. Mainly because the creative directors of the Lanvin brands (now there is Peter Copping) and Sergio Rossi (where Paul Andrew took over), have changed. But it was a year that cost a lot of money, as group sales fell 23% to 328.89 million euros, along with gross profits, down 27% to 182.76 million euro. Also in 2024, Sergio Rossi’s sales dropped 30% from 2023 to 41.9 million euro (66.5 million euros in 2019). Lanvin’s gross margin fell from 51% to 43%”due to fixed production costs and falling revenue. Marketing and sales’ expenses decreased by 4 million euro thanks to cost control and the implementation of efficiency improvement measures”, the same group indicated.
Sergio Rossi for sale
For now, Fosun’s experience confirms the difficulty of Chinese enterprises in managing luxury brands and companies. Miss Tweed writes that the Lanvin brand, one of France’s oldest brands, has been so damaged that even if it were to change hands to a wealthy investor, there would be doubts about the ability to recover. The newspaper also writes that all Lanvin group brands (according to sources in banking) are “unofficially on the market”. But no one is rushing to make an offer. For sale then, along with other brands, would be Sergio Rossi. Not only that: always according to Miss Tweed, Fosun has already started selling some assets of these brands, such as buildings and factories, in order to rake in cash.
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