Manolo Blahnik's sales exceed 100 million euros for the first time

Luxury footwear and accessories brand Manolo Blahnik has reported that its sales have exceeded 100 million euros for the first time in the year to December 31, 2022, after experiencing a “strong rebound” in consumer demand and footfall and growth in e-commerce.

In its financial report, the Manolo Blahnik group states that turnover was up 69 percent to 118.2 million euros from 69.9 million euros in the previous financial year.

Profit before tax more than tripled to 21.9 million euros, up from 6.6 million euros in 2021. While operating profit increased five-fold year-on-year to 23.7 million euros from 4.6 million euros in FY21.

The footwear and accessories brand said that all channels experienced a strong rebound in consumer demand with store footfall returning to pre-pandemic levels and e-commerce sales continuing to grow, up 24 percent year-on-year.

The group also benefited from a full year of sales in its two US boutiques, a flagship on Madison Avenue in New York and a second store in East Hampton, which it notes demonstrates the “resonance” of the Manolo Blahnik brand with US consumers.

Other highlights included a worldwide collaboration with Birkenstock which sold out within hours of its launch, generating “huge” brand awareness and attracting new customers, added the brand. The collaboration featured two drops in March and again in June, delivering “unprecedented levels” of engagement across social channels.

Manolo Blahnik posts record financial year and pays out 1 million euro bonus to staff

The company also saw growth in its womenswear category, fuelled by increased interest in occasion wear and embellished designs post-pandemic, with its ‘Hangisi’ shoe driving sales.

This trend began to change towards the end of 2022, with Manolo Blahnik seeing more demand for simple, investment pieces, such as its elegant and classic mule the ‘Maysale,’ designed in the late 90s, which helped drive growth.

In addition, the menswear category continued to grow, helped by what the brand adds was a “highly successful brand awareness campaign,” which went live in Q4 across all brand channels with a focus on UK and US markets.

Kristina Blahnik, chief executive of Manolo Blahnik, said in a statement: “We saw another record financial performance in 2022 at Manolo Blahnik Group with sales across all our channels rebounding very strongly and firmly establishing our position in the US market. 2022 was an extraordinary year of consumer demand which will naturally rebalance in 2023 given multiple macro-economic headwinds.

“In celebration of exceeding 100 million euros Group sales for the first time in our history, we were very proud to share an exceptional bonus of over 1 million euros with our Group employees in November 2022, recognising the hard work and dedication of our teams worldwide and their contribution to reaching this milestone.”

Looking ahead, Manolo Blahnik said that its 2023 developments were focused on strengthening the commercial drive of the brand with a shift towards international expansion, with a particular focus on Asia. This is being driven by Elodie Bougenault, who was appointed as global chief commercial officer in June.

Bougenault joined Manolo Blahnik from luxury lingerie brand La Perla, where she was managing director of EMEA and head of retail operations worldwide. Prior to this, Bougenault was the Asia Pacific managing director at luxury jewellery and watch house Boucheron in Hong Kong, and held senior roles leading operations in Asia, including at Kate Spade and Marc Jacobs.

This new appointment also allows the former chief commercial officer and current president of Americas, Andrew Wright, to fully focus on delivering significant long-term growth plans for the Americas.

The footwear label has also just relocated its UK global headquarters from Marylebone to a historic Georgian building in London’s Mayfair, with more than 14,500 gross square feet of office, showroom and meeting spaces.