The luxury women's clothing market - Italy (2023)

1.1 Definition and presentation

The term luxury dazzle refers to those garments that are more elegant, refined and well-groomed than those defined as casual, which are used in everyday life. Usually luxury clothing is used for going to the office and for special occasions such as dinners, concerts or ceremonies. Other ways to define luxury clothing are "elegant casual" or "country club". This category includes all items of clothing: coats, jackets, shirts, pants, shoes, belts and handbags. This study will cover women's luxury clothing, excluding accessories.

Regarding the global luxury market, this had reached $67.85 billion in 2018, and it is estimated that between the year 2015 and 2025 the market will grow with a CAGR of 3.5 %. This growth is mainly dictated by the fact that luxury goods increasingly contribute to greater social acceptance and also by the increase in consumers' disposable income.

In Italy, the luxury clothing market, especially women's clothing, has always been characterized by strong growth mainly due to the manufacturing and craftsmanship skills of Italian companies and thanks to the Made in Italy concept. In 2019, Italian companies on the Top 100 list, a list that includes the largest companies in terms of revenue in the industry, made 12.4 % of total global revenue.

The trend in the market is to focus on acquisitions both to grow but more importantly to differentiate the offerings and increasingly enter new market segments. For several years now, a widely used practice within the industry has been to create partnerships between luxury companies so that they can offer their customers something that is always new and original.

There are numerous companies operating in this market such as Gucci, considered the Italian fashion house by excellence, Prada, Armani, Versace, Ferragamo, etc.