After a stressing recession period for a lot of fashion brands, some in the luxury set are reporting significant gains for 2010.
Prada, in particular, had a record year: According to WWD, net profit for the luxury brand for the year ending January 31 was around $336 million, which represented a 150 percent surge on the previous year's profits of about $140 million. Sales, reportedly, even hit the range of 2 billion euros. As CEO Patrizio Bertelli told WWD, the sales and profits of 2010 "were never obtained before in the history of Prada."
Other fashion brands have been seeing their fortunes rise as well: Versace gained almost 10 percent in sales, according to WWD, which likely means the restructuring plan the brand put into place in 2009 is working. In addition, WWD reports that Hugo Boss is actually forecasting "double-digit" growth in 2011 after posting "record" numbers in 2010.
While not all brands may end up posting the same kinds of profits that these three have had, seeing profits for fashion labels in the wake of a period of recession is always a good thing for the health of the industry as a whole.
