The company saw retail net sales fall by 2.3% in the first quarter, which it attributed to a softening U.S. market and despite a positive EMEA performance and improving China.
Meanwhile, wholesale net sales dropped by 13.9% year-on-year, due to a planned rationalisation of the company’s third party network, mainly in the U.S.
Geographically, the Asia Pacific region was down by 13.6% in net sales, driven by the Travel Retail Channel, though retail in Greater China was positive. Ferragamo highlighted that Japan was down by 7.1% year-on-year.
EMEA recorded an increase in net sales of 24.7%, thanks to strong performance across both retail and wholesale. North America, meanwhile, fell by 19.8% and Central and South America were up by 5.4%.
CEO Marco Gobbetti said: “At the end of February, the first products designed by our new Creative Director, Maximilian Davis, arrived in our stores. While these represent a small portion of the overall intended collection, they are an important next step in the execution of our stated strategy of creating a new offering that is relevant for our customer aspirations and we are pleased by the early results.
“As the roll out of new products is at its early stages, it has not yet contributed meaningfully to the sales performance. It will not be until later in the calendar year that we will start to see the fuller appreciation of the more complete collection.
“We are also pleased by the positive resonance and visibility of our initial marketing efforts. As we move further into the year, new marketing activities and a higher share of new products will be engines for growth and increased store efficiency.
“At the same time, we continue to invest in our business and make the critical choices to rationalise and elevate our wholesale channels, in time for the full collection to showcase the complete perspective and ambition of our work. While there remains work to do, we are confident in our plans and confirm our mid-term ambition.”
