中文Lanvin Group’s Survival Play: Revenue Down 18%, but the Second Half Tells a Different Story
Lanvin Group’s FY2025 results are a study in controlled decline with emerging recovery signals. Revenue fell 18% to €240 million — a headline that invites pessimism. But beneath that figure, operational improvements, cost discipline and a sharpened strategic focus suggest the luxury group is engineering a turnaround, not simply weathering a downturn.
The Revenue Decline
The 18% drop is distributed unevenly across Lanvin Group’s brand portfolio. Lanvin itself — the group’s flagship — declined 30% to €58 million. Sergio Rossi, the Italian footwear brand, also fell 30% to €30 million. Wolford, the Austrian premium knitwear label, dropped 14% to €76 million. St. John, the American luxury knitwear brand, recorded the smallest decline at 1% to €78 million.
The pattern is instructive. The European luxury brands — Lanvin and Sergio Rossi — bore the brunt of the downturn, reflecting their exposure to the softest segments of the global luxury market. St. John’s near-stability reflects its positioning in the American market, where luxury demand has been comparatively more resilient. The brand-level data reveals that Lanvin Group’s aggregate decline is not a uniform failure — it is a geographic and category-specific adjustment that different brands are experiencing at different intensities.
The Operational Counterstory
Despite the revenue decline, Lanvin Group reported improved contribution profit and adjusted EBITDA year-on-year. This is not a company bleeding cash while waiting for market conditions to improve — it is a company actively restructuring its cost base and operating model to achieve profitability at lower revenue levels.
The shift is deliberate. Direct-to-consumer sales now account for 68% of revenue, reflecting a strategic pivot away from wholesale dependency toward channels where the group controls pricing, presentation and customer experience. Selective store closures and the carve-out of Caruso — the Italian menswear brand — represent further concentration on core luxury assets, shedding peripheral operations that dilute focus and absorb resources.
Chairman Zhen Huang described 2025 as a year of “disciplined execution and strategic progress,” adding that the stronger momentum in the second half gave the company confidence in its transformation trajectory. The phrasing is corporate, but the underlying logic is sound: Lanvin Group is accepting lower revenue in the short term to build a more profitable and focused operating structure for the medium term.
The Leadership Transition
Earlier this year, Lanvin appointed Barbara Werschine as CEO — a leadership change that signals the group’s intent to professionalise its management and bring operational rigour to a portfolio that has historically struggled with brand-level execution. Werschine’s mandate likely extends beyond stabilisation; the group’s brands need renewed creative direction and market positioning that reconnects with the consumer segments they have lost.
The Leather Supply Chain Angle
Sergio Rossi’s 30% revenue decline has direct implications for luxury footwear suppliers. As one of Italy’s most recognised luxury shoe brands, Sergio Rossi’s reduced volume means lower sourcing demand from the specialist leather and component suppliers that serve its production. The group’s pivot toward direct-to-consumer may eventually stabilise Sergio Rossi’s demand pattern, but the transition period will be characterised by cautious ordering and tight inventory management — consistent with the broader luxury sector’s efficiency drive.
For leather suppliers, Lanvin Group’s trajectory is a reminder that luxury brand restructuring is not just a financial exercise. It reshapes sourcing relationships, order patterns and volume expectations. Suppliers who maintain flexibility and offer responsive production capabilities will navigate the transition more effectively than those anchored to fixed-volume, long-lead-time models.
What to Watch
The key indicator going forward is whether Lanvin Group’s second-half momentum carries into 2026. If the group’s cost structure improvements translate into sustainable profitability at stabilised revenue levels, the transformation narrative will gain credibility. If revenue continues declining despite operational gains, the story shifts from turnaround to survival — a harder proposition for both the group and its supply chain partners.
Lanvin Group is not out of difficulty. But it is managing difficulty with intention rather than inertia. In the current luxury market, that distinction matters.
Source: International Leather Maker
