OTB reports revenue of €1.9 billion in 2023

Italian fashion group OTB continues to grow. In 2023, it recorded a revenue of €1.9 billion, equivalent to a 7.2% increase (and a 10.2% one at constant exchange rates). Its net revenue, excluding royalties and other income, was €1.8 billion, up by 9.1%, and by 12.4% at constant exchange rates. The Italian fashion group, owner among others of Diesel, Jil Sander, Marni and Maison Margiela, increased revenue for all its labels and on all markets, notably driven by direct retail sales, Asia, its luxury labels’ performance, and by Diesel, now positioned in a segment described as “alternative to luxury.”

In 2023, OTB’s direct retail sales accounted for half of its revenue, and jumped by 33.8% at constant exchange rates. The group operates 610 stores worldwide, of which 76 were opened last year. OTB’s top-performing region was Asia, where sales for the group’s labels increased by a whopping 74% at constant exchange rates. Asia accounted for 40% of OTB’s total revenue. Japan alone accounted for a 23% share of the total, its revenue growing by 19.4% over 2022. South Korea was described as “one of the new high-performance markets,” and the group’s labels opened 30 new stores in China.
 
OTB’s profitability continued to improve in 2023. The group did not disclose the value of its net income, which in 2022 was €105 million, but EBITDA was up by 10.8% in 2023. At €348 million, it was equivalent to 19.6% of revenue. EBIT instead grew by 4.5% to reach €140 million.

Once again, OTB’s luxury labels drove the group’s performance, posting double-digit growth. OTB did not disclose the revenue of any of its labels, but stated that Maison Margiela’s sales grew by 23% at constant exchange rates last year, notably in China and in South Korea, where they soared, rising by 72.4%. Maison Margiela, led by Creative Director John Galliano since 2014, remained the fastest-growing label. In 2023, it opened 24 new stores, notably in Venice, Beijing, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Seoul.
 
Jil Sander, with Lucie and Luke Meier in charge of style, recorded a 17.3% revenue growth at constant exchange rates. Last year, it opened 18 new stores worldwide, in cities like Paris, Rome, Venice, Madrid, London, Dallas, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nanjing and Seoul, and it also renewed the licence agreement with Coty for its beauty line.

Marni, whose sales increased by 8.6%, opened 16 stores in 2023, and it too renewed the beauty licence deal with Coty, for 20 years. OTB did not provide any figures for Viktor & Rolf, whose business hinges on haute couture and cosmetics, the latter licensed to L’Oréal.

 
Diesel recorded a remarkable turnaround, posting a 13.1% revenue growth at constant exchange rates, thanks to “the success of its well-established brand repositioning.” In 2020, Diesel appointed Belgian designer Glenn Martens as creative director. Martens has managed to create a string of iconic new products, like the 1DR handbag, and strengthened the label’s women’s business, which currently accounts for nearly 50% of total sales. He also succeeded in rejuvenating Diesel’s audience, with Gen Z consumers now making up 35% of its clientèle, as OTB stated in a press release. Last year, Diesel opened 15 new stores worldwide.
 
OTB also owns Brave Kid, which specialises in childrenswear, and Staff International, a manufacturing and distribution company that manages the group’s luxury labels, as well as licensed brands like Dsquared2. In 2019, OTB bought a minority stake in Californian luxury denim label Amiri, for which it holds an exclusive distribution licence in Asia-Pacific and Japan.
  
In 2023, OTB increased its investment, boosting it from €81 million to €201 million in one year. It invested in, among other assets, the Parisian building home to Maison Margiela’s headquarters in Paris, and in acquiring a majority stake in Florentine leather goods producer Frassineti, via Staff International.