Manolo Blahnik enjoys record year as e-tail booms, US grows

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 30, 2022

Following its 50th anniversary last year, luxury shoe and accessories company Manolo Blahnik has announced record results for 2021.

On Friday the company said FY21 saw group turnover up 65% to €69.9 million and like-for-like sales up 47%. Meanwhile, global e-commerce sales saw triple-digit growth year on year due to a high levels of demand during lockdowns in the early part of the year.

It returned to profitability with pre-tax profit of €6.5 million from a loss of €4.7 million in FY20. EBITDA rose to €8.8 million from €0.5 million.

The company said it enjoyed strong international growth and the record sales came despite those Q1 store closures in a number of key markets. 

During the period, the group “solidified” its US presence by opening an HQ and new flagship boutique on Madison Avenue in New York, as well as a second store in East Hampton. “Both have experienced encouraging sales in their opening year”, it said.

It also launched an anniversary capsule collection and its first virtual experience — The Manolo Blahnik Archives: A New Way of Walking — on its website. And it said that “both were incredibly well received globally”.

2022 has delivered good news too with its widely-reported landmark victory in a long-running trademark dispute in China in July.

CEO Kristina Blahnik said: “Since the year end, we have continued to make excellent progress with exceptional sales and a hugely meaningful victory for the brand in the long-running trademark case in China which is a market we look forward to developing in the years to come.”