More shoes, more accessories, and Kiton sees its revenue take off. The consequence: production must adapt, and so the brand made plans to create a 6,000 square-meters plant to manufacture accessories. “For the product side, the focus will be on developing the offering of footwear and accessories. We created an internal creative team”, joined by “two close collaborators of two famous stylists”, stares the CEO Antonio De Matteis, adding that he isn’t looking for outside investors but would like to launch an IPO (in the long term).
160 million in 2022
According to De Matteis, Kiton will close 2022 with a revenue of about 160 million euro, up 25% on 2021. In two years (2021 and 2022), sales have increased by 60%. Exports make up over 90% of total turnover, with the USA accounting for 30% of the total (same as Europe) and with sales up 50% in 2022. In general, the growth drivers for the company were female apparel (that went from 5% to 20% of sales over the last 5 years) and accessories, as they now account for 30% of total revenue, according to WWD.
More shoes, more accessories
The company is investing in the accessories segment and has dedicated an internal creative division to crafting them. De Matteis also announced a new structure to support this objective, citing the enlargement of the Arzano HQ (Naples) with the purchase of a 6,000 square-meters site. Kiton will transfer there “the whole logistic and new production lines, such as shoes, handbags and accessories that will be sold starting Fall/Winter 23/24”, said the CEO to MF Fashion. With this operation, Kiton’s headquarter will go from 16,000 to 22,000 square-meters.
Production
The Naples-based company, which currently has 850 employees, operates in 5 different production sites. Other than Arzano, the sporting apparel is made in Caserta, coats in Parma, knitwear in Fidenza and textiles in Biella. Moreover: “Always in front of our HQ, we aim at acquiring a piece of land we can build on for future investments”, explains De Matteis.
Yes and no
Investments aren’t a problem for Kiton. The company is financing them on its own and De Matteis excluded the possibility of involving an external investor. That’s the first “no”. That being said (and this counts as a “yes”), he revealed how there is a potential partial IPO in sight, “in the long term, when Kiton’s dimension could become interesting”. Lastly, another “no”: the brand will continue on its way and not hire a famous and established creative director. “A brand such as ours doesn’t need to do so, because it doesn’t need to completely change the company’s essence”, concludes De Matteis to WWD.
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