Jacopo Venturini, the CEO of Valentino has laid out his plans for the storied brand for the first time.
The first step after arriving at the company was “to make a strong statement. Valentino is the most established Italian maison de couture, with the strongest heritage,” he said.
This included the closure of sister brand Red Valentino, which should be completed in two years. “It’s very important to have Valentino under one single label, it’s a strategy that I’ve always had in mind,” he explained.
A key element is that Valentino “belongs to this [luxury and couture] world, but we are smaller, and this is the advantage,” which allows the brand to grow in a solid way according to its values and culture — one that is becoming increasingly customer-centric, he underscored.
Asked if he expected the company to return to the black in 2021, Venturini said his outlook was positive but that he wanted to wait until the end of the year before providing a definite answer. The growth in the first half was driven by online sales, the Middle East, US and Greater China regions.
“We are underexposed and have a strong potential to grow in Mainland China,” said Venturini. “In the last year, we started exploring new locations like Shenzhen and we are looking into requalifying locations for Shenyang and Hangzhou where we are already present.” In Mainland China there are 27 Valentino directly operated stores and five franchised units.
The executive underscored that the goal of the company is to open stores “in a granular way,” reaching customers wherever they are, also through pop-up installations such as the one set up in a partnership with the Phillips Auction House in Southampton, New York, to showcase its Valentino Escape 2021 collection in June and July.
