Italy's Golden Goose to spread its wings beyond sneakers

Italian luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose reported a 30% rise in revenues last year and sees scope for further growth by expanding beyond its core product range, Chief Executive Silvio Campara told Reuters. "We will keep on innovating our business, which is sneakers, but there will be something out of sneakers that is ready to be launched on the market," he said.

Campara would not be drawn on the new product range. Golden Goose's sneakers, with a five-point star on the side, are priced at over 400 euros ($437) a pair.

Golden Goose has already diversified in recent years to sell clothing and accessories, with a focus on leather goods.

The group reported on Tuesday revenues of 501 million euros for 2022, boosted by strong growth in the Americas, the retail and online channels. The Americas was the group's fastest growing market last year, with a 55% sales jump, followed by the EMEA region where sales rose by a third. Momentum has been maintained.

"This year started very well through all the geographies," Campara said. He added he was confident that the group could increase its market share, as Golden Goose only slightly raised its prices, with a total average increase of 5% to 6% in three years, much less than its competitors. "This helped Golden Goose to build a big trust with the customers," he said.

The sneaker maker is planning to open another 20 new stores this year, a similar pace to the year before, Campara said. Golden Goose was acquired by private equity firm Permira from rival Carlyle in 2020 and the group was valued at 1.3 billion euros, sources said at the time.

Last year the group bought its top supplier Italian Fashion Team, bringing in-house roughly 40% of its production, and could keep on strengthening its supply chain. "What we did last year is not going to be the last one... for sure we have other acquisitions in the pipeline," Campara said, referring to the supply chain.

He said that this allowed the company to be flexible, to adapt to good and bad times and to secure skilled people "which are very hard to find these days", Campara said.