Spanish fashion retailer Mango reported on Monday record sales of €3.1 billion ($3.39 billion) in 2023, beating its forecast after matching domestic rival Zara’s strong expansion in the United States.

The Barcelona-based brand said sales jumped 19 percent last year to exceed its forecast of €3 billion through a focus on party wear and fashion pieces for upmarket shoppers who are less sensitive to higher prices.

That helped it fend off pressure from the rapid growth and bargain prices of online players such as China-based Shein.

Mango has positioned itself more as a premium retailer and has higher prices than Inditex-owned Zara and Sweden’s H&M in some party pieces, retail intelligence company EDITED said.

The biggest price rises are in dresses, where average in-stock prices grew 46 percent for the 2024 spring collection versus two years ago in markets such as the US, according to EDITED.

“For many items prices have not increased, but the price mix of our collection has,” said Mango CEO Toni Ruiz, adding the company has reduced the number of pieces sold at a discount.

Mango’s net profit rose to €172.1 million, from €81 million in 2022, Ruiz said at a press conference. Its gross margin was near 60 percent in 2023 and the company has zero net debt, Mango said.

The family-owned fashion brand is following in the footsteps of the world’s largest listed fast-fashion group Inditex, which is also expanding in the US.

New US Stores

Ruiz said the company plans to open 30 more stores in the United States, and make that market its third largest by 2026, as part of a plan to open 500 new shops worldwide in the next two years to reach 2,700 stores.

The company invested €187 million last year, mainly in new stores and logistics centres.

Around 20 of the 130 stores Mango opened last year were in the United States, where it began an expansion in 2022 with a flagship store in New York.

It aims to reach total annual sales of €4 billion and double its net profit by 2026 as a result of the expansion, Ruiz said.

He said Mango has no plans to list on the stock market and does not need new investors to raise resources for an expansion plan that will require €600 million of investment by 2026.

The company has been carrying out an internal reorganisation, creating a new board of directors led by founder Isak Andic. Ruiz acquired a 5 percent stake in the company last year.

By Corina Pons and Charlie Devereux; Editors: Alexander Smith and Susan Fenton

Learn more:

Mango to Add 500 Stores by 2026

The Spanish fast-fashion brand also expanded its board and forecast 2023 revenues above €3 billion.

Gucci-owner Kering and Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica are among the suitors for Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

New York-headquartered eyewear maker Marchon has also expressed an interest, the FT added citing a single source.

Reuters had reported last month that top managers at Marcolin — which produces Tom Ford spectacles — have started meeting potential suitors while they prepare the company for a merger or sale by renewing a series of key licensing accords.

Marcolin’s owner, private equity firm PAI Partners, is seeking a valuation of about 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for the company, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

PAI, which bought Marcolin in 2012, has hired Goldman Sachs as an adviser as it prepares the company for sale, Reuters reported, citing sources close to the matter.

PAI declined to comment on the FT report, while Marcolin, Kering, EssilorLuxottica, Safilo and Marchon did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

EssilorLuxottica would be the best fit for Marcolin, the FT said, adding that Milan-listed Safilo had also looked at the company but views it as an “opportunistic add-on” and is the least likely buyer.

Marcolin, which has operations in Italy’s eyewear manufacturing district in the country’s northeast, reported a 3 percent increase in revenue to 422 million euros in the first nine months of last year. Its adjusted core profit rose 28 percent to 65 million euros.

By Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; editor: Emelia Sithole-Matarise and David Holmes

Learn more:

Does the World Need $4,500 Sunglasses?

Inside the market for obscenely priced luxury goods.

The Body Shop has filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada and is struggling to pay suppliers in Australia as the group’s most profitable overseas businesses struggle with cash shortages after its UK parent’s collapse last month.

The US arm of the ethical cosmetics group has ceased trading at its 50 outlets. On Saturday, it filed for Chapter 7 insolvency, under which assets are sold off to clear debts, putting about 400 jobs at risk including those in a distribution centre that still holds millions of dollars-worth of stock.

In Canada, 33 of the 105 shops have closed, with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

In Australia, where the group operates almost 100 stores and is responsible for more than 20 more in New Zealand, it is understood that the future of the chain is hanging in the balance as it struggles to cover large debts after its access to funds was cut off.

Sources said the profitable business could cover its day-to-day expenses from cashflow but would need additional funds to cover debts to suppliers such as logistics firms, warehouses and marketing agencies for services during its busy Christmas season.

The Body Shop’s UK arm collapsed in February, only months after a German private equity group, Aurelius, bought the group founded by the late environmental and human rights campaigner Anita Roddick. The deal was completed in January and the UK business was put into administration less than six weeks later.

Sources said that money earned by the key overseas businesses during the peak trading period in November and December was paid into a global account, based in the UK, in a practice termed “cash pooling”. However, funds in the account are now not available to cover debts to suppliers used during that period as access was cut off when the UK parent company called in the accounting firm FRP Advisory as administrators.

It is understood that the North American and Australasian businesses are now counted as creditors to the UK arm and may have to wait months for any payment via FRP.

A spokesperson for FRP said: “The cash pooling ceased upon The Body Shop International entering into administration with funds then remaining with each subsidiary entity.”

It is understood that the Australian business has unsustainable levels of debt which will require new funding.

Since the UK business collapsed, FRP has announced the closure of more than 80 of the ethical beauty retailer’s 198 UK stores while more than 300 jobs have been cut from its head office.

Aurelius is the top creditor of the UK business and, as it controls the brand rights, is in pole position to reclaim The Body Shop from administrators. Other potentially interested parties are thought to include Next, as well as the HMV owner Doug Putman.

The Body Shop’s divisions in Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium have all been put into insolvency, with stores outside Germany closed, after being sold by Aurelius to Alma24. The company is controlled by Friedrich Trautwein, a close associate of Aurelius who has previously helped to shut down unwanted businesses.

The future of The Body Shop’s operations in Spain, Sweden, France and Austria is unclear amid wrangling over ownership.

Filings in Canada reveal that the Body Shop there owed $3.3m (£1.9m) to landlords, logistics, providers, marketing agencies, insurers, utilities and freight service providers when it entered insolvency on 1 March. The company said it no longer had access to its e-commerce platform or the ability to ship to wholesale partners including Amazon or to receive new stocks because of difficulties in paying suppliers.

The problems come as it emerges that Aurelius has so far paid less than £100m of the headline £207m price for The Body Shop.

Only part of the agreed £117m initial purchase price has been so far handed over to the group’s former owner Natura, with the rest due over the coming five years. A further £90m is due only if certain performance criteria are met over that period, and so may never be paid.

Administrators are understood to be investigating a claim that more than £10m was extracted from The Body Shop’s UK arm in December by Natura. The money is understood to linked to debts owed by its former subsidiary which sources said had been laid out in the sale agreement between Natura and Aurelius.

By Sarah Butler

Learn more:

When Sol de Janeiro Rules Supreme, Is There Room for The Body Shop?

The beauty label has fallen under administration with plans to cut staff and stores. How did the ultimate purveyor of uber-perfumed creams and fragrances and purpose-driven brand messages, which seem so relevant now, fall so far?

When the nominees and other assorted A-listers stride down the (thankfully, once again) red carpet at the Oscars on Sunday, many, if not most looks will be the product of careful negotiations between brands, agents, stylists and stars, with millions of dollars changing hands.

This is no secret, of course. Red carpet dressing has been big business going back to the 1990s. But it has swallowed up an ever-greater share of luxury brands’ marketing budgets in recent years. That’s partly down to the brands themselves getting bigger, which means they have more to spend, but also need more and more attention on their celebrity ambassadors to meaningfully move the sales needle. The decline of print and television advertising has also narrowed the options for where to stage a big moment (former BoF correspondent Lauren Sherman has an excellent rundown of how this all works on Puck’s The Town podcast).

Believe it or not, there is, in fact, a limit to how big the red carpet can get before the costs start to outweigh the benefits. And it’s possible we’ll look back on this year’s awards season as the moment we hit that threshold.

The most obvious reason is that, Miu Miu aside, most luxury brands aren’t growing sales by 80 percent annually anymore. The beancounters hold more sway when a label is no longer printing cash, and an obvious money pit like celebrity dressing is one place to cut costs.

Some caveats: we’re mostly talking about spending caps rather than a dramatic pullback, as after two-plus decades, few brands can afford not to play the game anymore. Any cuts apply mainly to lesser events rather than the Oscars, which is second only to the Met Gala in terms of media impact. The biggest brands, such as Chanel and Dior, aren’t hurting for cash, and having the biggest actors locked down is a key way they maintain their lead. Red carpet dressing is also integral to labels like Versace and Armani.

But for small and mid-sized brands, and struggling larger labels, some strategic adjustments may be necessary. Fortunately, there are ways to play the red carpet game without a Chanel-sized budget. Loewe has run neck-and-neck with the likes of Prada and Louis Vuitton in terms of social media buzz at some pre-Oscar events, according to data from TribeDynamics. The brand has focused its efforts on up-and-coming actresses like Greta Lee, social media favourites like Aubrey Plaza (whose Emmys dress featuring a giant pin made the rounds on Instagram) and tabloid fixtures like Taylor Russell (the Canadian actress, who is dating Harry Styles, wore a backless Loewe dress to the BAFTAs).

Menswear is another budget-friendly option. It’s rare for a man to crack the list of most-talked-about looks on social, according to a Launchmetrics analysis of this year’s awards shows (Pedro Pascal being the exception that proved the rule, several times over). But Off-White, fresh off the Super Bowl, scored a minor hit with its powder-pink tux for “The Color Purple” nominee Colman Domingo at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Burberry’s big pre-Oscar announcement was that it’s signed Barry Keoghan as an ambassador; the “Saltburn” star isn’t nominated for anything, but is widely seen as a next big thing in Hollywood, and has been getting plenty of attention for his unconventional red carpet looks this year.

If you’re looking for real proof the red carpet economy has maxed out though, look no further than this column, or the many like it you’ll find in competing publications. As any mob wife or coastal grandma will tell you, nothing says a trend has peaked like saturation media coverage.

Robert Williams contributed to this article.

The Week Ahead wants to hear from you! Send tips, suggestions, complaints and compliments to brian.baskin@businessoffashion.com.