Prada has recently become an outlier in the luxury market. While many big players struggled to pick themselves up amid weaker shopping appetites from their high-end clientele, Italian-born Prada has had a dream streak.
In the nine months to September, the company generated €3.8 billion in revenue, up 17.5% from the same period a year earlier. Much of that growth came from a niche sister brand called Miu Miu, which captured the imagination of Gen Z and has been sported by celebrities like Gigi Hadid and Sydney Sweeney. It was also one of the earliest brands to use actresses rather than models in its campaigns. Analysts expect the brand to continue to boom, doubling sales to about €2 billion.
Miuccia Prada, granddaughter of Prada’s founder, is the creative director at Miu Miu and co-creative lead at Prada.
Prada even recorded growth in the Asia Pacific region, a challenging market (outside of Japan) for some of its larger peers, like LVMH.
The lackluster performance in Asia has forced luxury majors like Gucci owner Kering to issue profit warnings. Prada CEO Andrea Guerra remains bullish on China nonetheless.
“We believe in the long-term [potential] of Chinese consumers and China—strongly—but 2024 and I think part of 2025 will not be easy in that part of the world,” he told Business of Fashion. “Demand is still there; people are still wishing and dreaming about luxury.”
Other luxury companies expect Chinese demand to eventually rebound. But the last few years have made one thing apparent: while the country is a significant player, relying on it to drive growth may no longer work.
Luxury fashion is not expected to fully recover for a few more years due to various reasons, from Donald Trump-sanctioned tariffs to the rise of boutique brands.
“The industry is at a turning point: you have turmoil in creativity, turmoil in companies’ leadership, and for the first time in years, you have some negative numbers like the industry has never seen,” Guerra said.
Under Guerra, who was appointed the first non-family Prada chief in 2023, the company has opened more stores, hosted stunning shows, and become part of a broader cultural moment. Like other luxury labels, it’s also hiked prices significantly, but customers haven’t turned against it yet.
In turn, Guerra emphasizes stores to strengthen its customer relationships. The Hong Kong-listed Prada spent over $800 million on stores on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
“Stores are a tool for something that has completely changed in the last six, seven years at Prada, which is our relationship with the Prada consumer or potential consumers,” he said. The luxury chief knows the company’s responsibility for standing out, especially as a smaller fish in the luxury ocean filled with conglomerates.
One area in which he’s noticed growth is experiential luxury via hospitality, which is forecasted to be a significant growth area as shoppers gravitate to travel and wellness over bags and clothes.
“At Prada, we’ll need to do an even better job in order to keep growing over the industry average and gaining back the market share I think we deserve,” Guerra said.
The luxury brand is unique in more ways than just how it runs its business. It has also taken a unique approach to succession, so Prada remains independent in a fierce luxury market where deals in Italian fashion are rampant. The 30-something Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, is poised to take the reins someday and is being groomed within the company.
“Our two founders are still very young in spirit. They work seven days a week, thinking about the future of their brands in terms of decades,” Guerra says of Bertelli and Prada, adding that the company’s unusual approach keeps it in the game long term.
Representatives at Prada didn’t immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
