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PARTNERSHIP | Spring 2020 06 The luxury goods world The annual Deloitte analysis showing future trends and market performances F or the sixth consecutive year, Deloitte published its 6th annual report on the luxury world, “Global Powers of Luxury Goods 2019 - Bridging the gap between the old and the new”, examining the first 100 largest luxury goods companies in the world. The minimum threshold required to qualify among the Top 100 was $218m in revenues. All together, these luxury goods companies had revenues worth $247bn and their annual growth on average skyrocketed by 10.8% compared to the previous year. Despite a global slowdown of economic growth, the luxury goods market confirmed to be in a positive position. The clothing and footwear sector had the highest number of companies; whilst the cosmetics and fragrances one presented the highest sales’ growth. The Top 10 companies are: 1. LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SE (France) 2. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (USA) 3. Compagnie Financière Richemont SA (Switzerland) 4. Kering SA (France) 5. Luxottica Group SpA (Italy) 6. Chanel Limited (UK) 7. L’Oréal Luxe (France) 8. The Swatch Group Ltd. (Switzerland) 9. Chow Tai Food Jewellery Group Limited (Hong Kong) 10. PVH Corp. (USA) ITALY “Made in Italy” is often synonymous with elegance, taste, quality and craftsmanship. Milan, for instance, is still recognised by many as the fashion capital. Italian brands are sold all over the world in the most exclusive boutiques, taking forward the reputation of the industry. Out of the Top 100, 24 companies are Italian and two thirds of the 24 operate in the clothing and footwear category - a clear sign of the predominance of Italy in the global luxury fashion. On the one hand, Italy is the leading country with the highest number of companies in the list, but on the other hand results showed growth problems. Compared to other countries, Italy’s growth was at 2.2% (the lowest of the chart) but still improved by 1.2% compared to 2018. The top three players for the country are the Luxottica Group, which grew by 0.8%; Prada (whose sales declined by 3.6% because of the leather goods and footwear sector, and who lost two positions in the rank, now at 21st position) and Giorgio Armani (whose sales went down by 7.3% while the company was reorganising the activities, the distribution network and the stores for the three key labels; also lost two positions arriving 26th). Luxottica maintained a pivotal and leading position in the market, but still registered the lowest year-on-year growth amongst the Top 10. One of