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Dune London’s CEO talks bags, sports, and global growth

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A thriving bags business has been the focus for many fashion apparel and particularly footwear labels in recent years. But today, that business needs to do more than thrive, it needs to be one of the key drivers of company growth.

Nigel Darwin – Photo: Sandra Halliday

We’ve seen that happening at Kurt Geiger where the footwear brand that also sells bags is in some ways now a bags brand that also sells shoes!

At Dune London, meanwhile, that’s not the case yet, but the affordable, fashion-focused footwear brand’s bags business is strong, growing and is a key focus for the label.

We spoke to CEO Nigel Darwin about how Dune is ramping up its bags business as well as about how it’s faring in sports and its global plans.

FashionNetwork.com: You’re known as a footwear brand but as your campaigns and stores demonstrate, bags are clearly a growing category for you.

Nigel Darwin: The third big growth platform for us [apart from the UK and international businesses] is the category piece. We already have a big business in ladies’ footwear, men’s footwear, and then there’s bags. For a long time we’ve had a bags business, but we’ve always been a footwear brand with some bags. Where we are now is absolutely focusing on bags. It’s a category that works all year round, that works very powerfully for a brand from a storytelling perspective, so it’s not surprising that brands go in that direction.

FNW: What sort of work are you doing around growing that accessories business?

ND: Everything! We’ve looked at the assortment and we’ve really elevated it in terms of the materials were using, the design, we’re much more thoughtful, I believe, about styles and style families. We used to have a little bit more of an item focus with too many different bags. We’re much more coherent now about how the brand works across both footwear and bags [via] a select number of a very curated group of families. 

FNW: We’ve seen how for some companies the bags category can actually grow to be bigger than footwear. How big is the bags business for you at present?

ND: It varies from market to market. Somewhere like the Middle East it can be over 40%, but for us overall it’s around 20%-25%. We certainly see a lot of opportunities for growth in all of our categories but bags can really be a big business for us. We’re seeing good take up here in our home market in our stores and with our partners, but also in global markets we’re seeing a lot of interest. It can be easier to tell your brand story with bags.

 

FNW: Clearly the UK is your core market, do you feel you’re at saturation point there?

ND: These are very exciting times, we’ve got a lot of exciting growth aspirations both in the UK and globally. In our home market [it’s] really about bringing together our stores a digital presence, both those that we do ourselves and those of our partners and making the most of all of those channels.

We’ve got about 50 standalone stores in the UK, [plus concessions] and we’re with Next, with John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, so a broad distribution. But we think we’ve got a lot to do still to reach the core customer base within the UK, whether they’re shopping online and whether they’re shopping in stores. So a big UK piece.

Dune London's Westfield White City store
Dune London’s Westfield White City store

FNW: I assume the opportunity outside the UK is much bigger though?

ND: There’s a big global piece for us with two areas of focus. We’ve got a large business already in the Middle East that we’ve had for 10+ years. We’ve got around 50 stores and a digital presence there and we see a lot more growth opportunity there.

The US is a much more recent adventure for us. [We entered it] a couple of years ago and we work with partners to really grow our brand presence and our distribution. 

We have other international markets as well, but the US and the Middle East are where we really see the ‘scale’ opportunity.

In the US, we’re working with Nordstrom and Dillards in particular, but also other partners that we’re adding, to understand their customers. We’re increasingly clear and confident about our brand and how that translates through both on the footwear and the bags side. We’re confident in that DNA, but when you meet new customer bases with new partners you want to learn from them. They know their customers far better than we do

FNW: How big is the US business for you at the moment and do you see potential in Europe too?

ND:  Today [our US business is] very small because we’ve only been there two years but we see there’s potential for it to grow quite dramatically. 

We have some strong European markets already, a strong presence in Ireland and in the Netherlands. But we do have a lot of markets where we don’t have very much of a presence other than through digital partners like Zalando and others. It’s absolutely an opportunity, I think, very much building on the digital partnerships that we’ve got, seeing where demand really spikes and deciding where we want to put more resource, more effort, before we put stores on the ground. 

I can imagine a point where we might have stores in Europe, absolutely, but I think it’s important to sequence these things well, and these days when you’re working with digital partners that can go an awfully long way in [telling you] where those hotspots are. As we all know, stores are a costly investment these days and you need the demand to be there before you spend. 

FNW: You’ve just unveiled your SS25 campaign that’s all about travel and London, is your marketing approach specific to individual markets or more global?

ND: Almost all the marketing activity we do is with a global hat on rather than just a UK or US one. Whether we’re working with influencers, with celebrities, or just telling our story, we’re always trying to find a hook that will work globally, as recently with Bella Hadid, which will work here and in the US and Middle East.

But in the Middle East for Ramadan, we will do a separate shoot working with our partner, making sure that’s very focused on their markets there. 

FNW: Given your US ambitions, are tariff threats an issue for you at the moment?

ND: Clearly there’s uncertainty but we’re in the fortunate position that we have a market that’s currently relatively small in the US. I’m sure by the time we’re at scale there we’ll have found ways of mitigating the uncertainty as all brands are doing at the moment! 

The SS25 campaign
The SS25 campaign

FNW: And talking of potential problems, what about the weather, are you vulnerable to that? 

ND: I wouldn’t use the word vulnerable but we sell a lot of sandals in summer and we sell a lot of boots in winter! So the timing of those things absolutely impacts us. Very consciously over the last couple of years what we’ve been trying to do is make ourselves less susceptible to the vagaries of the weather. But part of what I was saying about bags is that there’s a big standalone opportunity for them and they’re much less of a seasonal category for us.

FNW: Is your growing sports business part of that process of protecting yourself from seasonal issues?

ND: We used to have a 5%-6% sports business but we’ve seen that the category has grown dramatically. It’s not such a seasonal product, it’s a bit more year-round. It’s well into double-digits now. We see that continuing to grow for us and if you’re going to stores at certain times of year, it may be that 20% of the store is about sports, all of it with a Dune touch. We’re not a sports brand but we can do sports in a very Dune way. 

FNW: It seems to be something to which the consumer is responding positively. What sort of vibe are you getting from shoppers at present?

ND: We’ve had a reasonably consistent vibe from the consumer for the last two or three years. People have got money to spend and when people fall in love with a product, they will spend. However almost everyone at every level is cautious on their spending and so the product they fall in love with has got to be [special] — either something new or something right of the moment, or that speaks to them through colour or materials. If you’re trying to sell a product that’s very similar to what they may have seen last year that’s a hard sell!

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Russia’s Alrosa diamond producer says it has paused production at less profitable mines

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Reuters

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March 18, 2025

Russian diamond producer Alrosa announced on Tuesday that it had decided to temporarily suspend operations at its less profitable deposits.

Reuters

The suspension will affect deposits with an annual production of less than 1 million carats, it said.
The company said it still planned to produce 29 million carats of diamonds in 2025.

In November 2024, Alrosa said that it might suspend some production in 2025 and reduce staff.

© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.



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Dolce & Gabbana looks beyond fashion to safeguard independence

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By

Bloomberg

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March 18, 2025

Dolce & Gabbana Srl, the Italian fashion house known for bold, Mediterranean-inspired designs, says its beauty business now holds the key to an independent future in the rapidly shifting luxury industry.

Dolce & Gabbana – Fall-Winter2025 – 2026 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight

Revenue from beauty products is expected to rise more than 20% for the 12 months through the end of March 2025, to €610 million ($665 million), Chief Executive Officer Alfonso Dolce said in an interview. That would lift total annual revenue to around €2 billion.

The company is also targeting €1 billion in beauty sales by the end of the 2027 financial year, following a shift from licensing to direct management of production and distribution of fragrances, makeup and skincare.

Dolce Gabbana’s pivot on beauty comes at a fraught moment for the fashion sector, where a global slump has raised questions about the standalone future of some of its rivals. 

Hong Kong-listed Prada SpA is nearing a deal to buy Gianni Versace Srl, while fashion icon Giorgio Armani rocked the industry last year when he said he no longer rules out a merger or listing once he exits the scene.

Dolce Gabbana’s reaction has been to double down on its independence by broadening its revenue streams. Along with the decision to directly manage the beauty business, it’s also testing the waters in real estate and hotels.

“We asked ourselves, what more do we have to say to the fashion industry after 40 years at the top?,” said Dolce, 60, who holds the top job at the firm his brother Domenico and Stefano Gabbana founded in 1985. 

Dolce Gabbana Holding Srl, which encompasses the group’s offerings in clothing, furnishing accessories and beauty, reported about €1.9 billion in revenue for the 12 months through March 2024, up 19% at constant exchange rates compared with the previous year, driven by an almost five-fold increase in beauty. 

But the company’s earnings before interest and taxes are still just a fraction of its Italian rivals. Dolce Gabbana posted €4 million in Ebit at the end of the last financial year, compared with €1.28 billion for Prada on sales of €5.4 billion. 

The jury is still out on the firm’s other big diversification bet, property and hotels.

“The success in beauty is a good testament of the brand strength,” said Luca Solca, a senior analyst at Bernstein.  “I don’t think that hospitality/hotels will play a big role for them.”

The firm is seeking additional funding, including for its real estate ventures, which cover residences in Marbella, Spain, in Miami and in Dubai, as well as hotels in the Maldives and Saudi Arabia.

That’s another change in tack for a group that’s traditionally financed investments internally, Dolce said. A €300 million term loan that’s about 25% repaid dates back to 2022. The fashion house also has a €100 million working capital facility. 

It’s now in talks with bank lenders for as much €150 million. A decision by those creditors is still on hold.

The diversification moves were prompted by what the CEO acknowledged was over-reliance on visitors to the Mediterranean, and the group’s post-Covid rebound was short-lived, he said.

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine shaved off more than €100 million from the top line, while sales to Chinese customers tumbled as the country’s economy dipped and consumer tastes shifted.

Still, Dolce insists his firm can thrive as an independent. “If the macroeconomic environment deteriorates further, we have our own properties, our warehouses and we can always cut ad spending, which is twice as high as our peers,” he said.

Dolce also remains adamant about not wanting outside investors, at least for now.

“We listen to everyone, investment banks, family offices, private equity firms,” the CEO said. “But our response is always the same, at the moment we’re not interested in opening our capital.”
 



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LilySilk launches capsule collection with stylist Elizabeth Stewart

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Silk brand LilySilk has teamed up with Hollywood stylist Elizabeth Stewart to launch a capsule collection.

LilySilk launches capsule collection with stylist Elizabeth Stewart. – LilySilk

“We’re excited to unveil our exclusive collaboration with Elizabeth Stewart, the celebrated Hollywood stylist known for her exceptional eye for elegance,” said David Wang, CEO of LilySilk. 

“This partnership redefines the essence of effortless sophistication and timeless allure, merging LilySilk’s luxurious silk with Elizabeth’s unmatched styling artistry.”

The collection combines LilySilk’s commitment to sustainable luxury with Stewart’s signature styling expertise. It features six curated looks with 11 versatile pieces, rooted in luxury, comfort, and sustainability. 

Among them is the Denim Dossier, a fitted denim-inspired suit with a cropped jacket and high-waisted wide-leg pants. Urban Voyager offers a modern take on leisurewear with an oversized bomber jacket and jogger pants, while Versatile Vogue pairs a refined sweater with a satin skirt. 

Modern Mosaic presents a bold statement blouse that can be styled with tailored pants for work or jeans for a more casual look. Playful Palette showcases vibrant bowling shirts matched with tailored culottes, and Patchwork Paradise, offers a one-of-a-kind pajama set crafted from deadstock fabrics. 

“I work with many brands, and I’m always seeking out companies that truly consider their environmental impact,” added Stewart. “That’s why I’m thrilled to collaborate with LilySilk—our shared commitment to sustainability and quality makes this collection truly special.”

Earlier this year, LilySilk opened its first-ever U.S. concept store, in the Meatpacking District in New York. 

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