Dsquared2 celebrates 20 years of success

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 15, 2015

The Dsquared2 runway show, this Friday 16 January, is squaring up to be the most anticipated event of Milan Fashion Week, which starts this weekend. Twin designers Dean and Dan Caten have indeed decided to go big to celebrate their label's 20th anniversary, with a huge show-party being held at Milan's HangarBicocca, a space for contemporary art.

The brand has received exceptional authorisation to present its brand on a catwalk at the foot of the famous seven concrete towers created by German artist Anselm Kiefer, celebrating the meeting between art and fashion.

The festivities will continue with a cocktail party at the closing of the Fashion Week, organised in partnership with the Italian Chamber of Fashion, the Camera Nazionale Buyer Moda, Uomo Vogue and GQ Italia, in restaurant-lounge Ceresio 7, opened by the label last year in Milan, at 7 Via Ceresio, on the rooftop of its head office located in a historic 1930s building.

When they arrived in Italy, where they launched their brand in 1995, the Canadian designers (whose father is Italian) probably never thought they'd one day be here! In 12 years, from 2002 to 2014, their revenue has soared from 3 to 210 million euros, with an average growth of 38% per year, with a 15% growth last year alone.

This acceleration coincided with the first license agreement signed with Staff International, the production company from Renzo Rosso's OTB group. The agreement was renewed in 2010 and runs through to 2027. It concerns the production and distribution of the two Dsquared2 ready-to-wear men's and women's lines and no longer including accessories, which today represent 22% of the total sales, now developed internally and created by various small Italian manufacturers.

Dsquared2 also currently has 40 points of sale, including stores and corners, and plans on opening another 10 to 12 this year in the United States, China, Panama, Doha, and Kuwait City. But also London with an 8,600 ft², 3-level flagship store on the corner of Conduit Street and Savile Row.

"After the major work done these last few years on the offer and the product, we are now concentrating on retail development, which currently only represents 20% of our total sales. The e-store, which was entirely revamped in November and integrated for SmartPhone use, is increasingly becoming a major channel," explained CEO Gianfranco Maccarrone.

The retail offensive is particularly going to concentrate on the American market, where the brand currently generates 7% of its total sales and is aiming at raising that number to 20%. Following the inauguration of a store in Los Angeles in September, it is getting ready to take on Miami by this March and above all New York, with a 7,000 ft² retail space on Spring Street in Soho. It is also looking at Las Vegas, Chicago and Aspen.

Another objective: China, which accounts for 10% of the entire sales figure. The label has 5 stores and is going to open a sixth one in Chengdu.

On the programme, also for the beginning of this year, the opening of a second store in Milan, where the brand includes a shop-in-shop in La Rinascente. The nearly 4,000 ft² space with a 26-foot ceiling is located in the renovated Porta Nuova quarter, a new fashion district in Milan, where Maison Martin Margiela, Les Hommes, Costume National and Louboutin already have locations. It is an entirely new concept of the store called "Dsquared2 Area", the only one to have a children's line in Milan, which will focus on specific themes, a type of product or a particular aspect of the collection, for example.

In two decadesn, the chic ready-to-wear sportswear brand for men and women (line launched in 2003) has won over the public and only continues to do so, thanks to its very recognisable cool style with a Canadian touch mixing streetwear and formal attire, Made in Italy quality, and an offer that has known how to grow with the times.

Growing along with its customer base, Dsquared2 has thus expanded its range with evening dresses for women and, since three years ago, a more classic demi-couture men's line created in collaboration with Neapolitan tailor Isaia.

Added to this are the licenses developed these last few years with different Italian companies, such as the fragrance with Itf in 2007, eyeglasses with Marcolin in 2008, beachwear and lingerie with Isa Seta in 2012, and childrenswear with Brave Kid (OTB) in 2013.

Dsquared2's biggest market is Europe (63% of the total sales figure) with Italy in the lead (30% of the sales and the retail points in Milan, Capri and Porto Cervo). In France, Dsquared2 is present in Paris, Cannes and Monte Carlo. In Germany, though, the brand doesn't have any direct stores, while Russia represents 9% of its sales.