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Vittorio Fiorio named general manager South Europe of Havaianas producer Alpargatas
Vittorio Fiorio has been appointed general manager South Europe (Italy, Greece, Malta and the Balkan states) of Alpargatas. The Italian manager takes charge of the retail and wholesale development of Havaianas in the region, replacing fellow-countryman Michele Pittureri after a 10-year tenure.
Turin-born Fiorio started his fashion industry career in 1997 at sportswear distributor BasicNet SpA, where he worked for eight years, before a three-year stint at Nike. In October 2008, he joined Alpargatas, where he worked first as EMEA distributor manager for Havaianas, and later was appointed commercial director and business development director EMEA, based in Madrid. In his new post, Fiorio is tasked with growing Havaianas in the retail and wholesale channels across the South Europe region, and he will be based in Bologna, where the Italian offices of the Brazilian group have been located since 2009.
“I have been working at Alpargatas for 12 years and I’m truly proud of having achieved this milestone within such an important group, also because the geographical area I will be managing is really important for us, since it accounts for 30% of the EMEA region’s revenue,” Fiorio said to FashionNetwork.com.
“We have ambitious objectives, both distribution and product-wise. For example, we are planning to open our first two directly run monobrand stores in Greece, in Athens and Thessaloniki, by summer 2020. In Italy we operate about 20 stores, three quarters of them open seasonally, from March to September in leading seaside resorts, and we are forging partnerships with important names. For the Spring/Summer 2020, we will launch an exclusive unisex model in eight colours, developed with AW Lab. Our strategy is to target also younger, more directional streetwear fans. After the success in 2019, we will collaborate again with Pull&Bear (a label of the Inditex group), creating a small selection of Havaianas models that will be available at the label’s stores across Europe in summer 2020,” said Fiorio.
Alpargatas, whose Havaianas flip flops have undoubtedly become a footwear icon worldwide, is also planning to create new models fit to be worn in an urban context too. “This is why, in the next few years, we will initiate collaborations with niche urban brands, to revamp our flip flops adding a more contemporary streetwear touch,” said Fiorio.
Alpargatas launched the Havaianas brand in 1962, and is currently one of the world’s biggest footwear producers, with over 20,000 employees. Its headquarters are in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and it operates offices in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Bologna, Düsseldorf, London and Athens, catering to 15 European markets. The group has approximately 180 shops in the EMEA region, between seasonal, directly owned and franchised stores, and it is now working to design the Havaianas store of the future. The first of a new wave of Havaianas stores, in which it will be possible to interact more extensively with customers, especially through a series of in-store digital tools, will be inaugurated in London in the spring.
In 2019, Alpargatas generated a net revenue of BRL3.7 billion (€777 million), equivalent to a 10% increase over the previous year. Recurring EBITDA margin grew by 1.2 points, and was worth BRL619 million (€130 million), equivalent to an 18.3% upturn over 2018. Recurring net income grew to BRL432 million (€90 million, up 9.5%), generating a cash flow of BRL389 million (over €81 million).
In Q4 2019, Alpargatas’s net revenue rose 5.6% over the same period in 2018, reaching BRL1.1 billion (€231 million). Recurring EBITDA was BRL249 million (€52 million), up 16.7%, generating a recurring EBITDA margin of 21.8%. In Q4, direct-to-consumer retail and e-tail sales for Havaianas and fashion label Osklen rose respectively by 18% and 8% in the group’s domestic market, Brazil.
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