Italian label Herno is committed to evolution
The days when Herno was synonymous with a single product category, outerwear, are long gone. The Spring/Summer 2024 collection that the Italian label presented at Pitti Uomo stays true to Herno’s original aim of producing naturally elegant, high-quality garments with a timeless aesthetic and a cross-over contemporary appeal, but at the same time it clearly reflects the evolution towards a complete wardrobe the label embarked on in 2005.
The key feature of Herno’s extensive, comprehensive collection is that it combines tradition, high-quality materials, high-tech performance and sustainability. It includes outerwear, trousers and shorts in different cuts and fabrics (from performance nylon to cotton in different weights), as well as knitwear, t-shirts, polos and shirts, featuring carefully selected fabrics and yarns and with no concession to prints. After a decade of ultra-slim fits, the current trend towards comfort is mirrored by regular and oversize fits, with clean lines and new tailoring solutions. A wide choice of coordinated accessories completes and enhances the looks.
“Herno continues to evolve across the board: in addition to the new products introduced with this collection in various categories, it’s the company’s own organisation, with the appointment of a new CEO, that is a driver of change,” said Claudio Marenzi, Herno’s owner, talking to FashionNetwork.com. “In 2023, we will reach a revenue just shy of €180 million thanks to our increasingly multi-faceted, contemporary collections, and a greater balance between menswear and womenswear,” said Marenzi. “Our extensive product development work will make retail expansion easier and more organic, starting with the repositioning of our stores and pop-up presence in Asia. The childrenswear range will continue to target a niche market, due to the segment’s peculiarity and its premium positioning, which is attractive for markets that are currently stagnant, like Russia, but less relevant in mature markets like Japan and Korea,” he added.
FNW: You acquired Montura two years ago, entering the sportswear segment: how is the brand doing?
CM: I’d say very well, because revenue grew from €47 million in 2020 to €60 million in 2022, and we’re expecting to close 2023 with €62 million. An extraordinary growth, even more amazing if you consider that, deliberately, Montura has always invested little in advertising, and remains a strictly Italy-based brand. Italy accounts in fact for 87% of Montura’s global revenue, with 23 directly owned stores and 6 franchised ones. [Montura] is much loved by Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering practitioners, people looking for high-tech products with impeccable, peerless performance. In other words, by a magic circle of devoted athletes, both men and women, that have increasingly grown in numbers in recent years, people able to appreciate [Montura’s] meticulous materials selection and its garments’ high technology.
FNW: Are you planning to expand abroad with Montura?
CM: We’re currently available at 6 stores in Asia, through retail partners only, and surely markets outside Italy can become very valuable for us. But first we must go through a key phase, working on our products to make them more desirable and attractive to markets that currently have different outlooks and requirements: not only in terms of sport types, but also wearability and the colour palette.
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