leather goods

LONDON — In the wake of strong revenue and profit gains in the first six months, Prada Group is sailing into the second half of the year with optimism — about China, its fast-growing leather goods business and its long-term strategies for growth.

As reported earlier this week, Prada will restage its men’s and women’s fall 2022 collections in Beijing on Aug. 5. The show will take place at Prince Jun’s Mansion, a courtyard hotel in downtown Beijing, formerly the residence of Prince Jun in the Qing dynasty.

More from WWD

The Beijing outing marks the Italian luxury brand’s return to the Chinese capital after 11 years, and it seems nothing will stand in the way of its plan – not even the latest lockdown in Wuhan, which was announced just as Prada released its first half results.

“We are seeing a recovery in China,” said Patrizio Bertelli, the group’s CEO, during a call to discuss the results for the first half ended June 30.

Bertelli acknowledged the news of the Wuhan lockdown, but said he remains cautiously optimistic about the market’s recovery in the second half.

Bertelli touted Prada’s “global presence and geographical distribution of sales,” and said the group’s 600-plus store network helped to mitigate the impact of lockdowns in mainland China and the ongoing sanctions on Russia.

Andrea Bonini, group chief financial officer, echoed Bertelli.

Bonini said the second half started on a high note thanks to “strong” trading in July driven partly by “an improvement” in China.

“We continue to monitor China and are looking at how the COVID-19 situation is developing. It remains an uncertain environment,” Bonini said.

Prada principals stressed that the Chinese market has not returned to normal, and that health controls, and consumer demand, vary by city and by region.