OTB Growth Falters As Annual Sales Fall More than 4%

Italian group OTB is the latest luxury conglomerate to report a downturn in sales for the full year 2024. The group, which owns Maison Margiela, Diesel, Jil Sander, Marni, and Viktor & Rolf, reported a turnover of $1.88 billion USD and an overall decrease of 4.4% in sales across all brands.

Both Margiela and Diesel saw individual increases in sales, reporting growths of 4.6% and 3.2%, respectively, although these successes were not able to cushion the stagnation felt by the group’s other brands like Jil Sander and Marni which struggled against larger wholesale losses. OTB did, however, see a bump in direct retail sales at 7.4%, opening 61 new stores in the last year. While sales saw a slump in China, Japan and the US emerged as the group’s strongest markets, citing increases of 16.3% and 13.3%, respectively.

As shakeups become increasingly common, if not expected, across top-tier luxury brands, OTB has not been immune. Earlier this month, Jil Sander announced an executive shuffling naming former Fendi chief executive Serge Brunschwig the label’s CEO and OTB’s new Chief Strategy Officer. Both Margiela and Marni saw new CEOs in 2023 and 2024 while Diesel’s CEO title still remains empty following Eraldo Poletto’s exit after a brief seven months.

The final month of 2024 also saw creative director John Galliano’s departure from Maison Margiela after a storied decade with the brand. His departure was finally confirmed following rumors fresh off the heels of the instantly infamous success of the house’s Spring 2024 Artisanal collection last January. Though no official announcement has been made in regards to Galliano’s next move, Glenn Martens, a long-time favored front-runner for the position, has been appointed as the next creative director of Margiela.

As of now, Martens, who recently departed Y/Project alongside the brand’s shuttering after 11 years, will also remain as current creative director of Diesel. Diesel is set to show this Milan Fashion Week on February 26 at 14:00 CEST.

You can check back here next week for Diesel’s FW25 collection as well all other MFW updates!