Business of Fashion reported on Wednesday that Balenciaga’s CEO Cedric Charbit announced that Demna Gvasalia’s streetwear-inspired brand has seen “more than 100 percent” growth in categories like clothing, handbags and footwear. The news came as a surprise, considering Gucci was the top-selling and top-searched brand of 2017. But Gvasalia’s name and the reinvention of Balenciaga with a streetwear feel has attracted that oft-mentioned target demographic: millennials. Charbit said that the generation comprises 60 percent of Balenciaga’s shoppers, in addition to male shoppers, whose revenues are expected to outsell the womenswear market.
“There’s not a dinner I go to where a father or someone [doesn’t] say, ‘Stop releasing these shoes, it’s out of control, we spend too much money at Balenciaga’, which I’m very happy with,” said Charbit at a Financial Times luxury goods conference.
Kering, in general, is doing remarkably well, with 2017 being the conglomerate’s most profitable year on record. Revenue was up 27.2 percent compared to the previous year, with sales for the company’s brands topping €10 billion in 2017. There’s still a wide gulf between sales for Balenciaga, which was 1 billion euros, and its sister brand Gucci, who reported 6.2 billion euros in revenue.
And what do all these numbers translate to? Well, in layman’s terms, these Balenciaga dad shoes have been a must-have all year long.