Lessons from Miu Miu’s hot streak
Insiders and analysts break down what’s behind the brand’s rise after it posted an 89 per cent sales spike in the first quarter.
BY MADELEINE SCHULZ
APRIL 26, 2024
On Wednesday, Miu Miu reported stellar growth for the first quarter of 2024, with revenues up 89 per cent year-on-year — its biggest hike yet. The brand now makes up over a quarter of Prada Group’s revenues. The same day, the brand topped Lyst’s Q1 Index. It’s a breakout success story at a challenging time for fashion labels to cut through the noise. How long can it last?
Miu Miu’s high started in 2021 with its SS22 viral micro mini. At the time, experts wondered whether the skirt’s media appeal — on magazine covers and TikTok feeds — would translate to sales. Then its upward trajectory took off.
In 2023, Miu Miu’s revenues were up 58 per cent year-on-year (and its fourth-quarter revenues soared 82 per cent). And in 2022, revenues were up 20 per cent.
While 2021 kicked off Miu Miu’s growth period, the acceleration has come in the last couple of seasons, says Richard Johnson, chief commercial and sustainability officer at Mytheresa. It’s one of the retailer’s fastest-growing brands.
Can other brands learn from its success?
“One of the most important components of Miu Miu’s ‘moment in the sun’ is the home run success of its fashion,” says Luca Solca, senior analyst at Bernstein. Johnson agrees: “Miu Miu brings a positive injection of excitement and attitude, with an intellectual edge.”
So the clothes are good — but there’s more to it.
1. A youthful spirit sells
Miu Miu execs and Mrs Prada alike have emphasised Miu Miu’s focus on “youthful energy” in recent years — a rejection of the brand’s former ties to expressly young women. The brand’s AW24 casting hammered this home.
This is key to Miu Miu’s current success, says fashion commentator Tariro Makoni.
“They’re not thinking about the typified box of: ‘brunette, age 25 to 32, primarily shops at the Webster and went to [private school] Choate’. They’ve decoupled from the person, and are going for a youthful, creative energy.” This energy broadens Miu Miu’s customer base, she says, because it can apply to — and resonate with — anyone.
Solca notes that Miu Miu has hit a sweet spot “especially with young Chinese consumers”. K-Pop stars Momo, Wonyoung and Minnie are all Miu Miu ambassadors. It consistently dresses up-and-coming Chinese musicians and actors like Lexie Liu and Zhao Jinmai. The brand held its latest Women’s Tales film event in Shanghai last month.
“Consumption within APAC is known to move the needle,” Makoni says. “The star of the show is the APAC region.” Miu Miu’s acute awareness of — and active push in — this region is what’s really propelled the brand’s growth, she says.
2. Full looks sell individual pieces
Shoppers have grown used to full-look Miu Miu: a skirt set, overflowing bag, biker boot or, perhaps, the sold-out New Balance collab sneaker. Stylist Lotta Volkova is in part to thank. “Shoppers are inspired by Miu Miu’s distinctive styling,” says Katy Lubin, VP of brand and communications at Lyst.
Those that can afford to buy full looks are then more inclined to. “Customers are buying across the brand to create looks rather than focusing on individual items,” says Mytheresa’s Johnson.
But for those that can’t, Miu Miu’s styling makes people want to buy into the fantasy — even via a single item. The styling and cohesion facilitates the storytelling, Makoni says. “The overstuffed bag is a vignette that is portable to other brands and other things that you already have in your wardrobe. It’s less so about that item, and it's more about the energy and the vibe.”
Brands need to be mindful of this strategy, as it can feel detached from reality and forced if it’s not done right. Insisting on full head-to-toe looks has changed the nature of influencer relationships, and can make brands seem ‘pay to play’.
3. Micro-trends can work — when done right
Miu Miu has captured Gen Z in a way that many other luxury brands have not. “Prada has grown a lot in its ability to intercept young consumers online, through more effective use of influencers and social media,” Solca says.
The brand’s aesthetic lends itself to such trends, Makoni says.
“Miu Miu’s superpower is its youthfulness,” she adds. When Miu Miu experiments with looks from strappy flats (‘balletcore’) to preppy cardigans (‘librarian chic’) to pleated minis (‘corpcore’), consumers parse the looks as trends the brand is evoking and, often, leading. It feels authentic because the brand’s youthful identity is, by definition, “mutable and ephemeral”, as Makoni puts it. It also gets clicks.
4. Bolster trend with strategy
The same that holds for emerging brands is true of luxury houses: hype is great, but it won’t get you far without a solid business cushion behind the scenes.
Prada Group has been putting pillars in place in recent years to support Miu Miu’s growth, as part of the turnaround strategy cemented in 2017. Under this, Miu Miu has refined its communications strategy and product assortment (as above). CFO Andrea Bonini said the company’s investment in Miu Miu in past quarters is a growth-propeller — “including in organisation”.
Now-CEO Benedetta Petruzzo came on board in 2020, marking the brand’s first time with a Miu Miu-dedicated exec on board. As Prada CEO Andrea Guerra told investors: “In terms of Miu Miu, there is a group of people really working day and night, seven days a week.”
Can it last?
In short, no. But executives don’t expect it to.
“To imagine that we will continue to grow at this kind of rhythm is unrealistic. But on the other side, to achieve a proper position in this industry by Miu Miu, [is] a proper objective. Obviously, profitability grows more than proportionally,” Guerra said on Wednesday’s earnings call. He said that the company intends to “allow Miu Miu to have the proper space” for structural growth.
It’s not a guaranteed success, Solca flags. On whether Miu Miu can maintain momentum, he says: “This is difficult to assess. We have seen a few times that small brands rise to fame — think of Chloé, Givenchy, or Celine — and then they fade. Their success being transient.” (Which isn’t to say they can’t rise again, either. Just look at Chemena Kamali’s Chloé debut.)
There’s runway for growth, experts agree. At Miu Miu, to date, the clothes have been the stars. This is shifting, Guerra said on Wednesday’s call. “The brand is today much more balanced in terms of product categories compared to a year-ago only with a very correct and strong growth on leather goods.” It’s looking promising, says Mytheresa’s Johnson. “Customer interest is healthy across many categories, not isolated to ‘it’ items, so the future looks very sustainable.”
