Intimissimi plans to expand to new markets

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Oct 15, 2015

Sandro Veronesi, the founder of the billion-dollar company, Calzedonia Group, revealed in an interview with Bloomberg plans to expand the Intimissimi brand.

The lingerie brand currently has a number of stores in Hong Kong and Japan, but it has set its sights on the US.
 
“We will start maybe from New York, which is a fashion city, and then we will expand in the major cities,” Veronesi said in a Bloomberg Television interview at Verona’s Gran Guardia Palace. “There is a dominant competitor in the United States, but that is maybe a reason why also women would like to have an alternative.”

The “dominant competitor” he is referring to is Victoria’s Secret, which made $1.4 billion in sales in the US and Canada in Q2 2015 and accounts for 40% of America’s $13.2 billion lingerie market, according to Forbes.
 
Calzedonia is valued at $2.8 billion though it is just an estimate. Veronesi owns 84% of the company, which also sells Calzedonia socks and Falconeri knitwear at 3,800 stores worldwide and mainly in Europe.
 
Intimissimi recently held its second Intimissimi on Ice show in Verona, featuring costumes by the brand, Olympic ice skaters and a musical performance by English pop singer, Ellie Goulding.