Italian label Herno is committed to evolution
Nicola Mira
The days when Herno was synonymous with a single product category, outerwear, are long gone. The Spring/Summer 2024 collection that the Italian label presented at Pitti Uomo stays true to Herno’s original aim of producing naturally elegant, high-quality garments with a timeless aesthetic and a cross-over contemporary appeal, but at the same time it clearly reflects the evolution towards a complete wardrobe the label embarked on in 2005.
The key feature of Herno’s extensive, comprehensive collection is that it combines tradition, high-quality materials, high-tech performance and sustainability. It includes outerwear, trousers and shorts in different cuts and fabrics (from performance nylon to cotton in different weights), as well as knitwear, t-shirts, polos and shirts, featuring carefully selected fabrics and yarns and with no concession to prints. After a decade of ultra-slim fits, the current trend towards comfort is mirrored by regular and oversize fits, with clean lines and new tailoring solutions. A wide choice of coordinated accessories completes and enhances the looks.
“Herno continues to evolve across the board: in addition to the new products introduced with this collection in various categories, it’s the company’s own organisation, with the appointment of a new CEO, that is a driver of change,” said Claudio MarenziFashionNetwork.com
FNW: You acquired Montura two years ago, entering the sportswear segment: how is the brand doing?
CM: I’d say very well, because revenue grew from €47 million in 2020 to €60 million in 2022, and we’re expecting to close 2023 with €62 million. An extraordinary growth, even more amazing if you consider that, deliberately, Montura has always invested little in advertising, and remains a strictly Italy-based brand. Italy accounts in fact for 87% of Montura’s global revenue, with 23 directly owned stores and 6 franchised ones. [Montura] is much loved by Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering practitioners, people looking for high-tech products with impeccable, peerless performance. In other words, by a magic circle of devoted athletes, both men and women, that have increasingly grown in numbers in recent years, people able to appreciate [Montura’s] meticulous materials selection and its garments’ high technology.
FNW: Are you planning to expand abroad with Montura?
CM: We’re currently available at 6 stores in Asia, through retail partners only, and surely markets outside Italy can become very valuable for us. But first we must go through a key phase, working on our products to make them more desirable and attractive to markets that currently have different outlooks and requirements: not only in terms of sport types, but also wearability and the colour palette.
