Luxury fashion brands Gucci and Ralph Lauren saw their Irish sales slump last year, new accounts show.
Pre-tax profits at Gucci Ireland for the 12 months to the end of last February grew 3% to €749,184.
However, the company’s revenues tumbled by 35% to €4m. This was a direct result of the closure of its store at the Kildare Village outlet centre in early 2017.
The company’s remaining Irish outlet is in Brown Thomas’ flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton St.
Many of Gucci’s Irish sales are to overseas visitors; the company saying that “a significant portion of our sales performance is linked to the level of tourism in Ireland.”
The closure of the Kildare Village outlet resulted in numbers employed at Gucci Ireland falling from 18 to 10, with staff costs decreasing from €577,099 to €331,094.
Accounts for the Irish business of Ralph Lauren show pre-tax profits tumbled by 58% to €90,178 in the 12 months to the end of last March.
Ralph Lauren Ireland operates a factory outlet at Kildare Village along with being the Irish commissionaire of Swiss based unit, Ralph Lauren Europe Sari.
The Irish division’s revenues fell by 2.4%, to €3.2m despite a refurbishment of its existing Kildare store and the opening of a childrenswear store also at Kildare.
The company said it was satisfied with profit levels in Ireland, also noting reduced commission rates earned from Ralph Lauren Europe Sari contributed to the revenue slide.
