Nicolas Bargi, CEO and founder of Save The Duck, has clear ideas about his company’s future, as he made obvious speaking at the 29th Pambianco Fashion Summit in Milan. In 2023, the Italian brand renowned for its animal down-free puffers recorded revenue of €63 million, and is set to top the €72 million mark this year.
 

“We generate three-quarters of our revenue outside Italy: 20% in the US, 18% in the DACH area, and 5% in Japan. While the US and Japan are driving our growth, Germany’s slowdown last year led to a 15% drop in our DACH revenue. This year we should climb back, growing by 12%, but we were expecting a 25% increase,” said Bargi, speaking at the Pambianco Fashion Summit. “Our goal is to achieve annual revenue of €200 million in five years, thanks chiefly to retail expansion,” he added.
 
Save The Duck currently operates 18 monobrand stores, and is planning to open another 30 or so in three to four years. “The wholesale channel, through which we currently generate 50% of our sales, is important for us. It guarantees a good revenue base and we will of course continue to cultivate it, selecting partners consistent with our values. But only direct retail enables us to best express our DNA,” said Bargi. “For example, during Black Friday, we avoid heavy discounts, because we don’t want to encourage over-consumption, but we promote circularity and sustainability initiatives. And we can only do this through our stores. While seven or eight years ago customers bought our products for their excellent price/quality ratio, now about 50% of them choose [Save The Duck] for its values,” he added.

Save The Duck generates 75% of its revenue from the winter collections. “We are working to expand our summer collection. Three years ago, we launched the Smartleisure line, which is doing well. In addition to apparel, we sell a line of sneakers in partnership with a company that shares our values, ACBC,” said Bargi.
 
As for the company’s future, Bargi didn’t deny he’s mulling a listing, “but only when we’ll be bigger,” and didn’t rule out the possibility of “buying healthy businesses whose products are complementary to our range.”