Manolo Blahnik Opens First Italian Store in Milan, CEO Kristina Blahnik Talks Strategy

MILAN — “In all reality, I wish we’d been able to open Milan many decades ago, because this is the home of our shoes. It’s where they’re born in many ways,” said Kristina Blahnik.

For the chief executive officer of the Manolo Blahnik brand, the company’s first Italian stand-alone store was long overdue, considering its shoes are all made in Italy, mostly at the Re Marcello factory in Vigevano, near Milan. The firm acquired the space in 2019, retaining the craftspeople and staff with whom they’d been working for many years.

Quietly opened earlier this month and to be officially celebrated this week, the new two-story store “marks an incredibly proud moment for us to be able to share with our artisans — where they can come and see how our shoes are portrayed, how the stories are told, to celebrate their craft.”

“Opening in Milan is the most nerve-wracking of all cities in Europe because that’s where [our shoes] come from. Made in Italy is the most important stamp that you can have and it’s a privilege and an honor to have that stamp on our product. And we want to make sure that we’re doing the best of the best for the most discerning country aesthetically that there is,” Blahnik continued. “It closes the circle of fashion capitals. It should have been our first in many ways, but of course, Manolo founded the business in London. This is a British brand, but it has Spanish soul and Italian hands.”

Blahnik said the company has been looking for the right location in town for years and explored a few before zeroing in on the current space spanning more than 2,000 square feet and located on Via Pietro Verri in Milan’s Golden Triangle. 

“This was perfection. It’s not on the immediate obvious street, we always like to go a little bit off the main thread of luxury store locations, and it’s opposite Istituto Marangoni, a creative hub and a hub for next generations as well. Plus the building is magnificent, so all the pieces came together,” Blahnik said.

Right after signing the lease last year, the family gathered to talk about the interior concept for the store. “I was in the Canary Islands with [Manolo] and we were sitting in the kitchen of our family home there — a beautiful black-and-white-tiled [space],” Blahnik recalled. “And because Manolo’s very inspired by ‘50s modernism, Josef Hoffmann and Gio Ponti, he said: ‘I want it to be like this kitchen.’”

Hence, Blahnik tapped longtime collaborator Nick Leith-Smith Architecture + Design to design the graphic, black-and-white interior, which is punctuated with bold furniture in primary colors and elements hand-selected by the brand’s founder. An admirer of Constantin Brâncusi, Blahnik infused the boutique with details inspired by the sculptor’s work, Endless Column. The column’s streamlined elegance and rhythmically repeating geometric shapes echo the look of Blahnik’s signature heels.

“This is not a shop, it’s meant to be a residence for Manolo’s creations, our babies,” the CEO said. “It’s meant to be a place of joy, of color, of rest and relaxation,” she added, pointing as an example the little bar installed upstairs, welcoming guests for a cappuccino or an espresso in between try-ons of the designer’s shoes.

For the occasion, the assortment has been expanded to include three styles exclusive to Milan, including a pump, a mule and a boot. These are the Sixahi, Trinca and Pranzana designs inspired to the Bauhaus movement and paying tribute to Gio Ponti.

“There will always be exclusivity in Milan,” Blahnik said about the offering. “Our customers are the discerning Milanese but you also have such an international crowd…it’s an incredibly diverse group,” she added, underscoring the need to address the different demands.

To that end, the store carries also the brand’s classic silhouettes and bestsellers such as the Carolyne slingbacks and BB pumps; the seasonal collections; the “A Splendid Blahnik” limited-series styles exclusive to its direct stores, as well as the new designs conceived as part of the activations surrounding the brand’s sponsorship of the “Marie Antoinette Style” exhibition opened at the V&A museum in London last month.

Milan marks the 15th store, including online, directly operated by the company. It follows the unveiling of a unit in Miami in March and precedes the opening of a store in South Coast Plaza in California mid-next month.

It is also part of a bigger strategy that sees the company pushing its direct-to-consumer channel, accelerating a shift toward a customer-focused business model that began in 2018. 

“When I joined the family business in 2009, we just had one store that we directly operated in London. We’re now operating 61 percent of all of our bricks-and-mortar flagship stores,” Blahnik said.

As it strengthened its DTC contact points, the company also strategically reduced its presence in the wholesale channel. The brand is currently available in 240 global doors. 

“The world is changing. The consumer is changing. The expectation of experience is also changing. And we have some of the best business-to-business partners…they’re fantastic storytellers, but there is no story that can be told with more emotion and more sincerity than directly from the family,” Blahnik said. “With so much digital noise right now, the bigger our footprint that we run directly, the more our community is going to understand our message, because is going to be getting consistent storytelling, values, direction, strategy.”

The executive said the target is to reach about 50 percent of the company’s revenues generated by the DTC channel. “This year, we will be reaching around 37 percent, and that’s because of the three stores that we’re opening this year….So by the time those have a full year effect in 2026, we’re going to be tipping over into around about 44 percent. That’s what we’re aiming for next year…but it’s always going to be flexible, depending on consumer demands, economics, stabilities. It’s a goal that is elastic,” Blahnik said.

As reported, the brand’s financial results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, showed a DTC sales increase of 13 percent, representing 32 percent of total revenue, up from 22 percent in 2023. 

At the time, the company said the capital expenditure for store investments totaled 4.3 million euros. 

Those investments, and macroeconomic headwinds that have contributed to a global luxury market slowdown, led to EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, of 8.4 million euros, reflecting 61 percent decline, from year-ago levels. Group sales were down 19 percent to 86.4 million euros but, despite the decline, they marked the “third-best year on record” for the brand, following two consecutive record-breaking years in fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023.

Like-for-like DTC revenues in June 2025 were up 14 percent year-over-year, with the group’s e-commerce channel performing the strongest as like-for-like sales rose 25 percent in the first half. 

Given the current sales trends, Manolo Blahnik is projecting a modest revenue increase in fiscal year 2025, with more significant growth expected in fiscal year 2026 as the benefits of its channel strategy and store investment programmed fully take effect.

As for markets in general, the U.S. is the company’s biggest market and in growth at the moment, Blahnik said. It’s followed by Europe and Asia, which is showing “a bit more confidence coming back.”

Last year, the brand opened its first store in China with a unit in Shanghai, which marked “the very first time we’d ever traded a single shoe into the country, because we took over 20 years to reclaim our trademark in China.”

Blahnik said China is a key focus for the company, which will continue to be investing in the market in the next years. “We started small with one store, we’re looking to open a second next year, but just taking it slowly, using time to celebrate but also to learn what the consumer really wants, how they like to experience storytelling,” she said. 

While Blahnik mentioned that other small additions to the retail network are to come next year, she underscored “we’re quite close to that optimal moment right now on a global footprint. We’re not there just for commercial gain and top-line growth. We’ve made very strategic decisions to reduce our top line as well for the for the longevity of the legacy and independence being maintained.”