Zegna and Moncler results show two-speed luxury recovery

Ermenegildo Zegna Group closed the quarter to June 30 with sales of €517.1 million, up 10.3% and lifted chiefly by the Zegna brand itself and by continued growth in the group's directly operated retail channel. That performance sits at the stronger end of luxury reporting this season, and it reinforces the view that groups with a tightly controlled, brand-led retail model are outperforming those more exposed to wholesale or tourist flows.

Moncler told a more cautious story. The group's second-quarter sales rose 5% at constant exchange rates, with strength in Asia offsetting a slowdown in Europe as tourist spending there weakened. That regional split matters: Europe has been a reliable growth engine for luxury houses since the pandemic, propped up largely by visiting shoppers rather than domestic demand, and any pullback there exposes brands that lack a deep enough local customer base.

Read together, the two results describe a luxury market that is recovering unevenly rather than uniformly. Brands with strong direct-to-consumer operations and diversified regional exposure, like Zegna, are pulling ahead, while others more reliant on European tourist footfall, like Moncler in this quarter, are having to lean harder on Asia to make up the difference. Watch how other groups reporting in the coming weeks split their growth between region and channel: it will show whether this is a temporary wobble in European tourist spending or a more structural shift in where luxury demand is coming from.

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