Luxury brands decided to finally leave Russia only in the third year of the war

Luxury brands that suspended operations after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began to get rid of their stores in Russia. Kommersant and RBC write about this.

Thus, the Italian brand Fendi has already refused to lease three premises in Moscow, and from August 1 it plans to terminate the contract for the lease of its last boutique, which is located in TSUM.

The French Hermes has ended its lease in GUM. Hermes and Fendi have already vacated premises in this shopping complex, writes RBC. The place of the latter, according to the publication, will be taken by the store of the Italian fashion house Pinko.

In addition, according to Kommersant, the Swatch Group, which includes the brands Breguet, Harry Winston, Omega and Rado, last year terminated the lease agreements for 15 of its stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities. Now the company has 13 points left in Russia.

The Prada brand also announced the closure of three capital boutiques. In GUM, a store of the Chinese women's clothing brand Ellassay opened in its place in March. In total, Prada still had six stores in Russia at the beginning of this year.

“These luxury representatives held on, hoping for a change in the geopolitical situation, but it is impossible to endlessly invest money in idle stores,” noted fashion analyst Olga Steinberg.

At the same time, according to her, some Italian brands, as well as the German company Philipp Plein, are expanding their presence in Russia. Commercial director of the developer R4S Irina Burenko does not agree with this. She claims that now mainly only Korean and Chinese brands appear in Russia.

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