Yahoo Lifestyle CEO TALKS: Matteo Sgarbossa on Balmain’s Next Chapter
Amid widespread creative upheaval, here is a story about designer continuity — and purposeful reinvention.
In his first interview as chief executive officer of Balmain, Matteo Sgarbossa outlined a plan to streamline — and broaden — the brand’s products and collections; sharpen communications with a host of new collaborators, and elevate the retail experience in line with the couture roots of the house, which is marking its 80th anniversary in 2025.
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His partner in crime is none other than Olivier Rousteing, Balmain’s creative director since 2011.
“Seeing him so aligned with me on this new strategy, I cannot see any better partner than him in doing this adventure together,” Sgarbossa said, waving away speculation on social media that a designer change could be in the pipeline. “Myself and Olivier, we both believe strongly that we need to write a new chapter, and to embrace a new era.…He’s proven his ability to reinvent himself.”
Since arriving at Balmain 10 months ago, Sgarbossa, previously international director at Givenchy, has made some strong decisions, some visible, such as canceling Balmain’s men’s show last June, and skipping the January men’s moment, too.
Others were less obvious, like pausing brand collaborations and retooling accessories with subtler branding and a broader range of wearing occasions and price points, including below 1,000 euros.
Rousteing already pointed at a new fashion direction with his pre-fall offering for women and men, beckoning a wider customer base for Balmain by plying softer, simpler options with controlled doses of zing.
The fall 2025 runway show on Wednesday during Paris Fashion Week will be focused solely on womenswear, and word has it Rousteing will be working with a different stylist, whose identity is still under wraps.
Changes in Communication
Meanwhile, on the communications side, Balmain brought on art director Enzo Petronio for brand art direction, starting with its pre-fall campaign, which had Juergen Teller turning his lens on French model and actress Laetitia Casta and the new Anthem bag, a squishy style cinched with a wide belt.
Balmain welcomed a new chief marketing officer last September — Bruna Scognamiglio, who came with more than two decades of experience at brands including Procter & Gamble and Ferragamo — and also quietly switched its external communications agency to Karla Otto after more than a decade with KCD.
Sgarbossa summed up all his efforts as “hero-ing” the brand, which still demonstrates a lot of dynamism and energy, despite being 80 years old.
“It’s a big responsibility to be leading this maison, which has such an incredible heritage and history,” he said in an interview in his office, decorated with potted plants and glamorous black-and-white photos of Beyoncé, Cindy Crawford and Gisele Bündchen wearing the house’s creations.
In recent years, Balmain teamed up with an eclectic array of brands, including Evian, Chivas, Barbie, Disney’s “The Lion King,” Pokémon, “Stranger Things” and Kylie’s Cosmetics. But such hookups have been paused.
“We have so many things to say about Balmain that we don’t need to gain visibility with other collaborations,” Sgarbossa said. “We don’t need to tell other stories, because our story is already very rich.”
To wit: The CEO is encouraging Rousteing to continue his enthusiastic excavation of Pierre Balmain’s life, archive and fashion legacy, and to continue speaking to a “sexy, confident, powerful woman” with his bold designs. “We love to describe her as an unapologetic troublemaker,” he added with a grin.
“There will be some discontinuity with the past, but the reference to the archive and to the story of Pierre Balmain will be even stronger,” he continued. “But once again, it happens in a very genuine way, because it’s what Olivier loves to do. When he talks about Pierre Balmain, you can see he’s really, fully in love with this man’s story. So it’s not something opportunistic or that I’m forcing him to do. He is really genuinely attached to the figure and the work of Pierre Balmain.”
“There is no way that a brand can work when there is no synergy between the artistic director and the CEO,” Rousteing said in a separate interview. “And I have to tell you the truth, we’ve got this synergy. We are working together every day to make sure that we find our path and our strength together.
“The beauty of being a creative director is building new chapters and new stories,” the designer continued.
Sgarbossa, who worked at Gucci and Benetton earlier in his career, said he was heartened to discover similarly energetic and devoted employees across Balmain.
“They really feel like they are part of a family,” he said. “They are very engaged with the brand, and they are very loyal to the brand. So I see really the opportunity with this team to write together this new chapter at the Balmain.
“Nonetheless, there was also a need to inject new talents across all the different and most important functions of the company, from product to merchandising, from communication to retail, and we have been taking on board a lot of new talents,” he added.
A Retail Expansion
Balmain is also back in expansion mode, plotting four stores this year in the U.S., its number-one market. One opened early this year in the Aventura Mall, with a second Miami location coming soon in the Miami Design District. The second half of the year will see new units debuting in Las Vegas and Houston.
The brand also opened a boutique in Guangzhou at the end of January, bringing to 15 the number of doors in Asia-Pacific. The brand counts 44 boutiques worldwide, and with the DTC channel accounting for roughly half its revenues.
Sgarbossa said he’s angling to bring DTC up to 70 percent, but set no specific time frames or revenue targets, characterizing growth as a natural consequence of a well-executed strategy.
“It will be the result of the communication campaigns we do, the way we treat our clients and how desirable our products will be,” he said. “The brand needs to be at the center of the strategy.”
It is understood revenues have doubled since Mayhoola acquired the brand in 2016 — they are estimated at 300 million euros — and accessories have zoomed to account for about 30 percent of the business.
Sgarbossa still spies growth opportunities in women’s ready-to-wear, Balmain’s “core” category.
“The ambition for the brand is really to serve a woman from day to evening. We are very recognized and very associated with special occasions, red carpets, parties, etc., but the brand can also cover different wearing occasions, while still keeping its distinctive and strong attitude.”
He said a wardrobing approach is also being applied to shoes and accessories, which means a variety of heel heights, fashion attitudes and a broader handbag offering.
“First and foremost, we are aiming to connect with a very realistic woman — the way that she lives her life, in what she’s doing daily,” he said.
Sgarbossa also sees rejiggered communications as a means to fan brand momentum, conveying Balmain’s history, legacy and values “in a fresh, contemporary and sexy way.”
The Casta campaign is a perfect example.
“She represents for us the perfect Balmain woman. Obviously, she is an icon of French beauty, but also in her personality, there is a lot of femininity, confidence, a sexy attitude and, let’s say, a notion of intrigue and danger. This is something that really resonates with Balmain’s clients, and it’s the attitude that we have in mind and the vision that we want to promote.
“It’s about reconnecting with the past, but at the same time, promoting a new esthetic and a new era,” he added.
The Addition of Beauty
Last August, Balmain reentered the beauty category with Les Éternels de Balmain, a collection of eight fragrances produced under license by the Estée Lauder Cos. A ninth, Blanc Galaxie, was recently added.
Sgarbossa said the brand extension raised the visibility of the brand, and offered a more accessible point of entry than its heavily embellished jackets or dresses.
“Since we launched, we are seeing results above the initial expectation. So it’s really giving us the confirmation that there was this appetite for the brand on the beauty part,” he said. “We have our strong database of top clients, but if we want to grow, we really need to enlarge the audience, and having a perfume line is really helping.”
Menswear, which currently accounts for about 30 percent of the business, is seen as another growth opportunity, also hinged on the founder’s legacy and tailoring forte. “But the starting point is really crystallizing the woman’s identity first,” Sgarbossa said.
The retail experience is the CEO’s third strategic thrust, wishing to treat each client – whether VIP or aspirational — “like a king or queen.
“Obviously, it’s much easier for me to tell the story about Balmain in a store where I can control the storytelling, where I can train my people,” he said. “Retail, if we do it properly, can be really a driver of the acceleration that we are expecting.”
In his view, “Balmain can be much bigger. The brand awareness is still very high, and there is still a lot of appetite for this brand,” he said.
In particular, he detects growing demand for strong creativity amid a glut of quiet luxury.
“I want the luxury clients and fashion clients to have Balmain in their top of mind, to visit our store, to be curious about what we are doing every season. This is my ambition,” he said.
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