Zara bets on Galliano to up its pricing power

“What is unique about this one is the partner,” said a luxury expert, speaking on background. “It underpins Zara’s commitment to be at the forefront of fashion. It’s knighting Zara for its role as a true fashion company, not just one that copies trends.”

Zara formally announced the partnership on Tuesday, describing it in a press release as a two-year creative agreement in which Galliano will “re-author the brand’s archives through a series of seasonal collections.” The designer will work directly with garments from past seasons, “deconstructing and reconfiguring them into new seasonal expressions,” with the first collection launching in September 2026. The brand declined to share further details with Glossy.

The collection’s rollout over the next two years will determine its success, per the expert. “Some collaborations today are not designed to drive volume, but instead to generate attention and reposition the brand,” they said. “[The Zara collaboration] is not mass market — a lot of Zara customers don’t know who Galliano is. Instead, this is targeting a more informed, fashion-aware audience.” The move builds on Zara’s repositioning under Inditex chair Marta Ortega, who took on the role in April 2022 and has since sought to draw in more aspirational shoppers and move the brand beyond its fast-fashion image, according to reporting by Reuters.

None of this is entirely new. For its part, H&M has spent two decades turning high-fashion collaborations into a marketing engine, starting with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004. And Zara has recently worked with other designers, like Narciso Rodriguez in 2022 — with another archive-led collection — and Stefano Pilati in 2024.

But, from June 5, 2024, when it released its first-quarter results, through March 12, 2025, when it released its full-year results — and continuing in subsequent 2025–2026 calls — Zara made virtually no reference to collaborations as growth drivers, even as the company released capsules with Samuel Ross and Kate Moss. Instead, earnings consistently credited performance to in-house design, supply chain execution and retail optimization.

Recent results suggest Zara’s strategy is working. Inditex reported sales growth of 3.2% to €39.9 billion (about $46 billion) in full-year 2025 results on March 11, with net income up 6% to €6.2 billion (about $7 billion). Early 2026 trading showed sales up 9%.

Executives pointed to “strong execution of the business model” and the ability to “maximize sales at full price.” But with growth moderating, the next phase looks more dependent on pricing power and positioning than pure volume.

After early success as a London designer, Galliano was appointed creative director of Christian Dior in 1996, where he remained until 2011, when he was dismissed following anti-Semitic remarks. His tenure was defined by theatrical couture shows and narrative-driven collections that reshaped the house’s identity. Today, Dior is led by Jonathan Anderson, who is coincidentally also part of the designer-led mass fashion model through his ongoing work with Uniqlo.

At Uniqlo, designers like Jonathan Anderson, of JW Anderson, Loewe and Dior, and Clare Waight Keller, formerly of Givenchy and Chloe, have been integrated into a tightly controlled system focused on product consistency and scale.

“I start out the process [of design] exactly the same way; it’s exactly the same process. It’s just done on a very different scale,” said Clare Waight Keller on a Glossy Podcast episode in 2024, when she began her role at Uniqlo. “It’s much more about finding the perfect example [of a garment] rather than doing 20-30 [pieces] and hoping 10 sell.”

Uniqlo offers a useful comparison point. The retailer has spent years integrating designers into a tightly controlled, product-led system, prioritising consistency over hype. That approach has translated into performance. Fast Retailing reported record results in the first quarter of 2026, with revenue rising 14.8% to ¥1.03 trillion (about $6.5 billion) and business profit increasing 31%. Uniqlo’s international division saw revenue grow 20.3% and profit surge 38%, driven by the “successful development and marketing of products that captured customer demand.”

But that success has come without fundamentally repositioning the brand as higher fashion. The question for Zara is whether incorporating authorship and narrative from Galliano can help it achieve both.

The Galliano partnership introduces collection archives as a creative framework for a mass brand, borrowing from luxury, where heritage and continuity underpin value.

“On the idea of [using Zara’s] archive, I think that is a lot of marketing narrative,” the luxury expert said. “After 30 years of Zara, everything is somewhere in the archive.”

But not everyone agrees that looking to the archives has limited potential for a partnership. 

“Working from an archive is a fundamentally different act than launching a new collection. It says: What we have already made is worth something,” said Oana Leonte, brand strategist and founder of brand intelligence platform Unmtchd. She previously worked as marketing director at Puma, which has a product archive dating back to the 1950s. “An archive without a point of view is just storage. The question is whether Galliano surfaces something that was genuinely inside Zara’s history or simply applies his [signatures] to it.”

The opportunity lies in the potential new customer. “This is really all about Zara, and Galliano is just the frosting,” said David M. Watts, who advises private equity firms, institutional investors and family offices on fashion and luxury deals. “It’s about Zara getting a land grab on aspirational consumers who have been excluded by luxury fashion. This totally democratizes fashion. Zara continues to take market share from luxury brands, and this will only accelerate that.”

Meanwhile, the broader luxury market is under pressure. Bain & Company said in its November Altagamma Luxury report that aspirational consumers are increasingly pulling back, delaying purchases or trading down, while more accessible players are gaining traction by offering stronger value for money. That dynamic is creating an opening for brands like Zara.

Yet consumers remain driven by price. Past collaborations with Samuel Ross, Kate Moss and others have stretched Zara’s pricing ceiling, with top-end pieces from the collections often landing two to four times above its core range. The prices of Galliano’s Zara pieces have not yet been released.

“For consumers with realistic purchasing power, this is very much in the spirit of the times. It creates interest without frustration, and desirability without a sense of helplessness [around the price],” said fashion professor and luxury advisor Susanna Nicoletti. “Value is still about value for money, and price continues to drive purchasing decisions.”

Revolve’s Raissa Gerona on the Revolve Los Angeles brand launch

Revolve formally announced the launch of its first eponymous fashion label, Revolve Los Angeles, on March 4, with the debut collection dropping days later, on March 9, across its Revolve and Fwrd platforms. The company has spent more than two decades operating as a multi-brand e-commerce platform powered by influencer marketing and data-driven merchandising. The move marks an evolution for the company, which has long operated as more than just a multi-brand retailer. Alongside its marketplace, Revolve has quietly built a portfolio of owned and operated labels, including Lovers + Friends, NBD and Superdown, as well as influencer-driven lines like Camila Coelho Collection and GRLFRND.

“We recognized that the brand of Revolve had grown beyond Revolve as a retailer, and it felt like the right time to create something entirely our own,” she said. She tied the launch to the company’s broader evolution into physical retail, talent partnerships and experiential activations. “As we continue to expand, we want to deepen our equity in the industry. Revolve Los Angeles fits naturally into our 20-plus-year evolution and represents the next step in building our brand universe.” 

Revolve Los Angeles lives on a dedicated microsite within the company’s platform, with its own creative direction, casting and campaign imagery. “We approached the launch with a fresh perspective, introducing new styling, campaign imagery and creative direction to build a more elevated experience,” Gerona said. “Eveningwear and dresses are the largest categories on Revolve, and Revolve Los Angeles was developed in direct response to the insights we’ve gathered from our customer data over the years.” Beyond gowns and occasionwear, the line includes “sexy blazers, micro shorts, leather jackets and other statement styles,” she said.

For the debut collection, Revolve opened an atelier in Paris while keeping Los Angeles as its creative anchor. “It was really about combining that level of craftsmanship with our understanding of what our customer loves, to create something that feels elevated but still very true to Revolve Los Angeles,” Gerona said. 

“We saw a white space in the market for that balance of elevated design and accessibility,” she said. “Our biggest goal [in year one] is simply to see customers wearing the brand and feeling amazing in the clothes.”

Executive moves

• Vestiaire Collective has appointed Thomas Hézard as chief product officer and Rémi Bouchez as chief technology officer under CEO Bernard Osta. He’ll be charged with strengthening product, engineering and AI capabilities as the company targets profitability in 2026.
• Zimmermann has appointed Roberto Eggs as chief executive officer, effective May 1, succeeding Chris Olliver as the brand looks to accelerate global growth under new leadership.

News to know

• Paul & Shark’s parent Dama SpA and Aspesi have been placed under judicial administration by a Milan court over alleged failures to properly audit subcontractors linked to worker exploitation.
• A Paris appeals court rejected France’s bid to suspend Shein’s marketplace on March 19, upholding an earlier ruling while requiring stronger age-verification measures.
• Progetto 11, owner of The Level Group, is acquiring Tomorrow Group, aiming stabilize the platform and support its evolution amid ongoing wholesale and market disruptions. Tomorrow Group co-owns and develops brands including Coperni, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy and Martine Rose.
• Alexander McQueen will relocate its Old Bond Street store to a smaller unit this fall as part of an ongoing company restructuring that includes 54 layoffs in Italy and a planned reduction of up to 55 roles in London. Van Cleef & Arpels will take over McQueen’s current 27 Old Bond Street space.

Listen in

Senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and international fashion reporter Zofia Zwieglinska break down the final takeaways from fashion month, with a focus on Paris Fashion Week. Zwieglinska interviews Moda Operandi buying director Marc Rofsky on the standout brands and emerging trends as the platform begins pre-selling the season’s collections. Listen here.

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