Hungarian Nanushka is Europe’s fastest growing fashion company, according to Financial Times

Photo: www.facebook.com/Nanushka

The Financial Times has published its fifth annual list of Europe’s 1000 fastest-growing companies, ranking Nanushka high at number 70.

Compiled by Statista, The FT 1000 lists the European companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2016 and 2019. This is the second consecutive appearance on the list for Nanushka, which was ranked in 406th place last year. Competition was particularly intense this year, requiring a minimum growth rate of 35.5% to secure a ranking.

With an absolute growth rate of 1601.9%, Nanushka International Zrt. is simultaneously at the forefront of the Central and Eastern European region, and a clear leader in the fashion industry as a whole: only six companies from the region were ranked among the first 100; and out of all fashion companies on the list, Nanushka occupies the highest position.

“I think the result speaks for itself. The past year has posed extraordinary challenges for Nanushka – the global fashion industry fell by an average of 30% during the crisis – but thanks to the efforts and talent of our team and our investor framework, GB & Partners Investment Management Zrt., we were able to grow further in 2020. We’ve laid the foundation for 2021, defined by optimism and a strong sense of momentum. And by creating the Vanguards Group, an investment platform designed to support emerging brands, we continue to enhance our capacity for growth in the global fashion industry.”
Péter Baldaszti, Chairman of the Board of Nanushka and Co-Founder of the Vanguards Group.

Operating as part of the Vanguards Groups since October 2020, Nanushka closed 2016 with 60 resellers and a revenue of HUF 335 million; these figures increased to 400 and HUF 6.7 billion respectively in 2019. The company has been running profitably since May 2018, and 2019 exceeded all expectations, with 130,000 products produced, sold and sales up 228% from the year before.

Sales in 2020 would have doubled once more on the basis of plans and pre-orders.

Despite the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, Nanushka maintained its growth and achieved a further 10% increase on the previous year.

“This is an important success, thanks to the effective collaboration between Nanushka’s management and the fund manager. On the foundation of Nanushka’s significant achievements we have created Vanguards, a fashion holding company, joined by another Hungarian brand, Aeron in 2019, and in 2020 the international, milan-based fashion company Sunnei became a part of its portfolio, too. Our goal is to put these businesses on the same growth path as Nanushka and to use further acquisitions to make the fashion holding company one of the strongest players in the industry.”
Ágoston Gubicza, majority owner of GB & Partners and a member of the board of Nanushka.

The company, whose pieces have been worn by the world’s best-known public figures like Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Michelle Obama, also treats social and environmental responsibility as a priority. It recently published its sustainability report that had won Deloitte’s Green Frog Award.

In addition to its Budapest Store, Nanushka has opened flagship stores in London and New York, a unique achievement not only among Hungarian fashion companies, but also in Central Europe.