Editor’s Note
In a luxury market facing headwinds, Richemont’s strategic focus on high-end jewelry, led by Cartier, is proving to be a resilient and stabilizing force. This article examines how this segment is driving growth and positioning the group to weather economic cycles.
While the luxury sector undergoes a reshuffle, Richemont is leaning on the product that best withstands the economic cycle: jewelry. With double-digit growth, the Swiss holding company is entering the debate about who can best weather the slowdown in the golden sector. The Swiss group Richemont is bolstering its stability and resilience on the strength of its jewelry businesses, with Cartier as its star brand.
In this turbulent context, Richemont has once again been the first to report results, armed with a quiet advantage. The Swiss conglomerate not only publishes before most of its peers but also does so from a category that is weathering the luxury sector’s difficult digestion better. In a sector where 2026 begins with more questions than euphoria, the Swiss holding company has released figures for the October to December quarter, the period that usually sets the tone for the year’s discussion.
For the period, Richemont achieved sales of 6.399 billion euros. At constant exchange rates, the increase was 11%; while at current exchange rates, the growth was 4%, with currency effects once again influencing the business reading, especially in Asia.
The engine of revenue was none other than jewelry, the company’s star category, which increased its sales by 14% at constant exchange rates, to 4.785 billion euros, thanks to the performance of brands like Buccellati, Cartier, and Van Cleef & Arpels. Meanwhile, the specialist watchmaking segment, which operates with names like Piaget or Panerai, also contributed, with 872 million and a 7% increase at constant rates. The rest of Richemont’s divisions remained stable at constant rates, and within that, fashion and accessories grew a slight 3%, highlighting the momentum of Peter Millar and Gianvito Rossi.
These results are better understood by looking at the complete picture that defines why jewelry holds up better than fashion and resists the cycle.
The global jewelry market exceeded 130 billion euros in 2024, compared to 97 billion in 2015, according to Mediobanca. The map is also shifting. China is reducing its weight and new hubs are emerging, while Italy is gaining ground to 11.2% of world trade, ahead of Switzerland.
Furthermore, the jewelry consumer is and buys very differently from the fashion consumer. The sector is less dependent on turnover, is more protected by the high price tag, heritage, customer loyalty, and an asset component that, in periods of caution, acts as a cushion. This advantage, however, also has a downside. The more dominant the jewelry engine is, the more dependence increases and leaves fashion, in which it competes with historic brands like Chloé or Alaïa, in a discreet second place.
In line with the strength of the division, the retail channel reached 72% of the quarter’s sales at 4.601 billion euros, and the group placed direct-to-consumer business at 78% of sales, stable compared to the same quarter of the previous year. More direct sales mean more sophistication and control over price and experience, in line with the demands of the luxury customer. But it also implies greater operational and investment demands.
If luxury cools down, fashion is the first to send signals. While desire does not necessarily disappear, the consumer buys less, chooses more, and debates price with different intensity. Therefore, Richemont closes the nine months calmly, because its backbone is not fashion. And that, today, is an advantage.
Within the fashion and accessories segment, the group includes Alaïa, Chloé, Delvaux, Dunhill, Gianvito Rossi, Montblanc, Peter Millar, Purdey, and Serapian. For the holding company, the category does not function as a traction business, but as a territory of image, positioning, and potential margin.
Alaïa is the clearest example. In terms of creative narrative and prestige, the maison of the Franco-Tunisian designer functions as a beacon brand within a portfolio defined by jewelry and watchmaking. The house experienced a turning point after the death of Azzedine Alaïa in 2017 and, in 2021, Pieter Mulier took over the creative direction with a career linked to Raf Simons and stints at Dior and Calvin Klein.
If that scenario were confirmed, the impact for Richemont would be less financial than symbolic because it would lose the figure who concentrates a large part of the cultural capital of its fashion portfolio. Under Mulier’s creative direction, Alaïa made Kaia Gerber one of its muses.