“We are on track with Jimmy Choo,” Capri Holdings Ltd. CEO John Idol said Monday at a Citi Global Consumer & Retail Conference.
The CEO noted that fourth quarter comp store increases are up, representing what could be Choo’s third straight quarter of higher comps. He also said that wholesale sales have been “powerful,” noting that in North America alone, “the total brand grew over 20 percent [in the] last quarter.”
According to Idol, the company has found a way to modernize its deep engagement with consumers by utilizing its influencers in a more significant way through social media channels. It’s a strategy already used at the Michael Kors brand — and the result has been growth with Gen Z and millennials customers.
“We really have a new vision of who the Jimmy Choo woman is, and she is effortlessly alluring,” Idol said. He explained that the marketing before was about “runway ready and glamour.”
“We think that the way the consumer is looking at brands today and how those brands fit her lifestyle [that] this was a bit more of a relevant positioning for Jimmy Choo,” Idol said, adding that the brand is marketing Choo shoes in the casual category more heavily.
Thinking of Jimmy Choo for a glamorous event to a party or a wedding seemed one dimensional, Idol suggested, whereas now the marketing is leaning into whether she is out with friends on the weekends “just having a great time or dinner or whatnot.”
In addition, the brand has expanded its handbag options, including a large category of offerings at $1,500 and below, along with other bags priced at $1,500 and above.
Idol said that the brand is about an $800 million business. “I think if we can continue to get things moving at the current rate, it could be bigger than that,” he said, although what isn’t clear is how much higher the business can grow.
Capri — then Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. — acquired the Jimmy Choo brand in November 2017 for $1.2 billion. At the time, Kors said the transaction had the opportunity to grow the Choo brand to $1 billion in sales, plus the chance to make inroads in the men’s luxury category, as well as expand into the luxury accessories market.
There’s been talk that Choo was on the market and that the brand’s co-founder Tamara Mellon was interested in buying the brand. But Idol told investors last August that Jimmy Choo is not for sale — and he reiterated that this week. “We think it’s a phenomenal asset for us, and we look to continue to grow that brand,” Idol emphasized during his Citi presentation.
Idol noted that Choo used to be a double-digit operating margin business, but now is at a small loss. He said the company believes that Choo will return to double-digit operating margins, somewhere between 10 percent and 15 percent.
The store network for the brand is 230 stores globally, and is likely to be closer to 200 over time. He said that as “these stores increase productivity, it drops straight to the bottom line. So for Jimmy Choo, it’s about store productivity. So seeing us have three quarters of comp store growth, that’s already going to lean into the concept of profitability.”
Speaking of the shoe brand’s role in the luxury market, Idol said many competitors have moved their footwear pricing in the range of $1,000 to $1,500, and for Choo, it has product from sneakers that start at $550 to “fun little jellies that we had at $495 [for] some of our opening price points, evening at $895.”
That range, he said, is important for wholesale partners to offer customers the ability to have access to luxury, but not necessarily at very high prices. And with consumers careful about their spending, Idol said Jimmy Choo is the beneficiary of the accessible luxury price points.
“As we build the accessories category from its roughly 25 percent today, and we think we can get that to probably close to 40 percent over time, [the accessories piece is] just much more profitable than footwear,” Idol said.
As for the Michael Kors brand, Idol said: “We have a very large footwear business. I should comment on that on Michael Kors. Actually, the area where we need a little more work is our footwear business.” He added that the company is excited about the new shoe styles that has arrived in the stores in the last 30 days, and “we’re seeing our business start to turn there.”
Separately, Jimmy Choo said on Tuesday that it has named Andy Holmes senior vice president , CFO and operations. He will succeed Richard Kozlowski, who is set to retire from the business at the end of March.
Prada closed on its $1.38 billion acquisition of Versace on Dec. 2, 2025, leaving Capri with its Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo brands.
