MILAN – Italian retailer Modes is back in business, under a new, recently formed entity called Garments Milano.
The new company has leased some of the existing Modes boutiques and reopened units in Portofino, Porto Cervo and Forte Village in Italy, as well as Saint Moritz in Switzerland. A fifth unit, on Milan’s Via Brera, is to reopen this weekend.
As reported, Modes was placed under judicial liquidation after failing to carry forward with its business restructuring plan last May.
Amid slowing sales and a deteriorated business environment, the company had filed for a “compositions with creditors” procedures with a Milan court in May 2024. In the final verdict of that procedure, the court deemed Modes no longer eligible for the court-mediated continuity procedure and ruled in favor of a judicial liquidation.
The Modes trademark was not part of the procedure, allowing Garments Milano to use it for the new course after leasing the Modes company’s retail branch.
“We are hitting the market with five marquee locations, and we will try to communicate our approach to fashion retail,” Aldo Carpinteri, president of Modes, told WWD on Friday. “Our units are bound to become ‘white boxes’ in wonderful locations allowing niche and up-and-coming brands which don’t have the means to be in those places to show their identity, storytelling and products.
“We think being a pure retail player can make the difference,” he offered.
Carpinteri highlighted consumer fatigue over big brands’ offerings and pricing strategies, as well as mounting competition on the latter front by online players.
“People want to get into a boutique and find objects that are timeless and durable,” he said.
“In the second half of 2025, we see a consolidation of the strategy. We are planning to forge ties with brands on dedicated activations,” he explained, sharing that a tie-up with Redemption is lined up at the Porto Cervo boutique. “We want to do more projects in this vein.”
In the year between the filing of the composition with creditors procedure and the final liquidation verdict, Modes had already retooled its business and Carpinteri said that that formula was proving effective, winning in-store customers back. His aim is to build on that going forward.
Although falling short of the court expectations as part of the procedures, filings show that in the June to November 2024 period, average monthly revenues at the retailer stood at 900,000 euros, and at 500,000 euros in December 2024 and January 2025.
The Modes boutique in Porto Cervo, Italy.
Courtesy of Modes
At the peak of its pre-judicial procedure business success, Modes logged yearly sales of 150 million euros and operated 19 stores globally including units in Paris, Forte dei Marmi and Cagliari, Italy, and Gstaad, Switzerland.
The Italian company had tapped industry veteran Simon Whitehouse as its chief executive officer in March 2024. Whitehouse left the company last March.
Modes was established in 1971 by Carpinteri as a multibrand boutique in Trapani, on Italy’s Sicily Island.
