Prada accelerates on the industrial front and puts Versace at the center of its new growth phase. Operation Medusa will close on December 2, a step that marks the beginning of a new cycle. And it is also the reason why the group has no intention of expanding its perimeter further. “We are not thinking about acquisitions. We are commit to Versace for at least three years” says the CEO of the Prada group Andrea Guerra. As for the future “one can never say, but today there is nothing to discuss regarding new entries”, he remarks Lorenzo Bertelli, who of the Medusa he will be the executive president, on the sidelines of the celebrations for the 25 years of the Prada Group Academy in Scandicci. The focus is on Versace. This maison is the bet on which Prada has decided to concentrate energy and resources.
“We had a wonderful opportunity,” Guerra says. “It’s a unique, extraordinary, incredibly complementary brandmeaning it is exceptionally different from the brands in our portfolio. It strikes a different aesthetic, a different consumer. However, on the other hand, it has a series of incredibly similar elements, because the Versace brand is also born from a cultural thought, born from a classical Mediterranean thought, born in innovation“. The CEO underlines that the operation does not arise from a logic of competitive comparison.
“I think everyone has their own history and their own future. We don’t compete with Versace to be more competitive. We already are. We go forward on our own path which is a path of culture, of innovation, totally alternative to that of anyone else and so far it has worked.” And the historical relevance of the brand remains a fixed point for Guerra. “Versace is the brand that invented fashion as we know it today. He invented glamour, he invented the super modelsbrought a more popular culture closer to fashion. It’s something we sometimes forget. He brought music into fashion, which is a fundamental element.” The group enters this phase strong on a consolidated expansion trajectory.
“The last 4-5 years certainly mark a long period of growth” observes the CEO. “So we hope to continue to grow at a speed higher than the industry average.” The 8 billion target remains in the background, without a precise date. “I haven’t the faintest idea,” he says, smiling.
“It was an ambition and that ambition remains. We want to continue to grow at a faster rate than the industry, without shortcuts. Today this essentially means finding growth with the same number of stores. So far it has worked.” The arrival of Versace is seen as a further boost.
“Let’s add another piece of engine to our car. It will be a long-term job, but I’m sure it will help us reach the size we aspire to.”
Prada invests in the training of young talents
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Prada Group Academy, the Prada Group opens the doors of the Scandicci factory, one of the Group’s most important production hubs, to talk about a strategic step in its industrial growth. The occasion serves to reiterate the centrality of training, but above all to outline a phase of expansion which includes new openings, expansions in existing sites and investments aimed at continuity of the supply chain. From 2019 to the end of 2024 the Group has allocated more than 200 million euros to its industrial structures; in 2024, around 40 million were invested in vertical integration, while in 2025, interventions worth around 60 million are underway, distributed across new production hubs and plant upgrades in Italy and abroad. Prada currently operates with 25 industrial sites, 23 of which are in Italyand beyond 15 thousand employees, of which a significant portion is used in the manufacturing of leather goods, footwear and clothing. It is in this scenario that the Group’s new projects are placed, described as the natural evolution of a path already started.
“I think that, from an investment point of view, we have never stopped and we continue,” explained CEO Andrea Guerra during the press day. “It’s in the nearest pipeline Milanodove we transfer, enlarge and make all the processing of fine materials even more profound. Therefore a laboratory that becomes even more complex”.
An intervention which, in the intentions of management, aims to consolidate technical skills and to make the management of a delicate production sector more fluid. The Milan project comes alongside the opening of two production hubs. The first is the new leather goods factory in Piancastagnaio (Siena), designed from scratch to be at the forefront on a technological and environmental level.
“We are building one from scratch to make it cutting-edge in a context of serious sustainability,” Guerra specified. The second is the new one center dedicated to knitwear in Gubbioindicated among the most relevant projects of 2025 to strengthen a process that requires highly specialized skills.
The factories affected by the expansions
Alongside the new openings, the plan includes a series of expansions. TO Foiano della Chiana, in the province of Arezzothe production center of the company is extended leather goods. A Investments are underway in Northampton, UK to increase production capacity of the historic footwear factory. In the Marche region, where the shoe supply chain represents a central axis of the district, the Group is intervening on processes and equipment, without opening new offices. It is a plan that combines the construction of factories from scratch with the strengthening of the districts in which Prada is already rooted. The day at Scandicci it also allowed us to visit the laboratories where the bags take shape through a long sequence of steps, even 50. We are guided by Daniele Eclizietta, who has been with Prada for 29 years and is now a teacher at the Academy.
From Miu Miu which extends on one floor to Prada on another, station after station, he shows us the selection of leather, a phase that requires experience in evaluating the grain and consistency, and the cut, made by hand or with precision machines. How the ‘almonds’ for the handles are made, modeled one by one, and how matelassé takes shape, the quilted process that combines leather, lycra and wadding in a system of regular stitching.
For young people entering the Academy of course it will take some time before you can acquire all the skills, the course lasts about 6 months, then many, around 70% remain in the groupthey are hired. Between 2021 and 2024 the Prada Group Academy trained 571 students from 18 nationalities, with a female participation of 69.7%. In 2025 there will be seven active courses, with 152 participants and new training centers in Torgiano for knitwear and Montegranaro for men’s footwear.
“Everywhere there is one specializationwe created an Academy” said the CEO. In a historical phase in which high-end manufacturing suffers from a lack of skills and pressure on supply chains, Prada chooses to respond with massive investments, verticalisation and internal training.