Good evening, and welcome to the presentations of the revenues for the first 9 months 2022 of the fashion house Brunello Cucinelli. Speakers will be Brunello Cucinelli, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, Riccardo Stefanelli, CEO, Moreno Ciarapica, CFO, and Pietro Arnaboldi, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Planning. In order to receive help from an operator during the conference call, please press star followed by zero. Now, I'd like to give the floor to Brunello Cucinelli. The floor is yours.
Good evening. First of all, thank you for introducing us as a fashion house. Thank you. I would like to greet you all with pleasure, analysts, investors, and usually there is some members of the press, too.
As you might know, we always attach a lot of importance to these calls, so much so that we have already notified to you that another one will be organized for December 6th . Because, you see, having another appointment for next March the fifteenth, we thought it would be too long, so we will have it in December. We are all here as usual, except for our esteemed Luca Lisandroni, who is in Korea for three days, the first trip after the beginning of the pandemic. Before I begin, I would like to bring to your attention something that, you know, I don't really want to boast, but last week, the Sapienza University of Rome acknowledged to me a very great recognition.
It is a very important recognition because, as you know, La Sapienza is one of the major European universities, and it was actually set up 5, 6 years before the University of Perugia, and I was awarded an honorary PhD in Management, Banking, and Commodity Sciences. Actually it is as if it was for my capacity as a CEO of a company. What we actually felt honored above all was the fact that the magnificent rector with her speech and then the dean and the department director with their two laudations and praises, well, they were really fascinating speeches. It's fascinating for what they said about our company. At the end of it all, we were acknowledged or recognized this idea of working with humanistic capitalism and human sustainability, and you know it all.
Truth be told, we are working with a very good attitude, with a good spirit. I don't know about you, but it's like 22 degrees Celsius today. It's like spring here. I don't know what the weather is where you are. How the call will unfold. First, I will read out the highlights to you, then we would like to comment on the Made in Italy and today. Also about the politics because the new government is now forthcoming. We will comment on the first nine months of our business. We will be talking about markets, the forecast closing of 2022, then the forecast for 2023 with orders in-house for the spring/summer 2023, the wholesale orders.
We will mention this new five-year plan, and because we have changed it, the date once again is 2023-2027. Last but not least, 4-5 minutes to what we consider the most important theme, and we mentioned it during the board meeting. We called it a great plan for a great future, universal working conditions for human beings. We attach really a huge importance to this, and I'll tell you why later on. Now the highlights. Net sales amounted to EUR 642 million, with a splendid growth of +27.7% at current exchange rates, +23% at constant exchange rates compared to last year. We enjoyed very good growth in all channels and geographies, with sellouts of the fall/winter 2022 collections that actually have a very high value.
Very, very good growth in all regions, Americas +45, Asia 22. Here I will tell you later, we break down or break out of this China, which amounts to 13% out of 22. Europe 21, and Italy 10. Very strong results in both the retail channel, up 43%, and the wholesale channel, too, up 10.5%. Very, very interesting. These results and the great appreciation reported for the collections currently in the stores, all this leads us to imagine a wonderful growth in revenues in 2022, close to 25%. Just let me drink a sip of water. This is my comments. The results of the first nine months of 2022 really are splendid.
We are indeed achieving great results thanks to the image that the brand enjoys worldwide for its style, way of working, and humanistic conception of business. The above lets us envisage an extraordinary, prodigious end of the year with a growth in sales close to 25%. We continue to support our great project for a great future, universal working conditions for human beings. There is no doubt that having our production and sales facilities at full capacity, having not laid off anyone during the last two years, while this allows us to cope with the large quantity of goods requested by the markets, where in general, demand exceeds supply. The weakness of the euro and the short production chains are rewarding not only us, but the entire Italian fine manufacturing sector, proving just how strong our welfare state is.
The order intake for Spring/Summer men's/women's 2023 was excellent, both in terms of image and quantity. All this makes us envisage a 2023 with sound sales growth of 10%. Before we start, I'd like to spend a couple of words on Italy as a manufacturing country. The day we met with Milleri, the CEO of Luxottica, and talking in general about eyewear and projects, we were just saying that there is a strong request, a strong demand for special products. He said, "Well, yes, we have a large demand for horn, a horn that comes from Agordo that is very special." What is happening in our view? Well, first of all, the demand is stronger than the supply. Why do I say this?
We can say this is better if you have wholesale to compare, because the wholesale clients maybe do tell you that they are receiving less winter goods. This is something that you would never notice if you only run your own stores. What we say is that our welfare state that enabled us not to lay off anyone, not to fire any workforce, and we mentioned this during the board meeting this morning, too. We believe that there is a strong production structure, there is a strong commercial structure, and this way we can be present internationally, and we can cope with this demand, with this increase in demand. GDP, it was 3%, then now they say 2%. Sorry, we started 3%, then 3.2%, the national GDP. Now they say 3.4%.
There's no doubt that what we are seeing now is the great availability of products, thanks to our production facilities. Currently, we have an unemployment rate in Italy, which is about 7%-8%. In the past 20 years, similar rates happened in 2008. For us, it's something very, very special. Also we have a short production chain, and this is very important. Another factor there is the weak euro. We are exporters and manufacturers. We believe that these great benefits perhaps could be there to stay, also for next year. As we were saying this morning, I don't know what will happen to the GDP next year, +0.3% or +0.5%, but we will have advantages because the production chain cannot be built overnight. You need expertise for that.
This is the advantage of manufacturing in Italy. Sales. In the first nine months of the year, sales went very well. They are also for the first 15 days of October. You see, I said this because sometimes we are asked how we performed last week. For those of you who are interested, things are going well in October, too. Now it's been three months that the new fall/winter 2022 collections are in the boutique. Now you can have an opinion about the appeal of the product. This is very important, the fact that you know that people like the product. Whereas if your product is less interesting, you see that's a problem. What is really strongly felt is the demand for exclusive, special, high-quality, handmade garments.
In our opinion, luxury means well-made garments, exclusive garments that can be handed down to the next generations. It seems that customers are looking for garments that they will never throw away. This is a very strong feeling. You see, especially among young people, the fact of reusing, reconditioning, repairing, this is very, very strongly felt. Perhaps it's just for us because our garments are pretty expensive. Markets in general, we would say that all markets are performing very well. USA, very strong. Europe, very strong too. Asia, strong with China. For us, it is doing well. Mind you should know that it is about 13% of our business. Our business breaks down roughly as follows: 35 US, 40 Europe, 25 Asia, of which 13% China. A special word on Europe.
You see, even if regular customers, even in small towns, are performing very, very well. Local customers are doing well. As far as the digital world is concerned, we are enjoying a good and balanced growth of around 25%. 7% direct from Solomeo. Overall, our estimate is for about 13%- 14%. You see, our website is still a very interesting communication tool. Two, three months ago, our finding was that 60% of customers arrive in the physical store with the image they actually saw on the website. This is very important. In this important channel, we see a healthy and robust growth over the years. Of course, somebody two years ago said that, perhaps we would not need the physical stores anymore.
I remember a member of the board even said that maybe we wouldn't even need the ladies or the staff to make coffee. Physical stores are, however, very important for the image and for the business, and we see it in our retail. We see the results that we achieve with Mytheresa in terms of numbers and taste. It is true that they have a very good taste. MR PORTER, great results, a company with a lot of taste. I think you see, they are beautiful online store, and they will have a future, but provided that they are fresh, modern, the way in which they mix and match, the way in which they display. I really like them. Congratulations.
Physical stores we have returned to a basic importance because customers, first and foremost, they want to be advised, especially for menswear. You know that many wives actually call us asking us to advise their husbands as to what to wear. Of course, also well-off or rich people need to look good when they go out, so they need reassurance. By the way, our business currently is men's and women's menswear and womenswear is 50/50. It's just slightly higher for the women in terms of price. Another important theme is kindness. The people meeting you in the store, the people staffing the store, because the idea that we nurture is that of never pushing. If you turn up at the store, the sales associate will welcome you.
Sometimes they even become your advisor. Maybe you can have a cappuccino, a coffee. You see, physical stores, they play a very important role. The taste of stores. A few years ago, our first store to be opened was Saint-Tropez in the early 2000s, and we wanted these stores to be somehow a some sort of living room, where the largest stores, they have a bar like in the Madison, London, Paris. We have the middle sized one, 270-180 square meters, and they have a minibar. Sorry, an average bar. Then the small stores have a minibar. What does this mean? It means that you turn up at the store. You can have a cappuccino while your wife is shopping.
At the Madison, we have customers who basically turn up for a cappuccino and a pastry, and then maybe they do not shop at all, or maybe they shop the day after. Every one of these stores has a medium or small library between 40 and 70 books. You see, we would like everything to be somehow a small but pleasant experience. Now I would like to devote 1 minute to the praise given by my friend. I'd like to relay what he said during an interview, because this is precisely what we built our brands upon. I would like to pass on to you a nice judgment given by my New York friend, Robert Burke, who first worked for a decade at my master's, Ralph Lauren.
I told you that in 2019 I went to see him, and he had tearful eyes. Then he, Robert, started working at our wonderful client, Bergdorf Goodman, and now he is a freelance. When we started in the year 2000, we started the total look, and Robert Burke had another wonderful friend, Peter Rizzo, Michael Bastian, Yuki Katsuta, a 40-year-old gentleman. When they came to Pitti, you could spot them immediately, and they would come here to Solomeo in the early 2000. That's when we were starting to put on these garments. We would mix and match them and talk about combinations. For me, that was really an encouragement to me because they were particularly fascinated by the brand.
Robert, who is now a great expert in luxury retail, he said two things. "From day one, the brand presented itself with a very strong identity and remained true to that aesthetic, focused on quality, craftsmanship, and exclusivity. And it soon became the benchmark for Italian luxury products." He said, "I think that today they have reached the pinnacle of luxury." Another good thing he mentions, "Cucinelli is extraordinarily focused on the product and his customers, whom he knows very well." He ends by saying, "They have become excellent retailers of their product, and they have created a unique and special experience in their stores. We now see other brands starting to adopt a similar approach to retail, but Cucinelli is ahead of the curve." What I say, thank you, Robert. You have always been very chic and kind to us.
I really wanted to say this because it was the Bergdorf Goodman team at the beginning of my path in the early 2000s to talk to me and discuss with me and choose the path ahead. Prices. The price structure, you know it already, is the following: 100 EUR, $120, $128 Asia. We change prices twice a year when we release our collection. Raw materials. For everything concerning raw materials, we would like to confirm that we have no difficulty in finding them, and because the warehouses in the factory are in place to guarantee quantity and quality. Perhaps this was one of the biggest decisions we took in 2020, Riccardo and Moreno, when we did not cancel any order.
We said, "Let us leave the cashmere orders and the silk orders," and now we have raw material to meet the demand. Likely 2020 full year, 2022 earnings. Well, we can call this the year of total rebalancing. 2020 it was -10% revenues, 2021 +30%, 2022 +25%. We will reach a healthy EBITDA of around 18%. Our healthy inventory around 29% is healthy for us. You can't have a factory unless you have an inventory. Healthy investment of around 8%, and we'll see in 2 months' time, but we are perfectly in line. A healthy net financial position. We basically do not carry any debt. A sound capital structure of close to 50% of turnover. Dividends, as you know, are at 50%.
We have ended 2023 collections with excellent results. The important orders. In-house collections are viewed as young, at the same time beautiful and elegant. We were saying it is not always easy, but you see, we enjoy what we have. Everybody seems to be on the lookout for exclusive garments. For now, we envisage for 2023 a growth of a healthy 10% as planned. We think that in 2023, we will return to a nice balanced business. A new five-year plan, a new change here. A few calls ago, we said that we had closed 2021, and we had started the 2022 five-year plan. We actually realized that 2022 is not really a linear year because there's some products missing.
You see the results are rather odd, so we decided to leave it as a suspended year. Our five-year plan, we will make it start on the first of January 2023. Everything is extremely positive for us. Now, why in this five-year plan, we decided to choose as the main theme this great project for a great future? It will be the most important project for the coming years. We called it a great plan or a great project for a great future, universal working conditions for the human being. You see, as we have heard around, many people actually resign without having another job. Riccardo was saying there's this new phenomenon that is called the quiet quitting. People work without passion while they wait for something better.
For all companies, regardless of their size, all companies, they're saying that they cannot find people to hire, especially young people. This is a very serious phenomenon. For us, however, this is not the case for us, but we want to devote all our forces for the coming years to this very sensitive issue. It's not that we have not focused on it in the past, but we still consider it very important. What should we look at? Workplaces, we can't hide. In this discussion, I would like you to focus on production department in the factories, not just the nice offices. We have 2,500 people, 1,200 on retail, and they receive important salaries, and they staff our stores. We would like everything to be focused on production too.
We need to have better workplaces, better working hours, and also the fact of being online all the time, wages, especially for blue collar workers. This is another theme, and we want to focus on salaries up to EUR 2,000 in Perugia, perhaps EUR 2,300 for those living in Milan. How do we treat each other daily at work? This is a very strong theme, and we see it, we feel it from the people who are coming for job interviews. Often you see our factories are nice with nice offices, but this is not always the case for the production departments.
We have been taught that in the production departments, there should be very few windows because it is considered distraction, whereas I think that there is more creativity if you can see outside. Now, going back to wages, I think that all this needs to happen up to EUR 2,000 net per month because it's not the same. Whereas instead of earning EUR 1,300, you earn EUR 1,900, your life changes, and especially you find people who are willing to come to work for you. By the way, a small digression. In June, we have taken action to basically reduce inflationary pressure on those who earn under EUR 2,500 per month for the year 2022. For us, it is about 1,000 out of 2,500.
Working hours, we must return to balancing working hours as well as the right time spent online. I say it very often, perhaps we could work for 7.5 hours a day. As we were saying in the board this morning, we do work for 8 hours. Actually, we calculated that 1 hour is not for the company because you basically spend time on your device. All in all, we work 7 hours. Although we spend 8 hours in the office, plus 2 hours to go to and from work, and then one and a half hour of lunch, you see that means adds up to many hours. 7 hours should be enough to have enough time for your private life.
In our beautiful factory, you see, we allow ourselves to call it beautiful, but you know that Leonardo, before he passed away, he said factory in Agordo. Leonardo Del Vecchio said Agordo in factory in Agordo is very beautiful. We would like there to be a nice climate of esteem and respect in people. Because, you see, if I give you esteem generates responsibility, and responsibility engenders creativity. That's for sure. Creativity in product does not depend on 3-5 people. We have 60 people to create the product, but I don't think that creativity comes from all 60 of them. There are other people in the company that just with one small piece of advice, they can improve conditions and creativity. Then 1 more minute, and then we open up for Q&A.
How can we imagine our young people coming to work in our factories if we do not give them moral economic dignity? Very often we would like the children of other families to apply specific trades. If you say, "You see, I'm going to work in a factory. I earn EUR 1,250. I work in production with the conditions that I've described before," it is not very easy to suggest these jobs or recommend these jobs to our children. These great concepts still apply to everyone, not just to us. It applies to pizzerias and restaurants, all activities. This is what we try to put into practice in our wonderful, that's how we call them, wonderful schools of arts and crafts in Solomeo.
This year we are being very successful because they all found a job after finishing the school. This year we would have almost 50% more students. Perhaps in the end, we could say that all this is human sustainability. You know that our sustainability is broken down into climate related emissions, economic sustainability, where you work, how much you earn, and what kind of work environment you work in. There is cultural sustainability. What does your company do to create corporate culture and also in the community? The spiritual sustainability. I think it is very important. You see, if you treat me well, my spirit is lifted. If you give me a nice view, a nice window, I become more creative.
If you maybe comfort me when I'm blue, when I feel blue, my spirit will be lifted. Spiritual sustainability perhaps is the most important one. To conclude, my dear friends, first of all, before. For the future, we imagine that perhaps it will be more difficult to find people to make beautiful garments rather than to find people to buy these beautiful garments. We are working in a very good atmosphere. There was the. We had this assembly of the one hundred the other day, and we hold it every two years, and we took stock of our company. We said it always went well, but this time it is going even better. We have.
We really need to have the courage to improve the workplaces and the wages, and especially the work conditions in the production departments. That's what I tried to say when I discussed the G20 in 2021, when I talked about humanistic capitalism and human sustainability. Before I forget, tomorrow in the evening, we will have a dinner in Milan, then we will have one in Paris and London, and then one in New York, and with our investors. I hope that I will meet about 100 of you in the coming two months. If you can come and visit next year, for me, it will be more difficult to meet you unless you come here because we have events in China, America, Northern Europe, and I don't know how I will do that.
Perhaps I will send the youngest, Luca and others, and Riccardo. You see, whenever you think of our company, really, working conditions rank first. You don't need much, you see. If we can maybe increase wages for the production workers, it really has a very small impact on EBITDA, but it does change their life completely and also the vision of the company, because our young people are struggling. Thank you very much. I apologize for being pretty lengthy, but I really wanted to talk about labor. Let us now open up for discussions, and then you can call us or send us emails later on. Thank you.
Carlos call operator speaking. We will now start the Q&A session. Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your keypad.
In order to leave the booking list, press star followed by two. Please ask your questions, you speaking into the microphone. Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one now. There will be a few seconds of silence to let the investors book their, or analysts book their questions. First question by Flavio Cereda, Jefferies.
Thank you. Good evening, Brunello. Congratulations on your numbers and for all that you said about labels, that, you know, these are themes that are very dear to you. I'd like to focus now on the growth expectations in particular, because there is this +25% that. Then 10% next year. Compared to what you were expecting a few months ago, where does this driving force come from? From the U.S., from men's, women's, maybe more retail?
To conclude, I think that you will double your revenues in six years, not 10. I'd like to ask, what changed?
Well, Flavio, what has changed? Oh, that's a great question, first of all. Well, it comes from all markets, I would say. You see now menswear has the same value as women's wear, but there's something special on the market. I was saying this to some ministers the other day. You should not underestimate the Italian production structure. It is really a re-rate. If you go to any multi-brand client and you ask them, what about the shipments from companies, they say that they are receiving 80% of what they expected, which means that there's a product missing on the market, there's a lack of product.
We were not expecting this because the first semester, the stores were closed, and the second semester was better. We were not expecting this. You do not actually, you're not able to see this in the retail store, because if there was 10% less in our Milan store, you wouldn't notice it because we did not basically stock up. We waited before placing the order, and now we are struggling because demand far exceeds supply. We are. That's why we are achieving this result. Because you might say, "Why? These people, they get all the budgets wrong." No, this is not the case. That's why we have decided to separate this year, to see it as a standalone year, because we want to restart with our normal growth this year.
For 2021, 2022, these are special years. The first year, instead of losing EUR 25, we lost EUR 10. Last year, we caught up with EUR 30. This year, we are having a very special season, and probably what you say, we will double our revenues in completely different, with a completely different timing. Honestly speaking, in 2021, 2022, 2023, we were not expecting this revenues growth. This year is very special, let me tell you, and you can feel it everywhere. You just need to talk to multi-brands. Why? Because production is an issue. Very often, Flavio, we talk about sales, but production is a true strong problem. Raw materials, you say there's a lack of them, there's a shortage. It's not true.
If we do not buy the white cotton from our suppliers six months in advance, we do not have the cotton for the white shirts. When the pandemic broke out, we all did that. What I was saying before, Flavio Cereda, thanks to our Italian government, you see, our Francesco Milleri was saying that all the production facilities are full. In other countries, they laid off workers, and now reconstructing the production in the company is not something that you can do in three months. That's why I'm saying that when in March and April, we said that our GDP would probably have reached 3%, now maybe 3.2, 3.4, because there is demand for that. I believe that we will have a great advantage in 2023 too.
You see, Flavio, I'm not saying here that the GDP in Italy will grow by 0.3% or 0.6%. I'm sure it will grow more than other countries because we have the production commercial facilities. Our company today is stronger than 2019. In 2019, we lost money, but we did not. In 2020, we lost money, but not the facilities. If we had 30-EUR 40 million more of money in our pocket and 10%-15% less production capacity, we would not have this. I don't know whether I was clear. You see, it takes long to train people, and I will say it once again, this in Milan, London, Paris, and New York, this is a typically Italian advantage. I spoke about this with someone who is very close to Draghi.
This is thanks to our welfare state.
Yes, thank you.
I didn't say this, but a new government is coming 2-3 days. Do not get frightened. I'm 69, and I have witnessed 64 governments. Last night I was reading something interesting. After Caracalla in Rome, in 100 years, they had 27 emperors in Rome. The idea that one emperor or one prime minister in our country spends little time at the government comes from ancient Rome.
Andrea Randone, Intermonte.
Thank you and good evening. Good evening, Brunello. I have two questions. The first one is going back to the fact that these extraordinary, staggering numbers this year, I'm sure there are also exchange rates related components. I believe that there must have been the need to increase production of garments during the year.
Because from what I remember, you have you plan for 8% volume growth and 2% price. This year, although prices will have increased more, volumes actually grew more than 8%. How do you manage this? This is my first question. The second on labor, how do you act or intervene with the third-party contractors, if you do? They work nearly exclusively for you, right?
Yes. Yes, I'll tell you now. First of all, a few days ago, Larry Fink actually paid tribute to Italy and its structure. We should not underestimate that last year we were awarded the Fashion Designer of the Year, 2021, in U.K., and this really boosted menswear. The recognizability of a taste that only three or four fashion designers received this.
To answer Flavio's and also Andrea's question, yes, of course, taste is actually playing in our favor. We have a production facility. Well, we have all third-party contractors that we met in last September with 6,800 people, 3,900 of which work for us, and the other half works for us, Chanel, Hermès, Dior, so through textile industry. This is where growth comes from, the fact that there is a lack of product on the market. Go to the multi-brand, ask the multi-brand clients, and they will tell you that there is a shortage of delivery. Labor. Andrea, this is very important. We want it to rank first in our next five-year plan because we have to build the new artisans of the coming years.
We have decided, you see, that a young person, a young tailor needs to make some money. They're honing their trades, and we have to give back economic dignity to certain trades. You have come to our factory, and you see, as you saw, the best workstations are those where workers work on basically on the machine on knitwear. If you can look out of the window, that's much better. Andrea, you should always expect what I basically said on work. It is true, we underestimated our growth forecast, but we're not talking about you know, great changes here. There is a shortage of goods on the market. We started delivering the fall/winter as per habit.
This year, many multi-brands wanted the goods a year, a month in advance because they had issues in Spring/Summer too. We have a good production facility, 75% in Umbria, then we have Tuscany. My worry is how to train artisans for the coming years, and we must give them true money. They need to be proud to be artisans. If you pay them 2,200 EUR a month, at 24 years of age, beautiful facilities, they can see the sky and work on quality product. You see, because this does not happen for the retail, for the people staffing the stores. You see, those who come for job interviews for manual work, they want to know about their working conditions and about their wages.
Just imagine sending your child, your son, to work, or your daughter, to send to work for 1,200 EUR. You should know that we work differently. Thank you for your answer. Your EBITDA around 19%. No, Andrea. Yeah, similar to 2019. I didn't say 19. Yes. A full rebalancing. When everybody's back to their balance, I don't think that we will have the same growth rates. Do you remember when we said in May, June, that we will have good quarterly results, half year results, nine-month results, and until now, my esteemed Louis Vuitton has had unexpected figures.
You might say, "What will happen in November?" You see, whatever happens, we will all close the year with wonderful growth vis-à-vis our predictions or our estimates, because growing 20%, 30%, you see, my esteemed Vuitton, 30% on billions, you see. It will be an exceptional year. I'm sure about this.
Thank you. Antoine Belge, BNP Paribas Exane.
Yes, good evening. It's Antoine Belge at BNP Paribas Exane. Three questions, if I may. The first one is about China. I looked at the numbers for Asia in the third quarter. I think they are up around 14%, with some positive contribution from currencies. Probably growing less than double digits at constant currency. Can you maybe tell us if China was growing and by how much?
Excuse me. Can you please restart the question because we couldn't hear the beginning? If you can ask the question again.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah, it's about China because you don't disclose China, but you disclose Asia, and Asia was up 14% in the third quarter with some positive contribution from currencies. It seems that overall Asia in the third quarter was slowing to less than double digits. Is it possible to tell us a bit more precisely what was the trend in China? My second question is about the U.S. consumer. To what extent have you seen a lot of sales to U.S. tourists in Europe? And are you seeing this now still happening now that we are in the months of October?
Finally, on the EBITDA number of 18%, I'm a bit surprised that it's not revised up because you already had 18% when you were forecasting 15% sales growth, and now it's much stronger, 25%. I would have expected stronger sales to lead to a stronger margin in 2022. Thank you.
American tourists in Europe, yes. This year, Americans have invaded Europe, but now in October, Americans have gone back to America, and Europe is still performing very well, and the U.S. is performing very well, especially local customers, as we said before. As far as growth in Asia is concerned, we have a first half with 27%, whereas we have a third quarter with +14%. We know that in Asia, for example, in Japan, there is an opposite effect of currency. This does not involve Asia because in Japan it is absolutely opposite. The 14% growth in Asia with, in China, some lockdown phenomenon, we feel it is a very positive growth.
Yes, of course, Brunello says, because Antoine, we always start from a very important second semester. As far as profitability is concerned, yes, we had declared 18% and hopefully we can do it well. It's not that we have changed our budgets for EUR hundreds of millions. There is a good mood on the brand, and this all goes well because we have a good mood now. We have orders in-house for the spring/summer, and as you know, if the sell-out of fall/winter is important now, it means that in January, they will have better budgets. That's why you feel that we are very confident, because today's confidence means that this will still be there in 2023.
Okay.
Because clients will be coming, with the budgets that are in line with how the previous season went.
Okay. Maybe just one clarification. In the new sales guidance of 25%, how much is the contribution from FX foreign currencies? Is it fair to say maybe 5%?
It's between 4.5% and 5%. Yes, that's precisely right. Antoine, we think that it is October the 19th, not much will change. We think that it could be 4.5% for the effect of the exchange rate.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Antoine.
Next question from Guido Lucarelli, Citi.
Good evening, everyone. You already answered my question on the two weeks of October. The impact of globalization on labor and also the luxury consumer long term, if you see any positive or negative changes from this. Then second point, vis-à-vis the digital 13%-14% today, how do you see this long term?
As far as consumers are concerned, we met, you know, a while ago, maybe you should use the word user, not consumer, because this is not a nice word, consumer. I think that we will have some users of our products that are increasingly mindful. They want to know where it's made, how it's made. The other day, we had Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz for dinner, and one of their friends said something nice.
They said, "From now on, I will only buy your brand because I saw where you work." I said, "I, well, we want you to really commit to this," I said to her. Guido, I say it once again, and a lot of attention will be paid to how and where the products are made. As far as Made in Italy is concerned, my impression is that Made in Italy is an extremely high, highly worth brand, the name Made in Italy. There are some Chinese companies that I know who would like to manufacture in Italy to just be able to say, "We are made in Italy." It really is very important. Under one condition, we need to change the working conditions, otherwise it will not work. Digital.
I believe that it will still play an important role. We have a growth projection that is similar to the others, but it is fundamental for communication because if two years ago, there were 30% of people going into physical store after visiting the website, now it's 60%, and it is still on the rise. It is important, but especially for communication, how you show the product, what you communicate, how you photograph it. As I was saying, I'm always fascinated by my friends at Mytheresa because Riccardo and Luca went to visit, and they really are great. Beautiful online boutiques, and I like this very, very much. Like MR PORTER, when they come, we always discuss on how to have a wonderful boutique online. You know, I'm very much fascinated also by the wholesale.
Thank you very much.
Next question, Paola Carboni, Equita.
Yes, good evening, Brunello. I have three questions. Going back to the lack of products, is this a driver that increases your market share because for you this is not the case, a shortage. Perhaps this is supporting you further. Do you think that this will still be an advantage in 2023? Perhaps the other brands will align in terms of product availability, supply chain. Perhaps others will become slightly more competitive. Second question has to do with the sales mix. Are you experiencing some change in the sales mix, the outperforming product categories or the prices, price points that outperform if we can have some color on the mix?
Last but not least, going back to the questions on margins in profitability in 2022, I was wondering whether there are any updates on the marketing budget. If I remember well, the latest indication was for a 5%-6% budget. Yes, it's always been the case. Is it confirmed?
Let's start precisely from this one. Budgets usually have always been 5.2 to 5.7. That's the range we would like to maintain. Then sales mix, I would say that more blazers for women, because this is the time for blazers. Jil Sander, back to the Jil Sander taste of the nineties. But the demand is always for special goods. Garments that you can pass on to others, and this is very strongly felt.
You see, they do not shop thinking that they will never use this garment again the following year. As far as the product is concerned, we are obviously closing. We have orders in-house for a spring summer men's and women's. We very good feedback from the press, and I believe that Italy and Italian companies and also Italian manufacturing companies that manufacture for our esteemed French because they say that 60% of their production is in Italy, and I'm happy for them who manufacture here for our manufacturers and for us. Now what is lacking is product. We enjoy this. You should expect, especially, for all the players. We did see the budgets of 2020. They were a disaster. We thought we were really doomed.
Now, two years down the road, everything has changed. Everything. Even us in 2021, 2022, we will grow by 45%. We should never forget where we started in 2020. Of course, those who basically laid off staff just to save, now they have the problem of reorganizing production, and I don't think that they will want to go back to work if you fired them. We just had one client who said, "I want to buy half of what I thought," but for us, he's no longer a client. I'm very confident. You can feel the value of Made in Italy.
If I can give a couple of colors on profitability to Paola, the CFO speaking, first of all, we have always said that the very same positive effect we have on sales for the Forex, we have also for the opposite on the costs. For the cost that we pay abroad, rent, staff, and communication, we have the opposite effect. 5 points of Forex on revenues also affect costs. You should consider this. Another thing is that for this kind of higher production, this translated into higher internal staff for production and commercial. You should also consider that we offer the contribution to our employees to support them due to the inflation. We also gave some energy contribution to our supply chain. We tried to support this energy price impact.
We have the stock grant for the first level of management and also the trips and travels had an impact because there was more activity, there were more travels. It's a whole range of macro themes, so that not all the increase in revenue is translated into leverage. Truth be told, Paola, we are very happy of how it is going and how taste is going, because that's what matters. The brand is actually performing well. Now we have to design beautiful collections for the next season. You see, we have a good team of people. At the end of the day, creativity comes from how you treat human beings.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Yes, but I feel pretty confident about our beautiful country because they kept talking bad about our welfare state, but not anymore.
I think we can say that we were among the best in how we managed the pandemic and also the welfare state. Now we reap the results. Thank you.
There are no further questions at the moment. Next question, Louise Singlehurst, Goldman Sachs.
Oh, hi, good evening. Thank you for fitting my question in. I just had one follow-up. Obviously, a very strong result in Q3 again and wonderful to see the momentum. I wondered if you could just help us understand the cohort and the customer mix. Obviously, as we're getting a little bit more cautious about consumer spending, it seems to be very resilient at the high end. Is this more about taking a larger wallet share from the existing customers, or is this also about attracting new customers to the brand? Thank you.
Every year, we have our existing customers, and we also keep gaining new customers. You see, Louise, we talk a lot about customers, and we say young customers. But you see, I was young myself. What you buy at 25, you don't buy at 27. What you buy at 27, you don't buy at 29, because that's the way it is. We have our important customers. We were awarded the GQ prize for menswear, and we have many new customers. Of course, they need to be wealthy because we have that kind of product. But in the company, you see, we are not fascinated by looking and being always on the lookout for young customers. Because young customers, you can really be sure that after 2 years, they will stop buying your brand.
You see human beings, now they find their balance when they turn 38-40. We say our clientele today is very sound, and I would say between 35 and 50 years of age. What matters is that all these important celebrities, actors, and movie directors, and we do not pay them, of course, they all tend to wear these garments, and they pay for them. This is very important for us that we have a Chinese actor wearing this or in Los Angeles or an Italian actor or actress. We are very pleased. I say it once again, I do not want to have very, very, very young customers, because after 3 years' time, you will lose him or her.
Since we want our company to survive for the next 100 years, we need sound, solid customers. Yes, Riccardo was actually adding something interesting here. We never make any distinction between VIP or non-VIP customers. For us, if you turn up, and you just buy one pullover, whereas if you are someone who buys $400,000, it doesn't make any difference. These are all friends of the brand because the fact of organizing stuff for the VIP clients, yes, you can make more money perhaps, but those who are not VIPs, how do they feel? This is not part of our corporate culture.
For us, it is all, friends of the brand and customers, that if you buy a sweater, only they might buy the sweater for 30 years, or maybe if they buy for 20 pullovers in a year, maybe they no longer buy you. Thank you, Louise. No more questions. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you for your questions. You should know that we work especially on the labor conditions of the human being to make very special high-quality goods. Thank you and good night.