Photo Description: Chanel, pg. de Gràcia 70 (Barcelona), cantonada c. València. Credits: Enric, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The house posts 3% growth on Blazy buzz, while Zara bets big on Bad Bunny
PARIS — In a luxury market that has spent the last 18 months learning how to say “normalisation” in five languages, Chanel has just delivered the rarest of things: a modest, credible beat.
The privately held house closed the first quarter with revenues up 3% year-on-year to $19.3 billion, according to figures circulated to partners this week. The lift is small by pandemic-era standards, but significant because it reverses a 4.3% decline in 2024 and comes as rivals LVMH and Kering report flat or falling sales.
The reason, internally, has a name: Matthieu Blazy.
The French-Belgian designer — former Bottega Veneta creative director, now six months into his Chanel tenure — has not yet shown a couture collection in Paris. He doesn’t need to. His debut ready-to-wear, with its frayed tweeds, softened shoulders and an $8,500 leather maxi flap bag, has already sparked what buyers are calling “Blazymania.” Stores report waitlists for reissued classics, and first-time clients — especially in the Americas, where sales rose 7% — are citing Blazy’s “heritage-modernity balance” as the draw.
The numbers come with a caveat. Net profit fell 14.3% as Chanel poured money into 41 new boutiques last year and earmarked 30 more for 2026, plus atelier upgrades in Aubervilliers. CEO Leena Nair has told investors the house will “maintain elevated spending while limiting price increases” — a marked shift after years of annual hikes that pushed a classic flap past €10,000.
Analysts see the 3% rise less as a boom than as proof of resilience. The global luxury sector is in a clear readjustment phase after the post-Covid sprint. Chinese demand remains soft, American aspirational shoppers are trading down, and even Hermès is talking about “volume discipline.” In that context, Chanel’s ability to grow — even modestly — on design anticipation rather than price alone looks like a strategy, not a blip.
Meanwhile, on the high street
If Chanel is betting on craft, Inditex is betting on culture. Zara, the group’s core engine, launched its most ambitious celebrity collaboration to date on 21 May: a 150-piece “Benito Antonio” collection with Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny.
The line — named after the artist’s birth name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — was teased for months after Bad Bunny wore head-to-toe Zara for his Super Bowl halftime show and again at the Met Gala. It debuted not in Madrid but with a pop-up at Plaza Las Américas in San Juan on 16 May, where the singer appeared barefoot to greet fans.
The collection mixes streetwear and tailoring, priced from $45.90 to $300, and includes a swimsuit replica of his Met Gala look. Zara executives describe it as “a cultural statement wrapped in fabric,” a clear pivot from the chain’s traditional model of rapid catwalk copies to exclusive, artist-led drops.
It’s a playbook fast fashion has been forced to learn. After years of margin pressure, sustainability scrutiny and Shein-driven price wars, Zara, H&M and Uniqlo are all chasing scarcity and storytelling. Collaborations — once a novelty — are now core to keeping footfall in stores.
Two speeds, one industry
The contrast is instructive. Chanel is slowing down to protect desirability: fewer price hikes, more investment in making things, a creative director given time to build a language. Zara is speeding up culturally, borrowing fame to stay relevant in a market where a TikTok can move more units than a runway.
Both approaches respond to the same post-boom reality: growth in fashion in 2026 will not come from opening more stores or raising tags, but from convincing customers — whether they spend $50 or $8,500 — that what they’re buying means something.
For Chanel, that meaning is currently spelled B-L-A-Z-Y. For Zara, it’s spelled B-A-D B-U-N-N-Y. The rest of the industry is watching to see which alphabet sells.
