Dolce ⁘ Gabbana Beauty is not shy about its ambitions to dominate the luxury designer cosmetics category.
From 2016-2021, Shiseido held control over the D⁘G Beauty licenses, but when they expired, the Italian fashion house decided to take the brand in-house. Between 2022 and 2024, the brand quickly scaled, bringing in more than 300 new employees under D⁘G Beauty, led by CEO Gianluca Toniolo. Toniolo, who is proud to say he was employee No. 1, came from LVMH, where he was formerly the country general manager of LVMH Perfumes ⁘ Cosmetics in Italy. Most recently, D⁘G Beauty expanded to the U.S. via an exclusive retail partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, where a collection of 11 products are sold on Saks.com and in select Saks Fifth Avenue stores.
While setting up the in-house brand through hiring, product development and global subsidiary offices was done rapidly, Toniolo described makeup as a marathon. Consider, then, that the brand sprinted to the start line before starting its true marathon race. With the team's classic Italian sense of passion underscoring its ambitions, Toniolo said the brand earned $100 million in product sell-out in 2022 and plans to reach $300 million in product sell-out in 2024. In 2022, makeup comprised approximately 5% of the overall sales, but Toniolo plans to grow that to 30% in three to five years.
“Everything is possible because of the commitment of Stefano [Gabbana] and Domenico [Dolce],” said Toniolo. ⁘This is not something I found in my previous experience with other fashion brands. Usually, [designer brands] consider the beauty category like the [younger sibling]. But they recognize the same importance within the brand as fashion, jewelry, etcetera.”
Glossy caught up with Toniolo to discuss the brand's growth, its unique execution and its future growth plans.
If [a designer brand] only works in beauty through fragrance, you are not considered a well-established or big player in the beauty space. You need at least two [categories], like fragrances and makeup, to be considered at the top of [designer] brands. And this is exactly our goal.”
