Harmont & Blaine to focus on Iberian Peninsula, resorts, sustainability, digital, and wholesale in 2026

Harmont & Blaine’s strategic shift continues apace. The ‘Bassotto’ (Dachshund) brand has recently reorganised its executive leadership and embarked on a second three-year governance period focused on a further development and implementation of its industrial plan. From its stunning 1,200 square metre Milan showroom, the label shared with FashionNetwork.com positive figures for 2025 and further growth for 2026, heralded by the new Autumn-Winter 2026/27 collection titled “The Art of Renewal.”

“The line is called ‘The Art of Renewal’ because it represents something of the culmination of an evolutionary journey for our collection and a return to focusing on raw materials, fabrics, savoir-faire, and the desire to embed value in the product we offer our customers,” says Daniele Ondeggia, Harmont & Blaine’s general manager.

Also designed by Tiziano Foglia, Harmont & Blaine underscores its commitment to the ecosystem and, for the second consecutive season, presents the upcycling capsule collection “Re-Loved,” in collaboration with Roberto Lonoce, co-founder and creative director of Re-Jàvu Milano, while also developing the theme of earth dye in denim- namely, the use of natural raw materials in manufacturing and highly sustainable techniques in fabric dyeing. These responsible, alternative treatments are applied not only to cotton but also to jeans overdyed with natural earth pigments, using low-water washes and finishes.

Typically strong in shirts, polos, and trousers, over the past decade Harmont & Blaine has successfully increased its recognition as a total look brand, with an offer that now encompasses footwear, accessories, knitwear, scarves, and bags- the result of substantial work on evolution and brand awareness. “The brand is no longer solely masculine. The women’s collection is now a flagship in its own right and is achieving spectacular growth,” Ondeggia is keen to emphasise. “We have finally found the right coherence between the women’s offer and the menswear style, with a high perceived value- so much so that H&B womenswear sales are growing by 40–50% every year, accounting for around 10% of overall revenue.”

Among the reasons why the Bassotto management believes there can be significant growth for the brand in the near future is the completion of its infrastructure. “A few weeks ago we launched our CRM and marketing automation engine; we have invested in human capital, hiring a specialist in this field with extensive experience and a strong track record in previous roles,” says the general manager.

Harmont & Blaine is headquartered in Naples and is distributed in 46 countries. With around 120 directly operated mono-brand stores and shop-in-shops (about half in Italy) and no fewer than 38 points of sale in Spain, its second-largest market, the brand is focusing strongly on the Iberian Peninsula, where it is finalising the establishment of a subsidiary in Portugal, a country where it did not previously have a presence, specifically in the Algarve.

With its 630 employees, about 480 of whom are in Italy (and as many as 1,000 across the indirect workforce), Harmont & Blaine is pursuing a strategy of brand takeovers in elegant, prestigious locations- such as ski resorts or mountain refuges in winter, and resorts or beach clubs in summer. “We have recently made several investments in this area by sponsoring in Capri- the place from which our collection draws its inspiration- the main bar in the Piazzetta, Bar Tiberio, which we have ‘Bassotto-ised’ with every possible fabric and element,” the executive says. “Of course, we organised several events on site, also because we own a boutique in Capri, on Via Camerelle. The new element is Cortina, where we sponsored Chalet Tofane and opened a corner at the Cortina cooperative, with targeted initiatives for the Olympics.”

Further development prospects in Spain will come thanks to El Corte Inglés, where the Italian brand currently has 34 corners, with some potential openings in this historic department store chain in the pipeline. “So Spain, resort takeovers, eco-sustainability, digital, and wholesale will be our primary focus areas- the channels where we expect to see a huge acceleration in 2026 in terms of sales,” summarises the manager.

Although Harmont & Blaine’s image is always associated with summer, the Mediterranean and colour, the numbers show that the brand now generates 50% of its turnover in autumn-winter. “However, we want to address more forcefully a market segment that knows us less well: the mountain outdoor segment. We have many garments that are perfect for this purpose, and for the Olympics we have developed a high-quality capsule,” says the general manager, who is very pleased with the recently signed EU-Mercosur agreement, which will further liberalise trade between the two areas.

“In Latin America, particularly in Central and South America, we are historically very strong. We are not present in Brazil, but we are distributed in Mexico through a partnership with Palacio de Hierro, where we have our own subsidiary with 14 stores,” Ondeggia explains. “Then the company has partnerships in place with all the countries in that area, from the Caribbean islands to Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, and in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Panama, precisely because the product meets the appreciation of a local clientele that loves colour and freshness. It will now be an even more important outlet.”

Harmont & Blaine also established a subsidiary in the US last year, opening two stores in Miami, at Aventura Mall and Brickell City Centre. This marked a direct entry after the brand had been present in the US for many years only through a distributor. And the US is the Bassotto brand’s second-largest e-commerce market.

According to the executive, e-commerce has great growth potential for the Neapolitan brand, following an investment in digital transformation that began in 2024 and started to bear fruit in 2025. “The infrastructure is powerful; we believe this technological investment will allow us to see solid double-digit growth in the e-shop’s revenue, which we currently consider insufficient, at around 4%,” reveals Ondeggia. “Womenswear, for example, performs very well in brick-and-mortar, but we have to learn to push it online.”

What about wholesale? On 2025 revenue of €103 million, the wholesale share is about 20%. The brand has around 350 multi-brand clients in Italy and another 200 around the world, and in addition to Portugal the company is advancing a distribution project in India, a country now growing by around 10% a year, where the Bassotto is about to enter via a local distributor.

“For all these reasons, we expect significant growth in 2026,” continues Daniele Ondeggia, “also because we have an ongoing process to streamline our operational engine, ranging from the collection structure to merchandising and buying processes, through to distribution and the revision of the production footprint, to give more space to local workshops- nearshoring in contrast to what has happened in past years, when many relied on the Far East. Therefore,” he continues, “even at the organisational level, we are trying to rationalise, streamline, and recalibrate the business model in a market environment that offers many opportunities but also much uncertainty- not least the numerous luxury brands that have seen significant drops in their share prices.”

For the executive, the shareholder base is confident. It consists of the founding family, the Menniti-Montefusco, who control the brand with a 60% stake, alongside Bassotto 2.0, a club deal that acquired 40% of the company, a stake that had in turn been held by the Clessidra fund for eight years. “I joined the company precisely when the fund came in,” Ondeggia concludes. “In this organisation, the front-runner of the club deal is engineer Riccardo Bruno, the person who at Clessidra invested in Harmont & Blaine. Now, however, he has chosen to invest in the brand independently, with his own money, precisely because he knows the brand’s potential well.”