Zimmermann CEO Roberto Eggs Talks Strategic Vision for Brand Growth

Zimmermann wants to own a bigger piece of a woman’s wardrobe.

Roberto Eggs, the company’s chief executive officer, along with Nicky Zimmermann, cofounder and creative director, and Simone Zimmermann, cofounder and chief operating officer, sat down with WWD Tuesday at the Zimmermann store at 39 Greene Street in SoHo for an exclusive interview about the company’s ambitious growth and strategic plans. The three executives were in New York this week to celebrate their cruise collection, which was shown in May in Antibes, France, at a party at Indochine Wednesday night.

Established in Sydney in 1991, Zimmermann has carved out a space for itself as a luxury lifestyle brand with a robust retail, online and wholesale operation. The brand is accelerating on all fronts, expanding to new retail locations globally, growing its wholesale and online business and going deeper in categories such as shoes, handbags, denim and soft accessories. The company wants to be known not just for occasion wear, but for clothing to wear on a daily basis.

Zimmermann has put a focus on 15 global cities where it sees significant opportunities to further strengthen brand visibility and presence, although the brand will continue to expand its retail footprint and establish presence in other markets.

Perhaps the biggest news for the brand is that it plans to open a 15,000-square-foot flagship on Avenue Montaigne in Paris in 2028.

Zimmermann has 118 freestanding stores worldwide and sells to 500 stores. The company is in the midst of renovating some of its stores, opening new ones, entering Mexico and South America, and furthering its retail presence in Asia. Wholesale is less than one-third of the business, and direct-to-consumer is the fastest-growing segment, Eggs said.

In 2023, private equity firm Advent International acquired a majority stake in Zimmermann from Style Capital, which together with the Zimmermann family retained a significant minority shareholding.

“They [Advent] are quite easy to work with and very supportive. They are interested in developing the business, and they are pushing us to develop a stronger brand,” Eggs said.

Eggs became CEO of Zimmermann last May, having served on the company’s board of directors since March 2025. Earlier he spent 11 years at Moncler, rising to chief strategy and global markets officer and before that, chief marketing and operating officer and board member. He remains on the Moncler board. He also spent six years at Louis Vuitton, including president, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa.

As CEO, Eggs succeeded Chris Olliver, Nicky Zimmermann’s husband, who had served in the role since 2005. Olliver became executive chairman, and is still very much involved in the business.

Several major store renovations and relocations are underway in Palm Beach, Fla., Bal Harbour Shops in Miami, Melrose Place in Los Angeles and Americana Manhasset. New stores just opened in Chicago, Nashville, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and additional ones will open soon in Maui, Hawaii; Coral Gables, Fla.; The Forum in Las Vegas, and King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pa. The stores are designed by Don McQualter from Studio McQualter, a building and design firm with offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Eggs said America is the most important market for the brand, which has been in the U.S. since 2011. The brand opened its first store in L.A. on Robertson Boulevard, opposite The Ivy. The L.A. store has since moved to Melrose Place.

It has been reported by ragtrader.com.au that Zimmermann generated 738.7 million Australian dollars, about $519.9 million, in total sales for the financial year ended June 30. That number reflected a 14.4 percent increase year-on-year from the previous fiscal year. Zimmermann officials declined to confirm the numbers.

Eggs was asked what attracted him to Zimmermann at this particular point of growth.

“Well, I had the chance to enter and meet the team when I was on the board, and this is already one and a half years ago. I saw the energy of the two sisters, and their very peculiar point of view that they had on fashion, and on the way they were seeing women. For me, I said there is an edge in what they have been accomplishing in the past 30 years. There’s really something different from what I see currently in fashion,” Eggs said.

Asked to describe the edge, he said, “First of all, there is a sense of escapism and joy. In French, we say joie de vivre, that you really don’t find. Some are really too serious, and I think in the current world, where you have bad news one after the other every day, I think this sense of joy, escapism, the sense of movement. I like when Nicky and Simone are working on the styling session, you will always see the dresses in movement, and this is quite huge.”

As Nicky Zimmermann explained, “I love watching when we’re working on a garment in slow motion. It’s a bit of a thing. The team and I have done it for quite a long time because we see where the fabric’s going. We see the flow of the whole thing completely. So you get that whole idea. Because that’s such an important element to us, and Roberto obviously has recognized it. It’s how we draw them. We do all hand sketches or illustration. Our illustrations are something our team is pretty proud of because a lot of people don’t do illustrations how we do. And for me, and how we teach all of the juniors coming through is show the movement of the fabric.”

Eggs said he leaves the design up to the sisters. “I think creativity is in very goods hands. I’m trying to translate the creativity into something that is meaningful and accessible for clients afterward. So I don’t think that is my added value to give my opinion, but I think that with Simone and Nicky we are in very good hands. I’m trying to put some methodology behind it, some focus, hero styles, and leverage a little bit what I’ve learned from the industry in the past 20 years.”

With his experience at Moncler and LVMH, Eggs believes the brand is on track to become a big global luxury player.

“Well, it’s one of the reasons I joined. I see there is tremendous potential behind the brand, I was attracted first by the product and the people,” Eggs said. “And then looking at what has already been accomplished. I say we are already on a very good track, and I thought that I could be helping to move to the next level. I think we are not translating this into figures and numbers because I think you need to have an approach that is a brand-first approach. So I will be happy in five years when the brand is stronger, more recognized and more internationally distributed in the cities and resorts that matter for our clients.”

Eggs said the goal is not to be everywhere. “We have identified 15 cities where we want the brand around the world. Then there are a few destinations in the U.S., such as New York, Los Angeles and Florida.” He also said a presence on the website is very important. He said that compared to other channels and in comparison to his peers, digital offers Zimmermann substantial potential for further expansion.

With a wholesale base of 500 stores, Eggs sees that channel as an opportunity. “It’s a good number. I think it retains the exclusivity, not being present everywhere. We have the right partners. Some of them have been with us a very long time.” Net-a-porter, which has been an account since 2006, plans a special capsule next spring celebrating the 20-year anniversary. Zimmermann also sells such stores as Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Eggs noted that some of their accounts are moving into a concession model in stores such as Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdale’s.

“I think that the move to direct-to-consumer is something that in luxury is paying off. The direct feedback from the clients keeps you awake and you can see what you’re doing on the product side, and building the relationship with the customer is working. So naturally we are driving towards this. But I think that there is big value still in being in wholesale,” Eggs said.

Describing whom they consider their customer, Simone Zimmermann said, “It’s a type of person. It’s an attitude. It’s somebody who wants to enjoy what they’re going to wear. They’re going to an occasion. Age really isn’t consideration. They’re coming to us for either a resort-driven focus…or occasion-driven. They’re coming for their 40th birthday party. They’re coming for whatever those special occasions could be.” She said that when she speaks to customers, they say they wore a Zimmermann dress for a memorable occasion such as the night they got engaged. “We want it to become a part of their memories, and that is key to our brand and how we design. Be it the resort part of what we do, or the occasion part,” she said.

Eggs sees that as a differentiated starting point. “But it shouldn’t become a limitation in the sense that we would really like to work now on the elevation of the brand, in building up a wardrobe, and to have [customers] wear our dresses [not just on occasions] more on a daily basis, and the huge success we’re having now in denim.”

Nicky Zimmermann said they’ve been offering denim for some time, but now they’re more focused on it. “It’s definitely something that’s bringing a new and different client to us. It’s something I personally really enjoy designing and working into, and I think it is part of what Roberto is saying, is building out the offer of what Zimmermann is known for, and the denim is something that we’re able to have pretty quick cut-through with what we’re doing.

“I think what makes it stand out is that I’m able to do it in a way where we can have denim that works with the swim collection, so we have something that may have a slightly more vintage kind of vibe. It’s very much focused on fit, and it has a slight difference to the ready-to-wear. The ready-to-wear will still have some kind of feature to it that is unique to Zimmermann, and it will follow certain codes that we do in Zimmermann, but it’s in denim.” She said it has a slightly more everyday kind of feeling “But there’s still a design element to it,” she said.

She said they do khaki denim, white denim, dark denim and different washes. They have a classic flare denim, which has been built into the business. She said the denim sells for around $400 to $500. They showed a jean that they called “the bird jean,” which had birds embroidered down the side. It became a bestseller, and was recut three times. It was first shown in slightly washed denim, then dark denim and white denim. Last spring they did a butterfly denim, which had 3D Butterly appliqué detailing along the sides.

Eggs approached Nicky Zimmermann one day and said they should do more soft accessories in their prints. Eggs said he was at an event on Lake Como with Mytheresa and it was chilly and he saw women in beautiful Zimmermann dresses, but without Zimmermann scarfs. “And I said, honestly, we shouldn’t allow that,” he said. So now they’ve got more scarves, and the company had 132 percent growth in soft accessories, coming from a relatively small base. The brand is actively developing these categories, which represent an important opportunity for growth.

Turning to where he sees the greatest untapped potential geographically, Eggs said, “I think there’s still potential in every region, starting in the U.S. This year we have two new cities we are opening, and we are refreshing the present [stores]. We are entering Mexico this year and we have a couple of openings this year and next year. We are going to look at South America, where we are not present yet, and Canada, where we have reduced presence for the time being. So there is also a possibility to increase our footprint for the Americas.”

He said the brand entered Asia in 2022 and now has six stores in China. “We have a very reduced footprint in China.” He said that some of his peers are struggling in China, “but for us, it’s untapped potential with only six stores.”

Eggs also sees potential in Southeast Asia, and opened a store last year in Bangkok, and will open a second store there at the beginning of 2027. They are also going to open in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, as well as Singapore.

He said that their presence in the Middle East is also growing with a new store set to open in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In the Middle East, they are working with Chalhoub, the distributor.

Zimmermann, which became a member this year of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode in Paris, has ateliers in both Paris and Sydney. Nicky Zimmermann, who travels to Paris every six weeks, said the Paris atelier is learning the ways in which Zimmermann does things in print, embroidery and artwork, while Paris specializes in tailoring and outerwear, and all the accessories are done through Europe. Zimmermann has had a Paris atelier for the past four years.

As for additional opportunities, Zimmermann is investing in its footwear business and is interested in doing a scent, which is in the works. Nicky Zimmermann said she’s obsessed with skin care and makeup but it’s not in the cards right now. “It’s a journey. We’ll get there. We just try and make sure what we are doing is really good,” Nicky Zimmermann said.

When Eggs took on the CEO role, he had certain priorities. “First of all, it was to get the alignment between the family, the shareholders, and defining the roadmap for the next three to five years. So this focus on core cities was part of it. These 15 cities. And I would like to spend some time in Paris because everything is going to start from there. Then focus on the new product categories, the soft accessories, and making our bag business even more relevant, and the shoes as being categories that are completing the wardrobe and are making it not only an occasion brand but more day-to-day brand.”

He also focused on the people. “I think we still need to scale the number of people and not to run the business faster than what we are capable to do it. So we are currently recruiting and training people.” The company has 550 people in corporate and just under 2,000 employed in the stores.

He said they also want to focus on the store experience because “to create desire you need to have a compelling product offer that is very different with a strong point of view. You need to price it the correct way because you have seen this lately, the past couple of years when prices went too high. So we are spending a lot of time discussing what is the right price for this product,” Eggs said.

Asked where he sees Zimmermann in three to five years, Eggs said, “I would like to see a company and a brand that is even stronger, more present in Asia, more present in China and more present in Europe because there is still lot of work to do in Europe and the capitals like London, Milan and Paris.” Eggs said the Paris flagship “is going to make the brand much more visible.”

As for the biggest challenges facing Zimmermann, Eggs said, “It’s not to grow at a faster pace that the organization can support. The quality needs to be there in every element. I’d like to find the right speed of growth. I think we need to be ambitious in the target that we want to set, but need to be rigorous about the steps, so not going too fast.”