MILAN — Eredi Zucca is officially expanding its footprint to the United States.
The Milan-based luxury grooming brand, which operates as part of Davide De Giglio’s D Capital beauty portfolio alongside prominent names such as Isamaya Beauty and Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, is launching Stateside via an exclusive retail partnership with Violet Grey.
In an interview discussing the brand’s official foray into the American market, chief executive officer Fabio Cantù explained that the expansion comes after recognizing strong organic demand from domestic shoppers. The company gathered key insights through its proprietary digital business channels, revealing that the U.S. market has steadily grown into its leading online destination. Furthermore, local customers have proven to be exceptionally loyal and recurring shoppers, prompting the leadership team to actively nurture a dedicated community in the region.
For Cantù, collaborating with a globally relevant partner like Violet Grey provides an invaluable opportunity to approach the market from a fresh, localized perspective. The retailer’s selective curation and strong online traction were major factors in attracting the CEO, who also heavily emphasized the value of physical brick-and-mortar outposts. These traditional retail locations will enable the brand to establish direct, meaningful interactions with its American clientele.
Cantù further credited the retailer for recognizing Eredi Zucca’s unique and historical positioning within the luxury grooming and hair care sectors. The brand’s identity directly builds upon the rich legacy of the Zucca family of barbers, a tradition that dates back to 1652 when Carlo Antonio Zucca opened his very first traditional barber shop in the heart of Milan.
These foundational categories will anchor the initial selection of products carried by Violet Grey. At the same time, the brand’s ever-expanding fragrance and lifestyle collections will also be included in the product offering, serving as particularly crucial components heading into the peak holiday shopping season.
Violet Grey will feature a highly curated selection of best-selling items, which Cantù notes is an ideal strategy because it allows the brand to seamlessly integrate this physical assortment with the full catalog available online. He observed that the U.S. is one of the markets that has responded most enthusiastically to the brand’s initial storytelling and core DNA.
According to Cantù, customers are typically drawn in first by the grooming and hair care lines precisely because there remains a noticeable gap in the American marketplace for high-end offerings specifically tailored to the modern gentleman. However, once a client officially steps into the Eredi Zucca world, they organically transition to exploring and purchasing the brand’s luxury fragrances as well.
Propelled in part by newer formulations such as the "Santo" and "Ventuno" scents—both of which will be included in the initial Violet Grey assortment—Eredi Zucca’s fragrance line has experienced rapid growth. The category now accounts for roughly half of the brand’s total sales, though exact financial figures were not disclosed by Cantù.
Introduced just last year, the eau de parfum collection proved to be pivotal in allowing the brand to stretch its broader wholesale footprint and unlock access to new retail doors. Consequently, the primary corporate goal moving forward is to continue expanding the fragrance catalog by introducing between two and four new scents every single year, according to Cantù.
The fragrance line serves as an olfactory tribute to the visionary thinkers, artists, and trailblazers who have historically shaped Milan’s vibrant cultural, artistic, political, and intellectual landscape. Specific examples include "Tabacco," a scent dedicated to Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan and patron of Leonardo da Vinci; "Cuoio," which pays homage to the legendary composer Giuseppe Verdi; and "Ultima Cena," an olfactory homage to Leonardo da Vinci and his world-renowned masterpiece, The Last Supper. Each individual fragrance is housed in an elegant glass flacon adorned with intricate brass elements, featuring an engraved cap alongside a custom cameo representing each historical personality. The 100-milliliter format retails for 250 euros.
While maintaining a genderless approach to its scent design, the fragrance collection is slated to evolve by paying tribute to the prominent female personalities who similarly left an indelible mark on Milan’s history, Cantù teased. This strategic move is designed to further appeal to female customers who are increasingly drawn to Eredi Zucca and are regularly purchasing the products for themselves rather than for their partners.
Meanwhile, the home collection—which includes scented candles, diffusers, and air mists—accounts for 20 percent of total sales and will be continuously enhanced through targeted capsule collections and special product drops.
Starting in January, the company is also set to debut its new range of hotel amenities developed in collaboration with leading specialist La Bottega Collective. Through this partnership, Eredi Zucca will become an official partner of the legendary Orient Express, among other high-end hospitality groups.
This upcoming line will see the brand officially expand further into the hospitality and luxury hotel sectors, though strictly within high-end locations and environments that align perfectly with its upscale positioning. Cantù emphasized that the brand has no interest in being available everywhere.
Since taking the reins of Eredi Zucca earlier this year, Cantù has spearheaded both the overarching product strategy and the brand’s global distribution framework. Over a span of 10 months, Eredi Zucca has expanded its presence through both direct channels—which include a standalone barber shop in Milan and the official e-commerce store—and a growing network of wholesale partners. These direct and wholesale channels currently account for 40 percent and 60 percent of total sales, respectively.
The brand’s wholesale footprint currently encompasses 30 doors in Italy, featuring premier stockists such as Antonia, alongside a broader network of international destinations ranging from Crème de la Crème in the Balkans to Selfridges in the United Kingdom. Eredi Zucca hosted a pop-up shop at Selfridges last month, an activation that Cantù noted was instrumental in helping the company further understand local consumer demands.
The brand is stepping into the United States following a grounded and methodical journey throughout the year, which focused on consolidating its presence across Europe—starting with core markets like Italy and Germany—alongside the Middle East, a region that remains critical for the brand in terms of positioning, quality storytelling, and prestige.
In the Middle East, the brand has partnered with the Al Tayer Group to execute a comprehensive regional rollout plan, making its products available at prominent department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Ounass. While the rollout has momentarily pivoted toward digital channels due to prevailing regional circumstances, Cantù noted that leadership plans to meet with local partners to discuss and advance the physical retail strategy.
Operating within the current global economic and geopolitical context is far from simple. Cantù noted that the single greatest challenge facing businesses today lies in successfully adapting overarching strategies to fit specific local circumstances. While the Middle East presents a unique landscape that is poised to gain significant traction in the years ahead, the brand is actively tailoring its approach across the Gulf region without hitting pause on its ambitions. Similar strategic adjustments are being applied to Asian markets, where ongoing currency fluctuations have temporarily dampened the market momentum that European luxury brands might otherwise enjoy.
Earlier in the year, Cantù revealed plans to open a second standalone store in a major European capital as part of a midterm goal to operate roughly eight flagship locations. However, that specific move has since been postponed.
The current real estate market is exceptionally complex, particularly across Europe, where commercial space turnover remains remarkably low. Cantù emphasized that the brand is meticulous when it comes to securing the ideal location, noting that they operate a discreet "hidden suite" concept in Milan and hope to replicate that specific ambiance elsewhere. Consequently, several retail openings originally in the pipeline have been pushed back.
The long-term real estate strategy involves establishing Eredi Zucca barber shops in key global cultural capitals such as London, Paris, Dubai, and New York, alongside smaller product-only retail units and dedicated shop-in-shops inside major department stores. For instance, Eredi Zucca recently unveiled a permanent retail corner at Communité’s Galataport Istanbul location, which is set to be followed by another opening at the Turkish retailer’s İstinyePark outpost next year.
Overall, the company’s wholesale footprint currently spans 100 doors, a figure projected to stretch to 120 units by the end of the year. Cantù reaffirmed his previously stated corporate goal of reaching 30 million euros in sales by 2029.
Launched in 2023, Eredi Zucca stands as one of the venture investments in Davide De Giglio’s investment firm, D Capital. De Giglio, an Italian entrepreneur and businessman who cofounded New Guards Group, established D Capital following his exit from NGG in June 2023, four years after the business was acquired by Farfetch.
In addition to holding a majority stake in Eredi Zucca, De Giglio was a cofounding investor in Isamaya Beauty and acquired a minority stake in Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in 2022. More recently, D Capital made its inaugural venture into the fashion sector by acquiring a 55 percent stake in menswear brand Umit Benan. The investment portfolio also features a luxury food extension through Volzhenka Caviar.
