PLEIN’S TOP LINE: Ahead of his spring 2027 show in Milan, which featured a monster truck spectacle alongside the fashion one, Philipp Plein said his company was in rude health and that the U.S. market is driving sales.

In response to questions from WWD, Plein said footwear is a top-selling category with more than 100 million euros in annual revenue. Men’s tailoring, he added, remains a big part of the business, while women’s ready-to-wear has been catching up with 2 to 3 percent growth in the past year.

Plein, who is founder, creative director and chief executive officer of his namesake company, said that thanks to a recent restructuring and cost-cutting plan, EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, will grow in the double digits this year, on the back of “stable” sales.

Like many European companies right now, the company’s largest market is the U.S., which generates around 25 percent of revenues. Plein said the brand just joined Nordstrom’s online marketplace, and notched around $1 million in sales in the first month — even without a full assortment available yet.

He said the brand is turning over $25 million annually on Farfetch, with most of those sales coming from the U.S.

The plan is to expand into Mexico with a store that will open in the first quarter of 2027. The brand also plans to reopen a store in Rome, having exited the city after the lease on Via del Babuino expired.

Plein said he was proud to be the owner of an independent company and described himself as a “dinosaur” in the fashion business world.

“Almost everybody in the fashion has sold their company — or at least most of the Italians have. Or they become very old, like Mr. Armani, the number-one legend, and unfortunately pass away. And when the captain leaves the boat, the boat often goes in other directions,” he said.

Plein added: “I am one of the last designers here, who still has control of my company, and that’s why I’m a dinosaur. I’m not the future, I’m the past.”