Catapano Group grows in Europe and the USA, expects 10% revenue growth in 2025
2024 was a positive year for Italian childrenswear specialist Catapano Group, based in Nola, near Naples, owner of Fun&Fun and HLove and licensee of Seville and Marc Ellis, for which it also produces womenswear. Catapano Group regularly exhibits at Pitti Bimbo, where founder and owner Giovanni Catapano told FashionNetwork.com he is happy with how fiscal 2025 has started.
'Our main brand, Fun&Fun, is split into Fun&Fun Baby, Fun&Fun Couture and Fun&Fun Chic, and the Couture and Chic segments, especially the summer collections, are doing very well, since we're targeting a high-level audience, notably for occasionwear. Our products are both neat and sophisticated,' said Catapano. For Spring/Summer 2026, the group has increased the number of SKUs of its flagship brand Fun&Fun to 1,100, 'chiefly made in cotton. Any polyester we use is found on the outside [of garments], the layer underneath is always cotton only,' he added.
'We've done good business at Pitti Bimbo 101, with significant orders placed by clients from the Arab world, notably the UAE, and Japan,' said Catapano. In fiscal 2024, the group recorded a revenue of €12.8 million, 70% of which was generated by Fun&Fun and 30% by licensed brands with the summer 2025 collections.
'Fifteen stores of the 17teen childrenswear chain are currently selling our brands, on which we are investing and expending a great deal of energy. They are also distributed via 450 multibrand stores in Italy and abroad,' said Catapano. He added that he's aiming 'to win back the Russian market, which we lost in the wake of the conflict. This is why our revenue slumped from the €18 million we'd recorded pre-Covid, but we're taking small steps in the right direction in Russia, and in Ukraine too.'
The group, which used to have a strong position in eastern Europe, employs 45 people, and its main markets outside Italy are the UK, the Netherlands and the UAE. It is also doing well in the USA, its fastest-growing market last year.
'We're expecting to generate a revenue of €13.5 million in 2025, a growth of about 10%,' said Catapano. He added that 'we're happy about our licensing business, and we're thinking of adding more brands, but only of a very, very high calibre. We know how to make extremely fine clothes, only a high fashion brand would be right for us. We're working on it.'
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