Wolford Marks 75th Anniversary With Bodysuit, Campaign, Business Plans

MILAN — The impact of the graphic silhouette of Wolford’s signature turtleneck bodysuit comes second only to that of the diverse cast the company has tapped to celebrate its 75th anniversary in its new campaign.

For the occasion, a group of women of different ages and origins posed against majestic natural landscapes united by a large, flowing fabric evoking continuity and connection, all wearing the timeless pieces the Bregenz, Austria-based market leader in all-things skinwear selected to mark its milestone.

“We’ve been known as a pioneer and expert in second-skin dressing, which we started with stockings made with a seamless technology that we have invented… and that evolved into circular knitting technology that allows us to make dresses, bodysuits and other products,” said Nao Takekoshi, Wolford’s creative director since 2023. “But when I was thinking about this 75th year anniversary, I didn’t want to talk about something so technical because in the end… [women] don’t really care so much about the technicalities of a product but how it feels on the skin. So instead of talking about what kind of thread, material and special technique we used, I focused on the women who wear it.”

Shot in Sicily, the images were photographed by Camila Falquez, whom Takekoshi tapped not only because he appreciated her work but for her different background. Colombian-born, raised in Mexico, rooted in Spain, and now based in New York, Falquez is a visual artist who explores contemporary feminine identities through photography, and was called to bring her unique perspective and female gaze to the project.

“I wanted someone to filter my vision with a more feminine touch and then communicate that to the models, because a shooting is always all about the chemistry between photographer and the cast,” said Takekoshi.

Titled “The Thread of Attitude,” the campaign will be released on Thursday, to coincide with the launch of a special bodysuit at Wolford stores, its e-commerce and a selection of international multibrand retailers.

For the occasion, Takekoshi has developed an even more elevated iteration of Wolford’s iconic product, here crafted for the first time from luxurious merino wool which comes with a lightweight and soft touch. Presented in a new color palette inspired by nature and ranging from black, deep night, dark wood to crimson and pink, it will retail at 325 euros.

The project comes at a time the company is pivoting creatively and experiencing a seismic shift business-wise.

Takekoshi described it as moving “from making just great products to becoming a brand with a purpose, which is to really empower women.”

His long-term vision lies on expanding the product assortment to better serve her demands and cover different needs, from day to night. Takekoshi gradually built on this mission introducing capsule collections of easy-to-approach pieces that could be effortlessly mixed and matched and introducing also more fluid designs as an alternative to Wolford’s renowned body-hugging ones.

Bringing his ready-to-wear experience honed by previously working at the likes of Issey Miyake, Donna Karan and Jil Sander, he also focused on sheer dresses and separates that could target nighttime and special occasions; seasonal lines and more daring propositions flanking the brand’s timeless pieces as well as stepped into uncharted territories for Wolford via tailoring made of stretched recycled polyester.

“So we’re covering a range of scenes and can be useful to everyone’s lifestyle, from the sexy girl to the office woman. But we always have this body language in the equation, so there’s always stretch and comfort,” said Takekoshi.

Asked if an expansion into accessories and a men’s proposition might be next, the designer sounded cautious and implied they are not a priority at the moment. “I don’t think there’s any boundaries to what we can do but at the same time, we have to be very careful about how to expand because I don’t want to dilute the culture of offer that we have inherited for 75 years,” he said. “It’s a very careful, selective process that we need to go through… Probably biggest responsibility here is to really judge how much we can expand our product and show how we can do that.”

The overarching mission is to shift Wolford from a product-centric business to a brand-driven one, making what Takekoshi defined as a cultural change within the company.

This arrives in a time of overall transition for the company. Deputy chief executive officer Marco Pozzo — who joined Wolford in July, when the company also completed a capital increase of 25 million euros — shared the strategy behind his mandate, aimed at the business’ turnaround.

To be sure, in the first half of the year Wolford revenues decreased 23 percent to 33 million euros versus the same period in 2024. The performance was impacted by the lingering effects of operational challenges, delivery delays and store closures initiated last year.

Pozzo underscored that despite the decrease, the company succeeded in reducing its cost base, leading to relatively stable operating profit versus the prior year, meaning that the transformation plans, streamlining and efficiency measures launched over the past months are working.

“The data we have so far are also comforting, because revenues are growing month by month,” he said. Yet Pozzo sees 2025 as a year of consolidation after the strong disruption of 2024, when Wolford reported total sales of 88.4 million euros compared to 125.8 million euros totaled in 2023.

A series of operational and organizational headwinds across multiple areas such as supply chain, production and logistics impacted the performance, especially in the final quarter, and put the business under pressure.

Pozzo stressed the challenges in production and consequent delays in delivering products to the stores, but said that “the positive side is that demand never dropped.”

“If we had more product, we would sell it right away. So this proved its resilience, despite all the difficulties we encountered in giving access to our collections to both end consumers and our partners, distributors and multibrand stores… This is a point of strength we have,” said Pozzo.

In addressing structural inefficiencies and enhancing organizational agility, the company also closed a selection of non-strategic retail locations. Its retail footprint counted 147 stores worldwide as of June 2025, down from the 163 units it had at the end of 2024.

In the first half of 2025, this distribution channel remained key and accounted for 48 percent of revenues. Sales generated online accounted for 21 percent, followed by the wholesale channel, “which proved to be the most resilient one,” said Pozzo.

In terms of markets, in the first half of the year Europe accounted for more than 60 percent of sales, followed by the U.S. and China at 27 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively. Going forward, Pozzo sees potential in regions such as South America, Middle East and Southeast Asia, where Wolford aims to expand with local partnerships.

While this will be the year of stabilization, Pozzo defined the upcoming two as the ones of “revitalization and growth.”

His mandate’s mission will center on efficiently synchronizing the three macro-areas of product, production and distribution, in order to “place the right product in the right place at the right time.”

To this end, he said that along with the creative evolution and assortment expansion, the company is working to reorganize and strengthen its supply chain, stretching its sourcing network to access new technologies and partnering with new companies supporting its peaks in production demand.

Still, the Wolford product will remain fully made in Europe. The company designs its collections in Milan, while manufacturing processes are split between the HQ in Bregenz and the Slovenian town of Murska Sobota.

Last year, Wolford’s sales were driven primarily by ready-to-wear, which accounted for 46 percent of revenues, followed by its core legwear at 39 percent. Additional categories, including lingerie and swimwear, contributed 14 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

“Now it’s time to consolidate our core business not to confuse the consumer, because in the past 18 months we didn’t send out a strong message… and we want to recover credibility by doing what we do best and in the area where we’re superior to our competitors,” said Pozzo.

Yet he confirmed that the collections’ structure is evolving. While for the moment the priority is consolidating the Essentials, that is the timeless pieces that account for 70 percent of the business and “give us more flexibility in the go-to market operations and enable us a less risky planning,” going forward the firm will boost also its more trend-driven designs.

Pozzo also eyes a reprise of collaborations, which over the years have seen Wolford partnering with brands such as Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, Missoni, Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Adidas, GCDS and Sergio Rossi, to cite a few.

While the fashion-forward products and collaborations accounted for only 3 percent of sales last year, they remain an essential part of the company in terms of brand awareness and might be instrumental in the longer term and in the “revitalization phase” to recruit new customers, said Pozzo.

Wolford is a company listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995 and since 2018 is part of the global luxury fashion group Lanvin Group, which was founded by Wolford’s Chinese majority shareholder Fosun.