Ferragni's pandoro scandal outlived the news cycle — her stores paid for it

Fenice Retail was the store-operating arm of Chiara Ferragni's fashion company Fenice, running her branded boutiques in Milan and Rome. Both shops opened while her personal brand was at its commercial peak, before the December 2023 'pandoro-gate' scandal — a fine for marketing a charity pandoro cake as raising money it never delivered — cratered her endorsement deals and consumer goodwill.

With foot traffic and sales down, Fenice Retail's own accounts showed the damage: a €530,000 deficit in 2023 that widened to €684,000 in 2024, roughly €1.2M in accumulated losses against revenue of about €644,000 against costs approaching €2M. Ferragni had already closed the Milan store; on June 9, 2025 shareholders voted to put Fenice Retail itself into liquidation, closing the Rome location as well.

The retail wind-down came alongside a wider restructuring of the parent company: a 6.4M capital injection in March 2025, a roughly 78% cut to Fenice's headcount, and Ferragni raising her ownership stake to 99.8%. The strategy worked on paper — Fenice closed 2025 with revenue up 25% to €2.7M and losses trimmed to €65,000 — but it worked by giving up the physical stores entirely.

Liquidated the loss-making store arm, closing both shops, so the parent could cut costs and return to profit within a year.

A personal-brand company that loses its founder's credibility loses its retail footfall with it; the stores did not fail on their own terms, they failed on hers.

Liquidating the loss-making subsidiary rather than propping it up let the parent company return to profit within a year — the physical retail bet was the part that got cut.

A personal-brand retailer's stores are only as solvent as the founder's reputation — when that cracks, the boutiques are the first thing to go.

Fenice Retail was wound down; the parent company Fenice cut staff by about 78%, took a €6.4M capital injection, and returned to near break-even by the end of 2025 without physical stores.