Key Takeaways:
When Simone Dominici joined Kiko Milano in March 2022, the Italian cosmetics label was still seen by many as a chain of stores offering affordable makeup under its namesake brand. Three and a half years later, the chief executive has transformed the company into a brand with global ambitions and sales close to the $1 billion mark.
“Our DNA hasn’t changed: democratizing luxury,” Dominici said in an interview in Paris at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show Europe. “We’ve changed the company from being a retailer to a brand by adding emotion—the capacity of helping you with your self-esteem and the development of your personality.”
He describes the company’s purpose in human terms. “When you’re 15 and you’re starting to get to know yourself, our purpose is to help you develop with our products, our beauty advisors … We’re not in the business of beauty, but in the business of building trust.”
Kiko Milano has accelerated its growth under Dominici, who succeeded Cristina Scocchia at the company founded by Antonio Percassi in 1997. Sales have risen from €470 million ($552 million) in 2021 to around €900 million ($1 billion) by the end of 2024.
“We’ve nearly doubled our sales since COVID, and we’re close to being a $1 billion brand,” Dominici said. “That can happen this year,” he said, adding that Kiko Milano will close 2025 with sales of €950 million ($1.1 billion).
The milestone comes as the company benefits from the backing of private equity firm L Catterton, which acquired it from the Percassi family last year. The Italian family is known for ventures in retail, franchising, real estate, and ownership of the football club Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio.
Dominici describes the partnership with L Catterton as transformative. “They supported us through digital transformation to accelerate growth. In fact, our Head of Customer Data and Digital Direct-to-Consumer officer is American, Thomas Davis, who joined last September.”
The fund has also provided strategic backing for Kiko Milano’s long-anticipated push into the US.
“They have helped us develop a strategy for the US, and we now have a great plan to grow in the country that will begin in May/June of 2026,” Dominici said.
An Ambitious US Strategy
Kiko Milano has already doubled its US revenues this year, from €7 million to between €15 million ($17 million) and €18 million ($20 million). But the company wants to compete at a real scale.
“In two years, we want to log at least $100 million in sales,” Dominici said. “We can do more than that, too.”
Looking further ahead, the target is even bigger. “We have plans to make $300 million in sales in the US, but after 2027,” he added.
While most beauty companies depend heavily on the US, Kiko Milano aims to keep its revenue base diversified. “Usually when a company enters the US, it represents 20% to 30% of their sales, but for us, even if we make $100 million, it will represent 8% to 10% of our sales.”
To establish itself in the US, Kiko Milano is securing retail partnerships and boosting digital channels with all partners, Dominici said. Among them are department stores. ”We just signed a deal with one of the largest department store chains in the US,” he said. The company is also partnering with “the best beauty specialists.”
So far, the company is already available on Amazon’s Premium Beauty and TikTok Shop, and has three physical locations in the country—two in Miami and one in New York.
As the company prepares its big push into the US, it is tailoring its products for the market, including a new complexion line with a wider shade range.
Kiko Milano is also strengthening its brand positioning after bringing in Drew Elliott, the former Global Creative Director at Estée Lauder’s MAC Cosmetics, as its new Chief Brand Officer on September 1.
“That’s a bombshell,” Dominici said. “Elliott comes from MAC [Cosmetics] and knows the US well and how to build global brands. We didn’t have someone at that creative level before. With his addition, we [will] elevate the brand, as we already have a well-developed science side, an ecological approach, unified commerce, stores, and established commercial relationships with partners.
“We are very ambitious,” Dominici said.
Competing in a Crowded Market
Kiko Milano’s US strategy hinges on three levers, Dominici said.
The company plans to “steal market share” from the mass market, from prestige and indie brands, and then expand the market through its presence at its right point. “No one can offer our quality in terms of innovation, in terms of the ingredients we use at this price,” Dominici said.
The bet is that the Italian way of living resonates deeply with American consumers. “We bring the Italian style, which is very appealing in the US—everyone dreams of living the Italian way—it’s a social, noncomplicated lifestyle. We’ll sell the Italian lifestyle—effortlessly chic,” Dominici said.
“French brands are usually exclusive, chic brands, but we are effortlessly inclusive beauty,” he said. “Consumers are tired of exclusivity; they want inclusivity.”
When asked about whether the US consumer will have a similar price to the European consumer, Dominici said that prices in the US will be higher. “That responds to the US having higher prices than in Europe,” he said, noting that the brands that it would mainly compete against are L'Oréal Paris, MAC Cosmetics, and Sephora’s own makeup line.
Kiko Milano will also be competing against e.l.f. Beauty, which invests heavily in marketing—roughly one-third of sales, compared with Kiko Milano’s planned 25% for the US market. Dominici stresses that Kiko Milano’s advantage lies in the balance of investment, with more resources directed into product quality and innovation rather than purely marketing actions.
Manufacturing, Pricing, and Tariffs
Kiko Milano plans to keep the manufacturing of its products in Europe as it further expands globally.
“We’ll keep our Made in Italy [designation],” Dominici said. While the company produces some of its products, such as lip pencils, in Germany through Schwan Cosmetics, the vast majority of its products are manufactured in Italy.
Kiko Milano sources some ingredients from China, but not finished goods. And tariffs are not a major concern.
“Since we’re still a smaller brand in the US, tariffs don’t affect us that much,” Dominici said, while adding that Kiko Milano will adapt to how competitors respond to changes in trade policies. “We have an accessible price that would allow us to move prices depending on what the market does to cover tariffs—imagine a 5% price increase, we’ll do that too. But we’ll always be at an advantage to premium brands—we have the same quality at a lower price.”
Skincare, Haircare, and Fragrance
Kiko Milano is diversifying beyond color cosmetics. “Skincare is growing at a fast pace in Kiko Milano; it now represents 11% of annual sales, having doubled since 2021,” Dominici said.
The company has also partnered with Italian stylist Rossano Ferretti, who runs luxury salons worldwide, including at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris. “We’ve created 13 products with Rossano Ferretti that are working well at a high professional level.”
Fragrance is another growth engine, as it has been for most beauty players.
Overall, innovation remains central to Kiko Milano’s strategy, he said. Last month, Kiko Milano launched a lipstick that can be opened with one hand, designed with accessibility in mind, which will be an important marketing engine for the company going forward.
Fashion Collaborations and Potential IPO Plans
The brand is also eyeing the growing crossover between fashion and beauty, following the announcement of a collaboration with Cavalli, set to launch next May.
“We’ll do more fashion collaborations with brands that don’t have makeup lines like the one we’re launching with Cavalli,” Dominici said. “All the brands that don’t have makeup lines are reaching out to us to do something with them. We started with Cavalli because it’s a legacy Italian brand,” Dominici said.
Asked about the influence of LVMH, given its 40% stake in L Catterton, Dominici clarified: “L-Catterton is very separated from LVMH, it’s very independent. I never talk to LVMH. I talk to L Catterton, who are very nice and industrial,” Dominici said.
The executive recalled the way L Catterton relaunched German shoemaker Birkenstock after acquiring the brand in 2021. “They made a functional shoe brand like Birkenstock a lifestyle brand because they have the capacity [to invest] in it.”
Less than three years after the acquisition, Birkenstock went public in a $1.5 billion initial public offering in October 2023, driving speculation about whether Kiko Milano could follow suit.
Dominici left the door open. “We’ve only just started … It’s too early and we have a huge worldwide growth plan, so we’ll focus on us and then we’ll see.”
Could an IPO be part of the plan for Kiko Milano?
“It could happen … Todo puede pasar en la vida,” Dominici said in Spanish. “Anything can happen in life.”
