The short version: Jimmy Choo’s sales rose 11.5% to $146m in the quarter to 26 September while sister brand Michael Kors fell 8.6%, Capri Holdings reported on 30 October. Kors is shrinking on purpose — fewer markdowns, higher prices — which means the bargain Kors bag is becoming harder to find.
Capri Holdings, the New York-listed owner of Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors, reported second-quarter results for its 2027 financial year on Friday 30 October. Group revenue fell 5.5% to $809m. Inside that number the two brands went in opposite directions: Jimmy Choo grew 11.5% to $146m, or 12.2% at constant currency, and Michael Kors fell 8.6% to $663m. Capri swung to a net profit of $27m from continuing operations, against a $34m loss a year earlier, and raised its full-year forecast to about $3.42bn in revenue and adjusted earnings of about $2.20 a share.
John D. Idol, Capri’s chairman and chief executive, said in the results release: “We are encouraged by the momentum building at both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.” He repeated that the company expects total revenue to return to growth in the second half of the financial year. The figures are the first since Capri sold Versace to Prada in December 2025, so the group is now two brands, and this quarter showed how differently those two are being run.
The numbers behind the split
Jimmy Choo grew in the two regions that matter most to it and slipped in the third. Americas revenue rose from $34m to $42m and EMEA from $67m to $76m, while Asia fell from $30m to $28m. The brand’s gross margin was 71.2%, against 61.5% at Michael Kors — a gap that reflects what each brand can charge for what it makes. Jimmy Choo also returned to an operating profit, though a thin one: $2m, a 1.4% margin, compared with a $9m loss a year earlier.
Michael Kors fell everywhere, most sharply at home. Americas revenue dropped from $457m to $405m; EMEA from $194m to $185m; Asia was almost flat at $73m. Yet the brand still earned $68m in operating profit, a 10.3% margin, slightly better than the 10.1% of a year ago. Group gross margin rose 230 basis points to 63.3%, which Capri attributed to more full-price selling, the brand mix and lower tariff rates than last year. The group closed the quarter with 860 stores — 655 Michael Kors, 205 Jimmy Choo — down from 907 a year earlier.
One caution on the headline growth: Capri said about $20m of wholesale shipments, roughly $15m for Kors and $5m for Jimmy Choo, went out earlier than planned and landed in this quarter instead of the next. Strip out Jimmy Choo’s $5m and its growth is still close to 8%.
Why Michael Kors is choosing to shrink
Michael Kors is shrinking because Capri has decided to stop selling so much of it on sale. On the earnings call on 30 October, according to the Motley Fool transcript, management said markdown inventory had been cut by about 40% and promotional days by about 50%, and that it is raising selected prices at both full-price stores and outlets as part of a pricing reset that began roughly two years ago. The company also said delayed inventory cost it around $50m of sales in the quarter, which it is catching up on with air freight.
This is the same move Faz has watched across accessible and heritage luxury this autumn. Mulberry, the British leather-goods house, grew by selling more at full price rather than discounting, while the giants above it struggled — LVMH’s fashion sales fell 5% in its third quarter. The brands with a defined product are holding up; the brands that trained customers to wait for a sale are paying to un-train them.
The Faz read: product franchises beat the outlet habit
Jimmy Choo is growing on named products, not on promotion. Management credited the Bon, Cinch, Bar and Curve bag franchises, the Margot flat and Scarlett kitten heel, and evening styles such as the Azia. Michael Kors pointed to its own winners, the Hamilton Soft bag and the Jennings loafer, but its problem is structural: a two-year pricing reset is an admission that too much of the brand’s volume depended on markdowns, and a customer who has paid half price for a logo bag does not easily go back to paying full price.
It is worth being honest about what the Jimmy Choo number does and does not prove. A 1.4% operating margin on $146m of sales is a brand that has stopped losing money, not one that is thriving. Capri’s own full-year forecast puts Jimmy Choo at about $650m in revenue with a low-single-digit margin. The growth is real; the profit is still a promise. On the call, management also said Jimmy Choo is not for sale — worth noting, since it is now one of only two brands left in the group.
What it means if you buy, own or sell these brands
If you buy Michael Kors, expect fewer and shallower sales. Capri has told investors, in plain terms, that it is cutting the discount days and lifting prices, outlets included. The reader who has always waited for the 40%-off weekend should treat that habit as ending, and judge a Kors bag at its real price: the leather, the lining, the hardware and how the edges are finished, set against what independent leather-goods makers and accessible-luxury labels charge for the same money. A logo is not construction.
If you own Jimmy Choo shoes or bags, the brand’s steadier footing helps resale only at the margin. Secondhand value follows specific, recognisable models more than the parent company’s results, which is why our step-by-step guide to checking a designer bag before buying secondhand starts with the model and the materials, not the label. If you sell, a named franchise piece in good condition will travel further than an anonymous seasonal style.
For the wider wardrobe, the four channels still hold: vintage and estate pieces, independent designers and craft workshops, accessible luxury where the make justifies the price, and selective mainstream luxury. A brand pulling back from discounting is not a reason to buy more of it; it is a reason to compare it honestly with the alternatives.
What happens next
Capri guided third-quarter revenue to just over $1bn, with Michael Kors at about $830m and Jimmy Choo at about $175m, according to the call. That quarter covers the holiday season, the period when shoppers most expect discounts, so it is the real test of whether the new discipline holds. Its forecasts assume an extra 10% US import tariff up to 24 July 2026 and 10% to 12.5% after that; Capri warned results could differ if tariffs come in higher, and management said higher average tariff rates will shrink the margin gains in the second half. The US midterm elections in early November add to that uncertainty: Ron Sorini, a former US chief textile negotiator, told a trade audience in late October that more tariffs are likely afterwards, Ecotextile News reported.
The honest reading
Capri bought Versace for $1.8bn in 2018, sold it to Prada for about €1.25bn, and is now rebuilding the two brands it kept around product and price discipline. The quarter says the smaller, more specific brand is growing and the bigger, more discounted one is being deliberately cut back to health. For anyone buying, the lesson is the same as it was before the results: pay for the object, not the markdown.
The next move is yours.
Sources: Capri Holdings second-quarter fiscal 2027 results release · Capri earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool) · FashionUnited · FashionNetwork · Ecotextile News
