Spanish luxury label Roberto Verino has begun scaling in Australia, opening two stores and a dedicated website, with further plans to expand wholesale as well.
The local rollout is currently being run by Forooz Normoyle under Moda Nexus Group, which has also managed the local pushes for multi-brand retailers such as Les Nereides, Love Persimmon, Mr Boho and Adolfo Domingues.
Speaking with Ragtrader, Normoyle says the 43-year-old Madrid-born brand has opened a flagship store at Emporium Melbourne in Victoria and a second store one kilometre south of Parliament House in Canberra. This adds to over 180 stores globally for the high-end brand, primarily in Spain, Portugal and Mexico.
Most of the brand’s products across men’s and women’s fashion and accessories are made in Europe, in either Spain or Portugal, with a small portion made in Asia. Prices range between three and four figures.
In Emporium Melbourne, the store is located on the ground floor near Hugo Boss and Chanel. Normoyle says the centre is a key fashion hub in Melbourne.
As for Canberra, she says the country’s capital doesn’t have many international luxury brands.
“For 26 weeks of the year, Parliament sits, and when they're not in Parliament, all they're doing is shopping,” Normoyle says. “We particularly didn't do Canberra CBD either.”
The Canberra store is in the Manuka Arcade in Griffith, which is also home to a luxury consignment business, a very local women’s clothing shop and an Indian jewellery store. Canberra has a median weekly income of $1,289, nearly $500 more than the national average.
Across the lake in the CBD at the Canberra Centre, the vast majority of the mono-branded stores available are all local, including Country Road Group brands, Cue and Veronika Maine, Decjuba and some of the Apparel Brands now owned by Myer. The only major international monobrand players are Uniqlo and Hugo Boss, with the former having only opened in the country’s capital just this year.
“That was absolutely the best decision, because already the performance of Roberto Verino in Manuka is exceptional and very well received. Our UPT [units per transaction] is strong. So people don't just buy one thing, they're buying two, three things.”
From there, Sydney is next on the brand’s radar, with Normoyle confirming this should come to fruition in 2026. This will either be standalone, but could also be a shop-in-shop at David Jones. If it’s a store, it will very likely be in the CBD.
The brand is already stocked at some Love Persimmon stores in Sydney.
“In time, we will hire a brand manager to mainly focus on Roberto Verino locally. In fact, Iago, the grandson of Roberto, will be here in November,” Normoyle confirms.
Normoyle says she met with the family that runs Roberto Verino around four years ago. Founder Verino himself remains part of the business, with his grandson Iago Jover Mariño responsible for innovation.
“I think this brand has got huge potential in Australia,” Normoyle says. “We are running with their seasons. I air freight everything to Australia as they are produced, and so what you see in Madrid you’ll see the week after here in store or on our website.”