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Prada is stepping up its efforts to win over the world’s wealthiest shoppers, offering exclusive travel experiences, private events and one-of-a-kind pieces priced at up to $100,000. As the luxury market faces mounting challenges, the Italian fashion house is looking to strengthen its position among ultra-high-net-worth clients, offsetting weaker demand from less affluent consumers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

During Milan Fashion Week, Prada brought more than 100 of its biggest-spending customers to the city. The brand arranged a private viewing of Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated The Last Supper and hosted dinners at restaurants that had been booked exclusively for its guests.

Some of the invited clients also got a preview of Prada’s women’s collection, which featured crocodile-leather bags inspired by 1920s designs and finished with onyx clasps. The following day, the accessories, priced at just over $20,000, were offered exclusively to a select group of customers.

The itinerary also included a visit to Prada’s newly renovated complex inside Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The company spent more than three years refurbishing the historic premises. Beyond the main boutique and exhibition spaces, the complex houses a private shopping area featuring re-editions of runway designs from 1988, as well as made-to-measure services and jewelry unavailable at any other Prada store.

This is the world of Prada’s VIP shoppers — or, as the fashion house calls them, VICs, short for Very Important Clients. This group is becoming increasingly important to the company’s business. Like competitors that have long cultivated relationships with wealthy consumers, Prada is betting on the richest shoppers to drive further growth at the top end of the market. At the most recent Fashion Week, the brand brought more major clients to Milan than it had for its previous women’s show in February.

“More and more, people want not just to wear something with a certain logo, but to understand who is behind that brand,” Prada Group CEO Andrea Guerra told The Wall Street Journal. “We want to create an emotional connection. That is why we are creating hospitality spaces and private areas.”

The strategy also makes clear financial sense. According to Guerra, for every euro Prada spends on events for its top clients, the company generates around seven euros in purchases from them. Yet Prada is still playing catch-up in the race to attract the wealthiest consumers, trailing competitors such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel, which have been investing in this clientele for years. Executives at other luxury groups say returns on such investments can reach a ratio of ten to one.

Prada’s strategy is particularly evident at the historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a grand 19th-century shopping arcade crowned by a soaring glass dome in the heart of Milan. The company spent more than three years renovating the premises surrounding the original Prada store, opened there in 1913 by Mario Prada, the grandfather of Miuccia Prada.

The expanded complex spans eight floors, combining a boutique, exhibition space and something akin to a private club for the brand’s wealthiest customers. In one room, visitors can be offered treatments using Prada Beauty products before trying on clothes in an adjoining area.

Guerra describes the complex as Prada’s “epicenter of epicenters.” The company plans to replicate the concept in 25 of the world’s leading luxury hubs.

Analysts say Prada still has considerable ground to cover before it can cement its position among the wealthiest shoppers. The fashion house originally specialized in leather goods and travel trunks for affluent customers. But it was a different product category that made the brand famous worldwide: in the 1980s, Miuccia Prada began producing nylon bags. The practical material helped transform the Milanese house, which was then nearly 70 years old, into a global fashion powerhouse.

Today, that history is both an asset and a challenge as the company seeks to persuade wealthy customers to spend even more on Prada.

“I think Prada aspires to become a top-tier brand that can compete on equal terms with its rivals,” said Luca Solca, an analyst at research and brokerage firm Bernstein. “But it still has some way to go, because Chanel and Dior started out in haute couture.”

Since becoming Prada’s CEO in 2023, Guerra has expanded the brand’s offerings to include more expensive, intricately crafted products, one-of-a-kind designs and special services for its wealthiest customers. At the same time, the company has maintained more accessible options for shoppers just beginning to discover the brand.

Guerra has made Prada’s popular Galleria bag more exclusive by introducing versions in rare and costly materials, while also investing in new advertising campaigns. In 2023, for example, Prada launched a collaboration with artist Alex Da Corte featuring Scarlett Johansson. Today, some versions of the Galleria sell for more than $7,500.

The idea is to use one of the brand’s most recognizable accessories to establish a stronger foothold in the higher price brackets. This allows Prada to offer its wealthiest customers even more expensive pieces without abandoning those who prefer more affordable items.

“Customers have always been willing to buy Prada at any price, but… we were a little bit shy about it ourselves,” Guerra admitted.

Other luxury houses have followed a similar path. Louis Vuitton, which built its business over decades on its signature canvas bags, introduced the Capucines in 2013 — a structured leather handbag named after the Parisian street where Louis Vuitton opened his first store. The bag helped the brand move into a higher price segment.

Prada has also begun delving deeper into its archives, which contain thousands of designs, and reissuing pieces from past collections for clients with a particular attachment to specific runway shows or periods in the fashion house’s history. The wealthiest customers can now commission bespoke versions of archival skirts, tailored to their measurements and personal preferences. The most elaborate designs can cost as much as $100,000.

In February, Prada organized an almost weeklong trip to French Polynesia for a small group of select clients. Guests went snorkeling, learned about coral reef restoration initiatives and even took part in caring for the coral.

People at the company are already joking that Prada is gradually turning into a travel agency for the rich.

But the push toward greater exclusivity also carries risks. Guerra is moving the brand upmarket at a time when demand for luxury goods has begun to soften after several years of steep price increases, particularly among middle-income consumers. Since the beginning of 2026, shares in LVMH, one of the key barometers of the luxury industry, have fallen by around 38%, while Prada’s stock has declined by approximately 15%.

“The risk of becoming too expensive a brand is very real,” Solca of Bernstein noted. “Even though Prada has nylon, which helps balance out that trend.”

Despite the growing focus on ultra-wealthy shoppers, major luxury houses remain heavily dependent on consumers with more modest means, who have driven the industry’s growth for many years. But inflation in the United States, China’s economic slowdown and uncertainty in Europe have eroded their confidence, while sharp price increases since the pandemic have made luxury goods increasingly unaffordable.

Prada is trying not to lose this customer base. In March, the brand introduced a five-piece capsule collection that included a jacket, a hat and several bags. The items are made from recycled materials and designed to be recycled again at the end of their useful lives. Their prices were set below those of comparable pieces from Prada’s main collection.

Meanwhile, much of the brand’s Milan complex, including its café, remains open to the public rather than being reserved exclusively for VIP shoppers.

“Our task is also to create new customers who will spend more in the future,” Guerra emphasized.

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