Strategic advisory for luxury and premium fashion businesses ready to grow into new markets.
Which market to enter next, how to enter it, and where your next sales should come from: your own stores, website and social media, the right partners, and marketplaces where they fit. I have sold from the shop floor, the brand and the marketplace.
Figures from previous employment, 2009–2026. Full career below.
Milano · Working worldwide
01 / Expertise
Retail, international wholesale and marketplace partnerships: I know how a decision looks to the retailer, the brand and the platform. Based in Milan, working worldwide, not only with Italian companies. Strongest in DACH, Scandinavia, Central-Eastern and Southern Europe. Used to working directly with owners, founders and executive teams.
“A person of great substance. A tireless worker… Respected by clients and colleagues. A manager in every sense.”
Brands
Which markets are worth entering, through which route to market (wholesale, department stores, agents, distributors or your own e-commerce) and on what terms. I spent six years on the brand side, in international wholesale.
Retailers
For independent luxury and premium boutiques and retailers: how to reach customers in other cities and countries, what your website and social media are missing, and how to grow without depending on one channel. I started on a shop floor.
Manufacturers
Which international buyers, agents and distributors suit your product, the clearest route to them, and what they will expect from you before the first order.
A commercial principle
A signed contract. A launch. A partnership that pays.
Three different things. My work is to help you tell them apart before you commit.
How I think · The full-table view
Where demand for your product really is, and which markets reward your positioning.
Your own stores and website, wholesale partners, or marketplaces. The right balance, and what each one really costs you.
Who buys luxury and premium fashion from you today, and whether your stores, website and partners speak to them.
Margin after commissions, returns, stock and your team’s time. Strategy has to work on paper and on the shop floor.
Owned your stores, website and social media · Partnered department stores, boutiques, agents and distributors · Rented marketplaces. Rented reach can be valuable. It works best as part of the mix, not the whole strategy.
02 / Where is your business today?
Many fashion businesses are already sitting on demand in other markets. They just don’t see it from where they stand. Choose the situation closest to yours.
03 / Services
Six defined engagements, led by the two that matter most for growth: entering new markets and diversifying where you sell. Each has a fixed scope and fee, agreed before we start, and ends in a clear direction and the next steps to act on it. No commissions, no open-ended retainers. Implementation support can be scoped separately.
Where?
“Which market next, and how do we enter it?”
For luxury and premium brands, manufacturers and boutiques ready to grow abroad
What else?
“We have good product. Why aren’t we selling more?”
For boutiques, retailers and brands that depend too much on one channel or one market
Whether?
“We get the orders. Why are we making so little?”
For luxury and premium retailers and brands already selling on a marketplace, or about to
Which?
“This stock isn’t moving. Where could it sell without hurting the brand?”
For retailers and brands holding slow-moving or previous-season stock
How?
“We know AI could help us. Where do we start?”
For boutiques, brands and small commercial teams
Who?
“The customers come in. Why don’t they buy?”
For boutiques and brands with their own stores
Thinking about a new market or a new marketplace? Start with the free guides: Before you enter a new market and Ready for a marketplace?
The Commercial Perspective · Free guides
Free, no sign-up · Read online or download the PDF
Guide 03 · Market entry
Six questions to answer before you choose a country, a route to market and a partner, and a checklist to use before the first order.
Guide 01 · Excess stock
Six questions to ask before deciding what to do with excess stock, and a one-page sheet for your next commercial meeting.
Guide 02 · Marketplaces
Six questions to answer before you sign, and a readiness checklist to use before you go live.
04 / How an engagement works
You describe the decision in front of you. I tell you honestly whether I can help.
What I will look at, what you will receive and when, with the fee, in writing before any work begins.
Your data, market research and conversations, checked source by source.
A meeting and a written report that stays with you, including what not to do.
05 / International perspective
Select a point to follow the journey. Sand marks the European markets where I held wholesale or partnership responsibility.
06 / Career, 2006–today
From a shop floor in New Zealand to fashion distribution in Milan. Every step taught me something I still use with clients.
2026–
Julia Kallas Advisory · Milano, working worldwide
Founder & Principal, Julia Kallas Advisory. Strategic advisory on market expansion, sales diversification, distribution, stock, stores and AI for luxury and premium fashion brands, boutiques, retailers and manufacturers.
2022–2026
Miinto · DACH, Scandinavia, Central-Eastern Europe
Some fifty retailer partnerships developed, from the first call to the signed contract and the first order shipped, including enterprise partners integrating by feed and API.
2016–2022
Trussardi · Milano
Three roles in six years: International Wholesale Assistant, International Key Account Manager, then Area Manager from 2018. Around one hundred doors in Austria, Poland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Spain and Portugal, across department stores, multi-brand retailers and e-commerce partners.
2014–2016
Brazilian Consulate General · Banco do Brasil · Milano
Trade promotion between Brazil and Italy at the Consulate, then two years in corporate banking: clients doing business between Italy and Brazil, and credit applications presented to the Credit Committee.
2013–2014
Two Italian companies · Milano
Sales across South America and other Portuguese-, Spanish- and English-speaking markets; then, alongside the CEO, the negotiation and closing of a distribution deal in São Paulo.
2012
United Nations Headquarters · New York
Awarded an IULM scholarship to report from the UN: seventeen published articles on development, human rights, gender equality and security, covering the General Assembly and the Security Council. Selected articles: an interview with UN Women’s Lakshmi Puri · investment policy for sustainable development.
2011–2013
IULM · Milano
With a study tour in Washington and New York (World Bank, United Nations, Italian Embassy) and ISPI’s Winter School on international development cooperation.
2009–2011
Max Fashions · New Zealand
Running the store in the manager’s absence, and Platinum, Gold and Silver Sales Excellence Awards: my first lesson in what really sells. Alongside it, business development support for Vision Manawatu.
2006–2011
International Pacific University · Palmerston North
Arrived on a Rotary Youth Exchange in 2006, then completed both degrees on tuition scholarships.
07 / Selected experience
Work I did as an employee of Trussardi and Miinto, not as a consultant. Partners are anonymised.
Miinto · Europe · 2025–26
Miinto · Several markets · 2022–26
Miinto · Central-Eastern Europe · 2024
Trussardi · Six markets · 2016–22
08 / Recommendations
Julia is a strong and determined woman with a proactive and positive attitude. She is a super good Area Manager, able to work with people coming from different backgrounds and geographic areas.
A brilliant, concrete person to whom important tasks can be entrusted, confident of a positive outcome.
A natural leader, fair and firm, with an extraordinary ability to connect with people.
From recommendations on LinkedIn.
09 / About
Julia Kallas.
Born in Brazil.
Shaped in New Zealand.
Based in Milan since 2011.
Twenty years learning how things are really sold, across four continents.
On a shop floor in New Zealand I coached a sales team and won the company’s Platinum, Gold and Silver Sales Excellence Awards. In New York I reported from the United Nations for Inter Press Service. In Milan I worked in trade promotion and banking, then spent a decade inside fashion: at Trussardi, turning sell-out data into action plans for each account, and at a European fashion marketplace, building retailer partnerships.
So when a store isn’t performing, I look at everything: the product, the market, the customer you speak to, and how your team is trained to sell.
Growth is rarely only about selling more. It is about creating enough value for both sides to want to stay at the table.
Today I work independently, with no platform or partner to sell you. That means I can tell you what I actually think, including, sometimes: not yet. I use AI-assisted research tools where they add value; every source is checked, and the judgement stays mine.
Julia Kallas
Founder & Principal, Julia Kallas Advisory
Languages
Portuguese, native · English, fluent · Italian, fluent · Spanish, basic
Education
MA Communication for International Relations, IULM Milano · BA International Relations and Postgraduate, International Studies, International Pacific University, New Zealand
Recent learning, 2026
Mindvalley AI for Founders Summit, October 2026 · Mindvalley University, Tallinn, July 2026 · Expert to Authority Summit, September 2026
10 / Contact
Tell me where your business is today and where you would like it to be.
Book a first conversationjuliakallas1@gmail.com
LinkedIn · Milano, working worldwide
English · Italiano · Português