Dolce & Gabbana review

What Dolce & Gabbana is and who it suits

Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury fashion house founded by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who showed their first women's collection at Milan Fashion Week in 1985.¹ The group designs and sells women's, men's and children's clothing, leather goods, shoes, jewellery, watches, home accessories, Alta Moda couture and, since January 2023, its own beauty products; eyewear is made under licence.² At 31 March 2025 it employed 6,036 people and ran 243 directly operated stores in more than 30 countries.²

This review is for shoppers weighing a purchase on dolcegabbana.com or in a boutique: what things cost, how the online store handles delivery and returns, how to avoid fakes and what the company's record looks like. We did not place an order; prices and terms come from the brand's own pages, checked on 3 November 2026.

Key facts

Company background and ownership

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana set up a design consultancy in 1983, showed a first women's collection in the New Talents section of Milan Fashion Week in 1985 and opened their first Milan shop the following year.¹ The registered office of Dolce & Gabbana S.r.l. is at Via Goldoni 10 in Milan.⁹ Industrial activity is mainly in Italy; taking control of a supplier in the Marche region in July 2024 brought the group's production sites to six.²

The company is privately held. Stefano Gabbana stepped down as chairman with effect from 1 January 2026 but keeps his creative role, and Alfonso Dolce, Domenico Dolce's brother, became chairman later that month.⁴ AP, citing Bloomberg, reported that Gabbana holds a 40% stake and was considering options for it.⁴

The business is under strain. Net revenues were about €1.9 billion in the year to 31 March 2025.² In the following year revenue fell about 2% to €1.86 billion, beauty growth only partly offset weaker fashion sales, and the operating loss exceeded €100 million.³ With net financial debt at €464.5 million, the banks suspended covenant tests until 31 March 2028 in return for extraordinary financing transactions; extending the eyewear licence with EssilorLuxottica to 2050 has already raised €150 million.³

Product lines: fashion, beauty, Casa and Alta Moda

The core is ready-to-wear for women and men, known since the 1990s for corsetry, tailored black dresses and prints drawn from Domenico Dolce's Sicilian roots.⁴ There is a children's line for girls and boys, and leather goods are led by the Sicily handbag in many sizes and materials, alongside the newer My Sicily.^1,16,14,8

Fine jewellery followed in 2011.¹ The group makes most one-off high jewellery and high watchmaking pieces itself and commissions fine jewellery from artisan workshops.² Alta Moda, the made-to-measure couture line launched in Taormina in 2012, is presented at annual events, in 2025 for the first time in Rome.¹

Fragrance and make-up were licensed out until the company founded its own beauty subsidiary in 2022; beauty has been run in-house since 1 January 2023, made by Italian suppliers.^1,2 Eyewear stays licensed to EssilorLuxottica.³ Dolce&Gabbana Casa, home furnishings previewed in Venice in August 2021, revived a home line sold from 1994 to 1999, and the brand also sells food and beverage products.¹

Prices: what Dolce & Gabbana costs

Prices differ by country store: the US store charges in US dollars and adds sales tax at checkout based on the delivery address.⁹ These are examples from the US online store on 3 November 2026:

Fragrance costs a fraction of clothing and handbags. Payment is taken only when an order ships, and the US store delivers only within the United States, so check the price in the store for the country you ship to.⁹

Online store: delivery, returns, payment and service

dolcegabbana.com is run for the brand by The Level group. In Europe and the UK the seller is The Level Srl; in the US it is The Level USA Corp, which says it buys the goods directly from Dolce & Gabbana S.r.l. or its authorised manufacturers and dealers.^10,9

Orders usually ship within two working days. Standard delivery costs $17 in the US (4 to 6 working days), €10 in Italy, €17 in Germany and £14 in the UK; US express delivery costs $33 for 1 to 3 working days.¹¹ Standard delivery covers Italy, the UK, most EU countries, Switzerland, Norway, the US and Canada among others, and orders can be collected at selected boutiques.¹¹

Returns must be requested within 15 working days of delivery, online with the supplied courier label or at a boutique that accepts online returns.¹⁰ Items must be unworn, in their original packaging and with the identification tag and its disposable seal attached. Opened beauty products and customised items cannot be refunded, exchanges are not offered, and the original delivery charge is deducted from the refund.¹⁰

Cards are accepted, and depending on the delivery country checkout also offers PayPal, Amazon Pay, WeChat or Klarna.¹² Customer care uses a contact form, live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and phone on weekdays only: 10am to 7pm (GMT+1) for Europe and 9am to 6pm Eastern Time for the US (contact page, August 2026).¹³

Authenticity, counterfeits and resale

Dolce & Gabbana sells through its own stores and online store as well as franchise stores, department stores, multi-brand shops and marketplaces.² The US online store states that it sells only goods bought from Dolce & Gabbana S.r.l. or its authorised manufacturers and dealers, never second-hand products, and that every item carries an identification tag with a disposable seal.⁹

Since March 2026 the My Sicily bag has carried a Digital Product Passport: holding a smartphone to an NFC tag inside the bag opens a record of its materials, Italian production steps and care advice.⁸ The brand calls it the first step of a broader programme.⁸

Pre-owned pieces come from independent resellers, not from the brand's online store.⁹ Buy only where an item that fails authentication can be returned.

Sustainability and controversies

The group stopped using animal fur in new designs from January 2022 under the Fur Free Retailer programme.⁶ In September 2026 it said the Science Based Targets initiative had validated its climate targets: cutting absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% and key Scope 3 emissions by 30% by FY2035 against FY2025; certified renewable sources covered 87% of its electricity at 31 March 2026.⁷ It reports about 1,300 industrial suppliers, almost all in Italy and Europe, and a Supplier Code of Conduct adopted in November 2024.² These are company figures, not independent audits.

Controversies are on record too. The two founders were convicted of tax evasion in 2013 over moving the brand to a Luxembourg holding company, but Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation acquitted them on 24 October 2014.¹ In November 2018, videos of a Chinese woman trying to eat Italian food with chopsticks, plus Instagram messages attributed to Stefano Gabbana, who said he had been hacked, caused a backlash in China: the Shanghai show was cancelled, thousands of products disappeared from major Chinese shopping websites, and both designers apologised in a video.⁵

How getting started works

Buying on dolcegabbana.com, step by step:^9,10

1. Choose the store for the country you ship to; the US store, for example, charges in US dollars and delivers only within the United States.⁹
2. Pick size and colour and add the item to your bag; opened beauty products and customised items cannot be refunded.¹⁰
3. Log in or create an account; your orders then appear under My Account, in the Orders section.⁹
4. Pay by card or, depending on the country, PayPal, Amazon Pay, WeChat or Klarna; cards are charged only when the order ships.^12,9
5. Choose standard or express delivery or boutique pick-up; most orders ship within two working days, and US standard delivery costs $17.¹¹
6. To return something, request it within 15 working days, keep the tag and seal on, and use the courier label or an enabled boutique.¹⁰

Prices, terms and availability change and can differ by country or state. Check the current terms on Dolce & Gabbana's own website before you buy.

Pros and cons

Dolce & Gabbana FAQ

Sources

1. Wikipedia – Dolce & Gabbana (history; checked 3 November 2026)
2. Dolce&Gabbana Holding – Modern Slavery Statement FY2025 (year to 31 March 2025, approved 20 November 2025)
3. FashionUnited – Dolce & Gabbana secures covenant waiver amid financial challenges (August 2026)
4. AP via WTOP – Stefano Gabbana has stepped down as Dolce & Gabbana chairman but will keep a creative role (10 April 2026)
5. TIME – Dolce & Gabbana apologizes for China ads (24 November 2018)
6. Dolce&Gabbana – Fur free policy
7. Dolce&Gabbana Sustainability – SBTi validation of climate targets (17 September 2026)
8. Dolce&Gabbana Sustainability – Digital Product Passport for the My Sicily bag (6 March 2026)
9. Dolce & Gabbana US online store – Conditions of Sale (checked 3 November 2026)
10. Dolce & Gabbana UK online store – Returns Policy (checked 3 November 2026)
11. Dolce & Gabbana Customer Care – How much does shipping cost and how long does it take? (checked 3 November 2026)
12. Dolce & Gabbana Customer Care – What payment methods are accepted?
13. Dolce & Gabbana Customer Care – Contact us (Internet Archive copy, 24 August 2026)
14. Dolce & Gabbana US online store – Women's Sicily bags (prices checked 3 November 2026)
15. Dolce & Gabbana US online store – Light Blue Eau de Toilette (prices checked 3 November 2026)
16. Dolce & Gabbana US online store – T-shirts (prices checked 3 November 2026)

This review is general information, not professional advice. It is an editorial assessment based on Dolce & Gabbana's published prices, terms and help pages and on public sources, checked on 3 November 2026. We did not buy or test the service ourselves. Prices, terms and availability change and differ by country or state, so check the current terms before you buy.