The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The LVMH-owned brand’s Fendi Casa line will relaunch as a joint venture with Design Holding, the Italian design group whose other products include Flos lighting and B&B Italia sofas.
Silvia Venturini Fendi will provide “creative guidance” to the project, which is set to be revealed during Milan’s Salone del Mobile design show next January, the brand said in a statement.
Design Holding, whose backers include Carlyle Group and Investindustrial, will be the line’s majority shareholder. The move comes as more brands seek to increase their presence in homeware, which has enjoyed a pandemic bump in spending.
The loss of the Fendi Casa license marks the end of an era for its current producer, Luxury Living, whose founder Alberto Vignatelli spearheaded the fashion industry’s expansion into licensed furniture in the late 1980s. Vignatelli passed away in 2017, and his company was recently sold to Lifestyle Design Group (the rival Italian furniture group formerly known as Poltrona Frau).
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The luxury goods maker is seeking pricing harmonisation across the globe, and adjusts prices in different markets to ensure that the company is”fair to all [its] clients everywhere,” CEO Leena Nair said.
Hermes saw Chinese buyers snap up its luxury products as the Kelly bag maker showed its resilience amid a broader slowdown in demand for the sector.
The group’s flagship Prada brand grew more slowly but remained resilient in the face of a sector-wide slowdown, with retail sales up 7 percent.
The guidance was issued as the French group released first-quarter sales that confirmed forecasts for a slowdown. Weak demand in China and poor performance at flagship Gucci are weighing on the group.