Dear BoF Community,
Even though the fashion month season is well underway in New York, industry attention has still been focused on the news of Giorgio Armani’s passing at the age of 91. A true legend in the industry, Mr Armani had mostly remained mum about his wishes for the company he founded — the largest independently owned and operated luxury brand in the world, with more than €2.3 billion in revenues in 2024.
That all changed on Friday when Mr Armani’s will was made public, with the unexpected disclosure that he wants his heirs to sell a 15 percent stake in the company. The will also states that his preferred investors are long-term partners L’Oréal and Essilor Luxottica, who partnered with the company on eyewear and beauty, respectively, or the luxury goods giant LVMH, which for years was rumoured as a potential suitor. The expectation would be that one of these preferred investors (or another party of similar standing) could one day lead to buying the whole company, though the will stipulates that 30 percent of the company should remain in the hands of Armani’s foundation. If the sale of the company is not possible, then the company should file for an IPO, Mr Armani’s will stipulates.
This turn of events brings to an end the speculation around the future of the company, and now, ostensibly, a bidding process will begin for those parties who are interested in seeing Mr Armani’s wishes through.
But given the sorry state of the luxury sector at the moment, the appetite for such an acquisition at a time of great uncertainty may mean that the IPO route is also a likely option should a suitable suitor not come to the table for a business that may be worth up to €7 billion.
But for L’Oréal or Essilor Luxottica, who both have a long-term interest in the vitality of the Armani brand, the calculus might be different, not dissimilar to the rationale for Estee Lauder and Zegna to come to the table when Tom Ford decided to sell his own namesake label in 2022.
To bring you up to speed on all the latest developments, read our new Milan correspondent Eric Sylver’s analysis of what might happen next.
Also this week, Edward Enninful unveiled his new media company EE72. Just as the new cover of 72, featuring Julia Roberts, dropped online, I sat down with Edward for this week’s episode of The BoF Podcast. The online reaction was decidedly mixed, but together with Edward, we unpacked the thinking behind his business strategy and creative choices at a time of great uncertainty for both media and fashion. Watch the full interview here.
Wishing you all a good weekend — and don’t forget to catch up on all my top picks from BoF in the week gone by.
Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Below are my top picks from our analysis on fashion, luxury and beauty this week:
1. Armani’s Surprise Will, Explained. The Italian designer, whose last testament was made public this week, mandated that the Armani foundation must sell a 15 percent stake in the fashion house to LVMH, L’Oréal, EssilorLuxottica or another company of similar standing, or pursue an IPO, within 18 months.
2. The Great Fashion Reset | The Future of Multi-Brand Retail. As major luxury retailers from Saks to Ssense struggle, independent boutiques are making a comeback.
3. Inside Kering’s Changing of the Guard. A $24 million welcome bonus was in focus as new CEO Luca de Meo took the reins from François-Henri Pinault. Improving performance will require tough choices to ‘reduce our costs, reduce our debt, and where necessary, rationalise, reorganise, reposition some of our brands,’ de Meo said.
4. China’s Luxury Resellers Get Physical. The resale market is expanding from apps to buzzy offline markets as taboos around secondhand fashion fade, interest in sustainability grows and the slowing economy pushes more Chinese consumers into bargain-hunting mode.
5. Why Luxury Needs to Rethink How It Speaks to Gen-Z. Many high-end brands are struggling to connect with young consumers, who are either bored by dated marketing, turned off by high prices, or both. Time is running out, as Gen-Z is poised to dominate luxury spending by 2030.
This Weekend on The BoF Podcast
This week, former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful, unveiled EE72, a media platform and consultancy which blends a print magazine, a “slow digital” publishing platform and creative agency which aims to tell stories across fashion and lifestyle through the lens of culture.
“EE72 for me is a combination of everything I’ve done in my career. It’s really where I want to be now. I want to be free and be able to do whatever I want,” says Enninful. “I could have created something that was very avant-garde but I wanted something that anyone could pick up and feel welcomed. That was very important to me.”
Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion, sat down with Enninful to discuss why he launched EE72, what it means to build a fashion media company at a time when both industries face existential challenges and how his newfound freedom informs his business strategy and creative decisions, from choosing a quarterly publishing cadence to selecting his first cover starJulia Roberts.