Less than a year after parting ways with Kering, Stella McCartney and LVMH have reached an agreement to further develop the Stella McCartney house with full specifics of the deal to be disclosed in September.
The move marks the second female-run fashion house that LVMH has announced supporting this year having onboarded Rihanna’s luxury maison Fenty label.
McCartney’s venture with Kering was a 50-50 deal with the two parting ways amicably last year after 17 years together. Stella McCartney was first launched as a joint venture with the Gucci Group (now known as Kering) in 2001when the organization was lead by chief executive Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford. McCartney launched her eponymous label after a short stint at Chloé. Last year Kering sold its 50 percent share of Stella McCartney back to the namesake designer.
LVMH announced today that McCartney will continue as creative director and ambassador of her brand while holding majority ownership. In addition, she will hold a specific position and role on sustainability as a special advisor to Mr. Arnault and the executive committee members of LVMH.
Since the announcement of my decision to take full ownership of the Stella McCartney brand in March 2018 there have been many approaches from various parties expressing their wish to partner and invest in the Stella McCartney House.
While these approaches were interesting none could match the conversation I had with Bernard Arnault and his son Antoine. The passion and commitment they expressed towards the Stella McCartney brand alongside their belief in the ambitions and our values as the global leader in sustainable luxury fashion was truly impressive.
The chance to
– Stella McCartneyrealise and accelerate the full potential of the brand alongside Mr. Arnault and as part of the LVMH family, while still holding the majority ownership in the business, was an opportunity that hugely excited me.
LVMH said the goal of the partnership will be for the house of Stella McCartney to accelerate its worldwide development in terms of business and strategy.
I am extremely happy with this partnership with Stella. It is the beginning of a beautiful story together, and we are convinced of the great long-term potential of her House. A decisive factor was that she was the first to put sustainability and ethical issues on the front stage, very early on, and built her House around these issues. It emphasizes LVMH Groups’ commitment to sustainability. LVMH was the first large company in France to create a sustainability department, more than 25 years ago, and Stella will help us further increase awareness on these important topics.
– Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH
