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Swiss luxury group Richemont has acquired a controlling stake in Italian luxury shoemaker Gianvito Rossi, for an undisclosed sum, the company announced on Friday.
Gianvito Rossi, founder, CEO and creative director of the eponymous brand, will retain a stake in the company and continue to develop the maison in partnership with Richemont.
Son of a renowned shoemaker, the late Sergio Rossi, Gianvito Rossi founded his brand in San Mauro Pascoli, Italy in 2006. (Gucci Group, now owned by Kering, bought Sergio Rossi in 1999 and sold it in 2015. It’s currently owned by the Lanvin Group).
The Cartier owner noted ‘substantial increases’ in APAC in the first quarter, but sales declined in the Americas amid fears of a prolonged luxury downturn in the region. By category, jewellery led the way.
M&A activity in the luxury sector has stepped up recently. Kering announced this week the acquisition of 30 per cent of Valentino. Richemont, which owns Cartier and Van Cleef Arpels, has been a relatively low-key player in the fashion and accessories sector, despite the acquisition of Belgian leather goods house Delvaux in 2021. Gianvito Rossi is to sit within its ‘Other’ business category, which is mostly composed of fashion and accessories brands, including Montblanc, Chloé and Alaïa. This division grew 6 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year. In its fiscal year ending 31 March 2023, the ‘Other’ division accounted for 13 per cent of the conglomerate’s sales and 1 per cent of total operating profits.
“Gianvito Rossi is an iconic shoe brand that’s vertically integrated and gives Richemont additional legitimacy in the footwear segment, which can be beneficial for Chloé and Alaïa,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of advisor firm Ortelli Co.
“The acquisition of Gianvito Rossi doesn’t move the needle on the lack of scale Richemont suffers in soft luxury,” says Luca Solca, senior luxury analyst at consultancy Bernstein. “We are not particularly keen on footwear brands, as their ability to expand from their core category is very limited, given their idiosyncratic appeal and relatively low absolute price point. Yet, one could think that — like with Delvaux — Richemont is running a series of soft luxury experiments, ahead of possibly more meaningful forays.”
Philippe Fortunato, CEO of fashion and accessories maisons at Richemont, said: “Gianvito Rossi is an exceptional maison with unique savoir-faire in the world of shoemaking. Its core attributes of uncompromising quality, elegance and timelessness are perfectly aligned with Richemont’s values.”
Gianvito Rossi said: “I have found in Richemont a partner who shares common values such as the greatest attention to quality, design and craftsmanship and the preservation of tradition handed down from generation to generation. I decided to choose them to keep developing the brand worldwide and for their expertise and model of global expansion.”
He said the partnership will be beneficial for the company’s next stage of growth. “We look forward to starting this exciting new chapter together with a spirit of fruitful cooperation.”
Also understood to have been in the mix as a possible investor was OTB founder Renzo Rosso, owner of Diesel and Marni, according to industry sources.
The transaction has no material financial impact on Richemont’s consolidated net assets or operating result for the year ending 31 March 2024, according to the company.
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