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New York designer Willy Chavarria, who, in 2024, decamped from New York for the Paris runways, has taken the next step in establishing his brand as a global player by securing minority investment from Middle Eastern luxury retail operator Chalhoub Group. The total investment was not disclosed.
Chavarria launched his eponymous brand in 2015, after working at New York brands including Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, and has since grown the Willy Chavarria label into an emerging powerhouse. The Chalhoub investment isn’t Chavarria’s first capital injection. In 2024, the designer secured funding from FAE Fashion Ventures, the investment arm of entertainment company First Access Entertainment (FAE). It was not announced at the time.
“The timing of our partnerships with FAE Group and later with Chalhoub Group was both strategic and necessary. FAE and Chalhoub Group played important roles in our ability to scale global consumer reach and revenue growth,” Chavarria says. “Key priorities are strengthening our core functions and infrastructure to support accelerated revenue growth.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Chalhoub Group onto the board of Willy Chavarria to add their expertise in scaling growth businesses,” Sarah Stennett, co-founder of FAE Fashion Ventures, said in a statement. “The fusion of retail, brand experience, and cultural expression across all areas of the arts will establish a blueprint for future-facing fashion brands.”
Nor is it Chalhoub Group’s first investment. The group, which is the largest retail operator in the Middle East and works with more than 300 international brands in the region, has previously invested in ventures including UK-based personal shopping and styling platform Threads Styling in 2022 and French tableware brand Christofle back in 2017, as well as founding its own brands, including Level Shoes. It has also partnered with companies such as eyewear group EssilorLuxottica JV and OTB Group (which owns Jil Sander, Maison Margiela and Marni) to expand their brand presence in the Gulf region.
The Chalhoub Group (and FAE) investment isn’t just about expanding Chavarria’s reach in the Middle East. Instead, goals include amping up the brand’s global retail presence with expansion into key markets, including Europe and Asia; the support of a host of new projects; and helping to realise Chavarria’s long-term vision.
Chavarria is noted for his commitment to weaving political commentary and activism into both his designs and shows. Some brand fans may wonder about the potential for the watering down of this messaging now that outside investment is in the mix. But Chavarria’s top priorities for investors were partners with high levels of business expertise, coupled with an understanding of his brand purpose. “FAE and Chalhoub Groups’ combined experience in the luxury sector, entertainment and deep respect and appreciation of culture make them the perfect partners,” he says.
The announcement emphasises Chavarria’s “cultural resonance and unique blend of experience in fashion, inclusive identity and humanity” as a draw for Chalhoub Group, hinting at a respect for the existing brand DNA. Plus, Chavarria’s existing investment hasn’t stopped the designer from speaking out this past year. He opened his Spring/Summer 2026 with 35 men kneeling in white T-shirts, hands behind their backs. It was a statement in support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in reference to persecution without due process in Salvadoran prisons, drawing both praise and critique from viewers.
“Willy Chavarria is a designer who represents the evolving face of luxury – rooted in culture, identity and community,” Chalhoub Group’s chief investment officer Zahra Kassem-Lakha said in a statement. “Our partnership is grounded in a shared ambition to support brands with strong values and distinctive voices. We believe Willy’s creative vision and powerful storytelling are reshaping the fashion landscape globally.”
Chavarria has proven on many occasions that he has the business chops to match his design savvy, and is well aware that it takes more than good clothes to build a fashion company. To date, he’s partnered with a host of brands to help financially support his business and shows. As he told Vogue Business in September: “I used to believe that great design would simply speak for itself and allow a business to grow around that. I now realise that great design is only a small component of what makes a business run. Each component is just as important as the design for a business to succeed.” This partnership is a testament to this mindset.
Chavarria has big ambitions. He told Vogue Business back in 2024, ahead of his last New York Fashion Week show before heading to Paris: “I plan to be another Tommy Hilfiger or another Calvin Klein or another Ralph Lauren, which is why my shows have a commercial element to them,” he says. “Because I know that to be an American designer, you have to sell the clothes.”
With this new investment, Chavarria is setting himself up to sell his American clothes to many more global consumers, just like Hilfiger, Klein and Lauren before him.
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