Stella McCartney trades Kering for LVMH

Fashion label Stella McCartney has closed a deal with French luxury house LVMH to accelerate its development. Interesting detail: only last year, Stella McCartney left Kering, another French luxury concern.

Minority interest for LVMH

Talk about a remarkable transfer: British fashion house Stella McCartney – with a turnover of some 170 million euros – is trading in Kering and François Pinault for their big rival, LVMH and Bernard Arnault.

“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”, the British designer said. “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.”

Details on the deal have not yet made public: those will only be officially announced in September. Apparently, LVMH would be taking a minority interest in the fashion label. The daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney stays in charge of her fashion house and retains all creative freedom. In addition, she will become a special adviser to Bernard Arnault and the board of directors in the field of “sustainable fashion”.

Great week for wealthiest man in France

In a statement, the LVMH top executive talks about “the beginning of a beautiful story” and claims to be convinced of “the long-term potential”. It will be the second big partnership announced by LVMH this year: in January, pop singer Rihanna and her fashion house Fenty made a deal with the French concern that owns such luxury brands as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Moët & Chandon.

It also turned out to be a great week for Arnault personally: the wealthiest Frenchman just took over from Bill Gates as the second richest man in Bloomberg’s list. The top spot is still for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.