LVMH and Kering (former PPR) on the prowl for fashion start-ups

LVMH – Kering: 2 – 2

Last Friday LVMH purchased British Nicholas Kirkwood, a brand of ladies’ shoes. The
33-year-old designer has won the British “Accessoires Designer of the Year”
twice and his collection is currently available in some 150 department stores. LVMH
had also previously bought a minority stake
in 28-year-old French couturier Maxime Simoëns.

Great rival Kering has also started looking out for promising starters: last
month, the company led by François-Henri Pinault purchased a minority stake in ready-to-wear brand Altuzarra, a New
York company founded in 2008 by 30-year-old Joseph Altuzarra. Early 2013,
Kering bought a 51 % stake in 30-year-old Christopher Kane’s company, a
Scotsman trying to move his way up since 2006.

“We want to encourage them to push the boundaries of their creativity,
while their brand can take advantage of LVMH’s expertise”, states Delphine
Arnault, newly appointed executive vice-president of Louis Vuitton. The past has shown that this strategy is
very effective as PPR (Kering’s previous name) purchased Stella McCartney,
a brand that now has a turnover of more than 100 million euro. That is
something both companies would obviously like to repeat.