LVMH BECOMES MAJORITY INVESTOR IN OFF-WHITE

LVMH has acquired a majority stake in Off-White LLC, the trademark owner of Off-White. Following the acquisition, LVMH will own a 60 percent interest in the trademark, and Virgil Abloh will retain a 40 percent interest and continue as creative director of the brand, which he founded in 2013. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and is expected to be completed within the next 60 days.

New Guards Group will remain an operating partner for Off-White through its licensing agreement with Off-White LLC.

Abloh’s partnership with LVMH began in March 2018 when he was appointed the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection. Abloh will continue in that role at Louis Vuitton.

Additionally, LVMH and Abloh have agreed to another arrangement to join forces. It will leverage together the Group’s expertise to launch new brands and partner with existing ones in a variety of sectors beyond the realm of fashion. Initial discussions have already begun.

“We are thrilled to expand our successful partnership with Virgil,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH. “We have already had the privilege of witnessing Virgil’s exceptional creativity and vision through his work with us at Louis Vuitton. We look forward to supporting Virgil and the team both in driving the growth of Off-White™️ and in working together with Virgil to bring his unique sensibility to a broader range of luxury categories.”

“For nearly a decade, we’ve been building Off-White to be a brand designed to empower our generation and challenge the status quo,” added Abloh. “LVMH brings to the table the additional firepower and scale to accelerate our momentum and evolve Off-White into a truly multi-line luxury brand. I’m incredibly excited to work together with LVMH on other possible collaborations – an evolution of the great relationship I have had with LVMH, Bernard Arnault, Michael Burke at Louis Vuitton, and others. I’m also honored to use this partnership to deepen my longstanding commitment to expand opportunities for diverse individuals and foster greater equity and inclusion in the industries we serve. This is an incredible new platform to take the disruption we’ve achieved together to a whole new level.”