Fashion designers, DJ and pop culture sensation Virgil Abloh, has officially taken a seat at LVMH’s power table.
Today, LVMH announced its newest agreement with Virgil, where they will buy a majority stake in Off-White, the luxury streetwear brand founded by Virgil in 2013. The French luxury group, which owns Celine, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, will now obtain 60% interest in the brand, leaving Abloh with 40% interest, but will continue to work as the creative director for the label.
With the new partnership, LVMH is working toward launching unique brands and partnerships with Abloh’s artistic vision and expertise. Virgil has been known for working on unique collaborations that have built the hype around his brand, and LMVH hopes to create the same by thinking outside the box when it comes to the companies categories.
Bernard Arnault, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, shares, “We are thrilled to expand our successful partnership with Virgil. 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.”
By combining the two powerhouses, this is a clear statement that global luxury has been shifting from couture ateliers to more of a street style realm, which has easily become everyone’s style of choice when it comes to fashion.
“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 honoured 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,” reveals Abloh.
