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Jones has stepped down at the Italian brand, which is said to be in talks with several potential successors, including Pierpaolo Piccioli.

PARIS — Yet another high-profile design vacancy opened Friday when Fendi revealed that Kim Jones would step down after four eventful years as artistic director of haute couture, ready-to-wear and fur collections for women.

He will “now concentrate fully on his role of artistic director at Dior Men’s,” the Roman house said in a brief statement issued late Friday.

The development comes amid fevered — and often spurious — speculation about the vast game of musical chairs playing out at the highest echelons of European fashion.

There was no mention of the succession plan, only that “a new creative organization for Fendi” would be announced “in due time.”

According to market sources, Fendi has recently held discussions with designers including Pierpaolo Piccioli, previously creative director of Valentino.

In Friday’s statement, the focus was on Jones’ tenure, which brought collaborations and destination shows into the mix.

“Kim Jones made significant contributions to the brand’s creative legacy, seamlessly integrating his modern and cross-cultural aesthetics with Fendi’s historical heritage,” it said. “Under his leadership, the maison reinvented its ready-to-wear and couture collections, offering an inclusive and innovative approach to fashion that constantly renewed Fendi’s Italian codes. Throughout his four years, Jones’ work was wholly guided by passion and creativity.”

Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, lauded Jones as “a highly talented designer who has brought his unique and multicultural vision to Fendi over the past four years. I would like to thank him for his contribution and look forward to continuing to witness his creativity for Dior Men’s.”

Jones was one of the rare designers to straddle two luxury brands in two countries.

Still, his exit from Fendi adds to the creative upheaval roiling the industry, currently grappling with a slowdown in luxury consumption and consumer caution.

As reported, the employment contracts of John Galliano at Maison Margiela, Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, and Lucie and Luke Meier at Jil Sander are coming to term before the end of the year or in early 2025, according to market sources. There are also creative vacancies at Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier.

During his tenure at Fendi, Jones frequently referenced ready-to-wear designed by Karl Lagerfeld, who had famously created furs and women’s rtw for the Roman house from 1965 until his death in 2019.

Jones also collaborated closely with Silvia Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear collections, and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi, jewelry creative director, whom he considered a key muse.

Over the past year he spoke enthusiastically about preparations for Fendi’s centenary in 2025, while stopping short of detailing specific plans.

When he joined Fendi, Jones became the latest acclaimed menswear specialist to broaden his fashion universe to womenswear, following on the heels of Hedi Slimane and Raf Simons.

For his first crack at Fendi, he took a client-focused approach centered on real clothes and the lifestyle needs of his close circle of female friends, which includes the likes of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Ronnie Cooke Newhouse and Victoria Beckham.

He told WWD in an interview ahead of his Fendi rtw debut in February 2021 that he simply wanted to make “clothes that women will want to buy. I’m not gonna lie — I think that’s what my job is. I want all my friends to go, ‘I want that straight away.’”

He took pride in commercial success, and frequently boasted that Fendi revenues grew during his tenure to surpass 2 billion euros.

His collections received mostly positive, though hardly ecstatic, reviews, and it is understood some LVMH insiders looked dimly on some of his projects at Fendi.

In September 2021, he surprised the fashion world by pioneering a full creative swap: Donatella Versace designed a Fendi collection and Jones a Versace lineup for pre-fall 2022 retailing. They were known collectively as the Fendace collections and were sold at pop-ups across the globe, in addition to the Versace and Fendi websites and boutiques.

In 2022, Jones tapped Marc Jacobs to create a collection within Fendi’s spring 2023 women’s collection that was shown during New York Fashion Week, and also teamed with Tiffany & Co. for special Baguette handbags. He followed up in 2023 with a Stefano Pilati collaboration under the new “Friends of Fendi” banner.

Jones also endured some management turmoil during his four-year stint.

Last May, Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou was appointed CEO of the Italian luxury company, which he took on in addition to his role as managing director of LVMH Fashion Group.

He succeeded Serge Brunschwig, who served for six years as chairman and CEO of Fendi, building the brand’s retail network, investing in its industrial infrastructure, and forging a joint venture with Design Holding, forming Fashion Furniture Design (FF Design) to develop the Fendi Casa business.

A veteran of LVMH, Jones came on board in 2011 as men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, parlaying his zest for exotic travel into ultra-luxurious collections with understated cool and sly functionality. He helped ignite the luxury streetwear phenomenon with the landmark 2017 collaboration with Supreme, the cult New York skatewear brand.

Since joining the men’s division of Dior in 2018, Jones has stepped up the pace of collaborations, mostly with fine artists including Daniel Arsham, Kaws and Amoako Boafo, but also the surfwear maven Shawn Stussy, and the Jordan brand. The latter yielded one of the most sought-after sneakers of 2020, the Air Jordan 1 OG Dior limited-edition.

Jones has had a storied fashion career, with Galliano snapping up his graduate collection from Central Saint Martins.

He initially launched a signature menswear label. Known for its sporty, streetwear edge, the Kim Jones brand lasted for eight seasons and attracted the attention of Dunhill, where he was creative director from 2008 to 2011.

Challice Ltd. has rejected a new bid proposal by Frasers Group, saying it remains "very supportive" of Mulberry, and that it's not the right time to sell.

LONDON — Mulberry’s majority owner Challice Ltd. has asked Frasers Group to cease its pursuit of the accessories brand, and said any attempt at a takeover will fail.

Challice was responding to Frasers’ updated offer for the company, which was lodged after the market closed on Friday. Frasers has increased its proposed cash offer to about 111 million pounds from 83 million pounds, equivalent to 1.50 pounds for each Mulberry share.

In response, Challice reiterated its support for Mulberry, argued that it was an “inopportune time” for the company to be sold, and asked Frasers to walk away.

Challice, which is controlled by the Singapore-based Ong Beng Seng and his wife Christina Ong, described Frasers as a “supportive minority shareholder,” but said it has “no interest” in either selling its Mulberry shares to Frasers, or providing Frasers with any undertakings with regard to its possible offer.

It was the second time in less than two weeks that Challice has rebuffed Frasers, which made its first play for the loss-making Mulberry in late September.

Per stock exchange rules, Frasers has to deliver a firm and final offer to the Mulberry board, or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, by no later than 5 p.m. London time on Oct. 28.

In its statement, Challice described Frasers’ advances as “distracting” both to the company and its management.

Challice also noted that Frasers would need to secure control of more than 50 percent of the issued Mulberry shares for any offer to be successful. Challice, which holds a 56.4 percent stake in Mulberry, argued that without its support, any offer would fail.

“Challice hopes that by making its position clear, Frasers will be encouraged to announce that it does not intend to make an offer for Mulberry,” the statement said.

Challice, which has been a majority shareholder in Mulberry since 2002, has been down this road before with Frasers. This is the second time in four years that Frasers, which was founded and is ultimately controlled by retail tycoon Mike Ashley, has made a run at Mulberry.

In 2020, Ashley built up a stake so high that he was forced to make a bid or leave the company. He eventually walked away.

Ashley specializes in buying stakes in distressed companies, or in companies such as Mulberry, which sell through his retail chains.

On Friday, Frasers said it was flummoxed as to why its original offer was rejected.

Frasers described Mulberry’s latest financial results as “catastrophic,” and said it strongly believes it can provide the “appropriate insulation and investment to support a much-loved British brand. As part of the Frasers portfolio, the Mulberry brand would be provided with the platform to ensure its long-term survival and success.”

Frasers hasn’t exactly proven itself as a great caretaker of luxury brands.

Late last year, it purchased Matches at a knockdown price of 52 million pounds, and then placed it into administration shortly afterward. Frasers bought back the IP, and administrators sold off millions of pounds of fashion stock, leaving many of Matches’ designers and brands trying to recoup their losses.

Having originally touted the Matches purchase and positioned itself as the troubled company’s savior, Frasers quickly concluded that Matches was too expensive to bankroll against a backdrop of dwindling luxury demand, and a cost-of-living crisis.

In the last fiscal year, Mulberry reported a 4 percent decline in sales, and swung to a loss before tax of 34.1 million pounds.

Challice has acknowledged the challenges it is facing with Mulberry, and has also underwritten a capital raise of 10.75 million pounds to help restore the brand’s fortunes and deliver value to shareholders.

Frasers has challenged Challice’s strategy, saying it has “significant reservations” that the new capital raised would be enough to support the business through the near to medium-term.

“It is Frasers’ belief that this will lead likely to another capitalization event … unless there is immediate and very real change at the company,” it said.

The luxury resale pioneer will release 250 luxury items for just $15, as it moves to take a more active role in helping to shape fashion circularity and policy.

PARIS — With 15 years under its stylish belt, luxury resale pioneer Vestiaire Collective is celebrating its anniversary with a curated drop of 250 pieces priced at under $15.

It will be a treasure hunt for buyers, with a Fendi Baguette bag, a Dior Saddle belt pouch, a Louis Vuitton Neverfull tote and a Bottega Veneta bag on offer, alongside items from brands including Gucci, Chloé and Burberry.

The move comes as the company continues to expand its work in growing the resale and circular fashion sector. The latter three brands are long-standing partners of Vestiaire Collective, which has helped to build the resale game over its decade-and-a-half in business as one of the first movers in the online resale market.

“We made circular fashion a big thing, and that’s what I’m very proud of,” cofounder and president Fanny Moizant claimed. “We’ve seen interest and desire for people to consume differently.”

Launched in 2009, Vestiaire Collective’s growth bears that out: revenue in 2023 was up 25 percent to 157 million euros, on 824 million euros of gross merchandise value. Moizant chalked up the increase to new memberships more than an increase in basket value.

The U.S. is now the French company’s largest market, representing more than 20 percent of its activity, and sales there were up 57 percent year-over-year since 2019. With chief executive officer Maximilian Bittner based in the U.S. since last September, the company is focused on continued growth in the region.

A recent storyline on Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” that involved Vestiaire is poised to further boost business. The episode resulted in a 30 percent increase in search. That was accompanied by “big, big spikes” of new registrations and listings, which jumped 30 percent in Europe and 42 percent in the U.S.

“We are very hopeful that maybe the hardest job has been done, and we are on the path to conquer that market and to be even more successful in the future,” Moizant said.

Globally the used clothing market hit $43 billion in 2023, up from $23 billion in 2018, and grew about seven times faster than the overall retail industry according to a recent study by platform ThredUp. With consumers increasingly aware of and open to resale, Vestiaire aims to continue to shift the sustainability conversation around fashion.

“The first 10 years were dedicated to growing the business, and at some point, we really focused on making sure the house was clean,” Moizant said. The company gained B Corp status and partnered with nonprofit The Or Foundation, among other milestones. Now Vestiaire’s bold mission is to change the industry itself.

Moizant and cofounder Sophie Hersan started with listing just 3,000 items, mostly sourced from friends and family — now the company has sold more than 12 million. Much of that haul is handbags, with Vestiaire tallying more than 2.6 million handbags sold over the years.

The company’s research indicates that 80 percent of secondhand purchases on Vestiaire are instead of a firsthand purchase, which means about 10 million new items not purchased. Their data shows that model has saved more than 300,000 tons of carbon emissions, and diverted more than 4,800 tons of raw materials and 2.9 billion gallons of water from use.

Kering’s investment in the company in 2021 was a “critical, massive step” toward industry acceptance, Moizant said, and represented a new way of thinking about the fashion system. If a luxury conglomerate can see the value in secondhand, brands and buyers could, too, the reasoning went.

Big names jumped on board as partners, including Gucci, Burberry, Chloé and Courrèges. Vestiaire also attracted high-profile, self-professed fans with Jessica Chastain, Jessica Alba and Kim Kardashian touting their use of the site.

Last year’s AI-generated ad campaign featuring piles of clothing in front of global landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and Times Square has been among the biggest successes in communicating the company’s message, Moizant said.

“The campaign was basically putting the problem of over-consumption and the waste [it creates] on your doorstep,” she said. It was a turning point for the company and more effective than showing mountains of waste in the dumps of the global south. Sustainability messaging walks a fine line between promoting your business without greenwashing, and educating without admonishing, she said.

“It was another step to touch them personally, and almost physically, to imagine, what if that waste was on my doorstep? That campaign went completely nuts, in a good way,” she said of its viral reach.

The next iteration will be the company’s continued forays into policy making, pushing to decrease the value added tax on commissions, which increases the prices for buyers of secondhand fashion, at the French and European Commission level. With affordability being top-of-mind for consumers, this is an increasingly important topic for Vestiaire.

“We’ve also involved lobbying in our thinking and to be even closer to our mission. In the last five years, while we were scaling, we were going even deeper into our mission and vision, while not forgetting who we are,” said Moizant.

The company is now planning an additional program with The Or Foundation, which works on changing the current fashion business model and focuses on clothing waste. Moizant said the next project will include bringing “another piece of the industry” to Ghana, which imports about 15 million items of secondhand clothing each week, causing extreme environmental impacts.

The third round of the company’s “fast fashion ban” — which included Asos, Boohoo, Shein and Topshop in its initial round in 2022, and expanded to H&M, Gap Inc., Mango, Uniqlo and Zara last year — will be revealed in early November.

The company signed on to a petition launched by American Circular Textiles group addressing taxation on resale earlier this summer, and is working on publishing an open letter on the topic of fast fashion before the end of the year.

“We are trying to move the needle…to make sure we have the biggest impact,” Moizant said about the company moving into more political action.

The new drop is intended to keep Vestiaire’s unique balance. “We really keep it in our DNA to be activist, but at the same time quite playful and quite engaging in the way we operate the business,” she said. “Vestiaire is very playful as a platform. This campaign is hitting both of those values.”

The drop will feature dedicated items for the Asia, Europe and U.S. markets. The selection will be available for under $15 (or pounds, or euros, depending on the region) and will go live worldwide at noon CET on Tuesday.

Pfizer has problems an activist can’t fix

Not quickly, anyway

Pfizer and Starboard

The FT coverage of the Starboard Value-Pfizer affair has been a lot of fun to read. A week ago we learned that the activist investor had built up a $1bn stake in the drug company — market cap $165bn — and that former Pfizer CEO Ian Read and former CFO Frank D’Amelio had pitched current CEO Albert Bourla and several board members on the activists’ plan. Last Tuesday it came out that Bourla was set to meet with Starboard, and it looked like the activists had Pfizer on the back foot. But then on Thursday it turned out that Read and D’Amelio had had second thoughts and were “fully supportive” of Bourla and the board. 

The final morsel to drop was the fact that Bourla had found out that Starboard was circling from what appeared to be a fat finger email from D’Amelio — with no message — that cc’d a representative of Starboard. Starboard had planned to announce its investment at a conference later this month. Oopsie. 

Over in the Lex column, my colleague Pan Yuk has already pointed out the reason why Pfizer might look like a target for activists. The share price has been falling since Pfizer’s blockbuster Covid vaccines stopped bringing in big revenues. The stock is cheap compared to peers’. The company spent much of the vaccine windfall on the $44bn acquisition of Seagen in March last year, which has yet to pay off. Yuk also points out, however, that while Pfizer is in need of a turnaround, it is not at all clear what can be done. She’s right — but there may be one thing that would work for Starboard. 

Some context first. Below is a list of the 15 largest pharma companies in the world, along with their price/earnings valuations, and expected revenue and earnings per share growth for the next 3 years:

The reason Pfizer is cheap is clear. It isn’t growing. Revenues are expected to grow at a sub-inflation 1 per cent rate over the next three years; earnings per share growth (supported by some cost cutting and share buybacks, presumably) are expected to average 5 per cent, among the very lowest in the group.

Low growth is not an easy problem to fix in pharma. Most of the time, pharma companies grow because their drugs work, and that depends on science, not corporate finance. Maybe the Seagen acquisition will pay off in the end, or maybe other pipeline candidates will come good. But Starboard can’t control clinical trials. 

It is worth remembering that 15 years ago, Lilly, now the biggest pharma company in the world and still growing fast, was struggling mightily to grow as patents expired and one clinical program after the other went wrong. It had a P/E ratio of 8. Ten years ago, on the other hand, Bristol-Meyers’ cancer drug portfolio was the envy of the industry, its stock was on a rip, and it had a P/E ratio over 40. Now Bristol is looking at falling revenues and is the cheapest big pharma stock (and was, not coincidentally, the target of an unsuccessful Starboard activist campaign in 2019). Fortunes change slowly in pharma, and in unpredictable ways. 

With that said, what can Starboard ask for that might help? A few ideas:

Even a new management team and (say) some turnover on the board might not move Pfizer’s stock a ton. But if Starboard could move the shares, say, 10 per cent, they might take their $100mn gain and go home.