Fashion Wire Daily Paris - The Italian designer Alessandro Dell'Acqua has sold a 70 percent controlling share in his business to a consortium of investors led principally by the Arpels family. The transaction, confirmed Wednesday, was for an undisclosed sum. The designer himself will retain 30 percent ownership of the brand and take up the position of company chairman. The CEO spot will be taken by Claude Arpels, who is also CEO of the Redwall Group. The Redwall Group, which manufactures high-end leather goods and accessories under the names of Redwall and Borbonese, was taken over by the same investment consortium last November.
Dell'Acqua is not new to either Redwall or the Arpels family, having been hired in 2000 as creative director of Borbonese. Arpels, a former part of the Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry company, sold its remaining shares in that firm last week to Compagnie Richemont Financiere, the Swiss-based luxury group that includes names like Chloe and Dunhill.
Claude Arpels said in a statement Wednesday, "[The purchase of the Alessandro Dell'Acqua label] gives us greater presence in the fashion sector and increased scale in ready-to-wear." He added that it was "the perfect complement to our existing businesses."
Existing licenses for perfume, shoes and eyewear with Euritalia, Iris and Visibilia will remain as they are. The clothing license that was held by Bellemaille - owned by Gianandrea Cataneo, Dell'Acqua's former partner and manufacturer - will be transferred to a specially created subsidiary of Redwall, effective immediately.
