Bikkembergs entrusts the production and distribution of its ready-to-wear to Factory
Bikkembergs wants to move upmarket with its new partner Factory. The couture sportswear label, owned by Chinese firm Modern Avenue Group via the Levitas company, has announced a major change for its ready-to-wear. The label, whose men's and women's collections have been overseen since 2016 by English designer Lee Wood, is ending its collaboration with its former shareholder Sinv and entrusting the management of the category to the Italian company Factory. A recognized specialist in the manufacture of leather pieces, owner of the ready-to-wear brand Drome.
The five-year license agreement will begin with fall/winter 2023/2024. It covers the production and distribution of collections designed by Lee Wood and provides for a new international distribution network, relying on the showroom opened by Factory in Milan's luxury district, which will start with Bikkemberg's current 400 multi-brand clients, between boutiques and department stores.
The project actually kicks off this week with the sale of a men's fall 2023 pre-collection to retailers, while the first main collection will be unveiled at the Florentine Pitti Uomo show in January. The goal is to move upmarket, bringing the clothing collection back to its original positioning as a premium line, "consolidating its brand identity so that it can once again be a point of reference in the urban fashion segment," the house said in a statement.
Bikkembergs wants to expand geographically through this partnership "by consolidating its reference markets such as Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, through a network of increasingly selected partners, while also moving into new territories such as the Middle East and Northern Europe, with a focus on Germany and Belgium, and strengthening within major chains of stores in the United States," says the group.
The brand, led by Dario Predonzan, is completing its reorganization that started when Modern Avenue Group acquired 100% of its capital in February 2019. The group had initially taken a 51% majority stake in Bikkembergs in 2015 via the company Levitas, while the remaining 49% was held equally by the shoe specialist Zeis Excelsa and Sinv, which managed the clothing. By 2019, the Chinese company had bought back its shares, while Sinv had continued to produce the ready-to-wear collections under license.
Factory was founded in 2008 in Fucecchio, near Florence, by Ferrero Rosati, founder of the leather ready-to-wear brand Santacroce, which also manufactured for Prada. For many years, the company managed Neil Barrett's collections under license and produced Drome, the label launched fourteen years ago by the founder's daughter Marianna Rosati.
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