Azzedine Alaïa reclaims his name

[Alejandro]

free at last, free at last!!!

Prada sells Alaïa label back to Azzedine Alaïa
Friday, July 27, 2007

(MILAN) Prada SpA today announced that it is selling 100 percent of the capital of Azzedine Alaïa S.A.S. back to its namesake designer, without disclosing financial details.

“I thank the Prada Group for its valuable and total support to the Alaïa brand during the last years,” the Tunisian stylist said in a joint statement. “I thank particularly and personally [Prada chief executive] Patrizio Bertelli for the attention and the sensitivity that he had and continues to have in support of my work and I wish him all the success he deserves for his group.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Prada, which has recently begun to refocus its efforts entirely on its namesake and Miu Miu brands, will continue to cooperate on the development and production of footwear and leather goods collections for Alaïa. Most recently, Alaïa posted sales for the year ending January 31 at a growth of approximately 30 percent to nearly $17 million. “For Prada, this agreement confirms the strategy of focusing on its core brands in order to guarantee a continuous expansion and always generate more profit in the world’s biggest markets,” the company said.

"Today Azzedine Alaïa regains his independence, while maintaining a collaboration with our Group,” said Prada chief executive Patrizio Bertelli in an issued statement. “For Prada, this agreement is in line with the strategy to expand the Group and grow profitability by focusing on the development of the core brands in the world's key markets.”

The Prada Group, which acquired the Alaïa brand in 2000 as it made a significant push to build its portfolio of luxury fashion labels, has delayed multiple attempts to go public over the years. Earlier this year, Prada sold its Jil Sander business and has hinted that it would carry out an initial public offering of its shares in the near future. Its former Helmut Lang brand was sold to Link Theory Holdings Co. of Japan in 2006.

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=448185&itype=8486

 

[indie]

such good news! Thanks for posting. This has made my day already.

 

[rangerrick14]

That sounds great

 

[Scott]

such a nice thing to hear on one's birthday,innit? especially knowing my disdain for conglomerates and my love of independence! bring on the revolution because i forsee independence coming back strong again....and i can only imagine this will bring his work back to that free-spirited innovation he was always known for.

 

[iyemstoopid]

thank goodness!! didnt want a jil sander/helmut lang horror story

 

[ilaughead]

This is great for Alaia! I'm happy there wasn't any drama!

 

[happyguy]

congrats!!!!looks like a bright day for him!!!

 

[dhclam]

FANTASTIC NEWS for Alaia and his fans. It also shown that, Prada as a group, herself and her husband are not like a "typical" conglomerate, they do have hearts to help and push independent ones who deserve it, like AA. Having Prada's continuous support on production is a brilliant thing that could possibly happen to AA, they did great job on that in the last couple of years, and should go on which for sure would stablise AA's biz, in order to generate financial support as an individual.
Great news to share at weekend.

 

[Scott]

^well,that's probably stretching the imagination a bit. remember the whole debacle with lang and sander? and much his comments,in the last years,don't render him as such a nice guy. and i don't think this is out of the kindness of his heart.....they've obviously been having problems within the company and they needed to relinquish some of their property. but i will say,at least he did ultimately take the nice way out,otherwise,if history speaks,it would've ended up like helmut lang. and i don't think bertelli really wanted anymore drama right now.

 

[seanutbutter]

Well, I suppose this can't be anything other than good news. Congratulations to him.

 

[SomethingElse]

Thanks for sharing the good news, Alejandro! It is heart warming to hear this.

 

[softgrey]

well- this was coming for awhile...

i am just glad for alaia that he was able to come up with enough money to do this and it's pretty amazing that alaia and the prada group were able to come to this arrangement...continuing to work together...

both alaia and bertelli have reputations for being moody and difficult, so it's even more surprising that these two strong personalities didn't seem to clash...

 

[liberty33r1b]

fantastic news indeed!!! for everyone.

 

[allez]

hurray~ finally, Alaïa's not one of the many "Prada group"'s.

 

[educo]

THANK GOD!!! i agree, there is going to be a return to the independent designer. I think there are going to be more designers who are going to start reclaiming their babies.

 

[Alejandro]

i want my baby back baby back baby back i want my baby back baby back

 

[Caffeine]

according to WSJ, Prada will still own the liscense deal to make bags and shoes for Alaia.
at least it's back!

 

[Scott]

oh,in fitting spirit....10 magazine did a long,beautiful story on azzedine in the latest issue. it's really great.

 

[beltedmaude]

I'm glad that he has "regained his freedom," if you will. Although, I do hope that the brand will be able to endure without a big brother umbrella.

 

[zamb]

Well everyone knows that i disdain the business practices of the Prada Brand (how can you love that they killed of Helmut Lang?),
I am Glad to see My favorite designer of all time reclaim his independence.................
but this leaves a lot of questions to be answered, and one has to wonder what decisions will be made regarding the future of the Azzedine Alaia Brand.
Mr. Alaia is not very young, he is about the same age range as Valentino and YSL , so in reclaiming the brand, what decisions will be made with regards to its long term future?


Hmmmmm?............... i shall not say what I'm thinking