EDU invests on Demeulemeester & Schonberger

[Lena]

Ann and Dirk get a new 'partnership' and some money to move on...
lets trust in 'total creative freedom' promises

PARIS — Ann Demeulemeester, the edgy Belgian designer known for her poetic, rock ’n’ roll style, has a new investor and is planning to use the capital infusion to expand her business.

Anne Chapelle, who has been managing director of Demeulemeester’s Antwerp-based house since 1994, has acquired an undisclosed stake in Demeulemeester’s company, which is also partly owned by the designer’s husband, Patrick Robyn.

A spokeswoman for Demeulemeester called the deal a “partnership” that leaves Demeulemeester total creative freedom.

She declined to say whether Chapelle owned a majority stake. The agreement gives Chapelle’s holding company, called EDU NV, control of Demeulemeester’s brand, according to the spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, EDU has acquired majority control of the fledgling business of young German men’s wear designer Dirk Schonberger. Critically acclaimed for his sharp tailoring, Schonberger, who has dressed celebrities such as Mick Jagger, had fallen on difficult times recently.

He said the deal would allow him to funnel his creative juices into his clothes while leaving business and production concerns to Chapelle. Schonberger will show his clothes Jan. 30 in Paris during men’s fashion week.

extracts from a wwd article from today

 

[softgrey]

YES FAUST...it says she's expanding menswear...
commence happy dance...

thanks for posting this lena...

 

[maarit]

I love hearing news from the dark side (ie the business side)!

thanks Lena!

 

[Lena]

my pleasure as always

 

[faust]

YES FAUST...it says she's expanding menswear...
commence happy dance...

thanks for posting this lena...

Did I miss it?!

I don't know, I'm with Lena. It's always the same propaganda line about "concentrating on the creative side of things" but I haven't seen that happen anywhere YET.

I'm perfectly happy with Ann where she is at now, an independent business with a strong enough following to keep going strong. I hope it's for the best, of course. Ann seems like an intelligent woman, I hope she knows what she's doing.

I'm glad about Schonberger though, he's had real problems with his business, including production and delivery problems, so I hope it's for the best.

 

[Scott]

Well,if its somebody who Ann has worked closely with for that amount of time,one could only trust her choice as Ann is indefinitely not the kind of person to let just anybody invade her soul.

As for Dirk,he's the perhaps the best menswear designer(other than Raf)to come along and he certainly deserves to get his work out there.

 

[Spacemiu]

hopefully it willonly help them and not water them down

 

[AlexN]

YES FAUST...it says she's expanding menswear...
commence happy dance...

I'm not seeing this. But if it's true... *happy dance*

 

[softgrey]

oh...lena edited that part out...
i can't seem to attach it...but the rest of the article says that "the fruits of the deal will be an expanded men's collection....which demeulemeester plans to show to press and buyers in paris in july..."

good news for you ann fan-atics...

 

[softgrey]

ps...she's been working with this person for over 10 yrs...i don't see this dramatically changing the creative flow at the house...it's basically status quo..but now with some extra cash to expand the business...this sounds like it can only be good...

 

[faust]

oh...lena edited that part out...
i can't seem to attach it...but the rest of the article says that "the fruits of the deal will be an expanded men's collection....which demeulemeester plans to show to press and buyers in paris in july..."

good news for you ann fan-atics...

Ahh, cool! Well, I hope it works out for the best.

 

[Scott]

This is good to hear. Now she'll have a strong collection for men that can stand alongside her womenswear. In terms of volume that is, because her menswear was a bit small-ish in comparison.

I'm with you Softie. ALOT of men love her clothes so this is definitely good news!

 

[AlexN]

Oh, good. Then I'm definitely excited to death. Thanks for the extra tidbits, Softie. : )