Prada Group acquires Versace for €1.25 billion

[carla56]

PRAYING THIS MEANS JACOB K & PGG LEFT!!!

Yes! The fw campaign will be their last!

 

[iloveclothestoomuch]

i’m very much looking forward to what prada’s versace will bring. pradace !

 

[oioioi]

They say Versace's chief executive, Emanuelle Gintzburger, and John Idol, boss of the label's owners, Capri Holdings, colluded to get rid of Donatella and replace her with Dario so they can continue with a succession plan that she didn't agree with.”

This already happened with Donatella almost 10 years ago with the company and Riccardo.
Allegedly, these layoffs are to do with Gintzburger, Idol and the financial assessment to try sell it, and did not involve Dario before.

 

[yslforever]

yes but no.
Prada/Bertelli has an horrific track record with the brands they purchased: Helmut Lang, Alaia, Jil Sander, Genny, Church's, Car Shoe etc.
imho they just got lucky recently with Miu Miu, like a blind-folded dart player hitting the target once in a while, but they trashed a lot of brands and legacies in the meantime.

 

[Lola701]

We just see these brands differently. You see a Tom Ford man in a suit and a woman with a blouse with three buttons undone; I see them taking off those clothes and getting into the shower together. You see reality; I see brand image, marketing, and world-building fantasy. And to me, nothing can top those '90s Richard Avedon ads, especially the one with the five naked men and all the supermodels—that is Versace to me forever.

We don’t see the brand differently, we just look at things with a different POV.
You talked from a brand image POV but it has to have a tangible reality for the customers to buy into that.
I like Tom Ford because it’s my kind of sexuality and from a fashion POV, it relates with things that I love whether it’s Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, a certain sensuality, a certain humor. But at the end of the day, the product is identifiable for men and women.

But this is us. The thing is brand image is only relevant when there’s a reality. And the fantasy only have an impact with a strong product. For me fashion is both.

For me Versace is not just sexy. It was bold and edgy. It was fashion forward. It’s an important name in fashion because it was a leading voice in fashion.

And for me the problem with Donatella is the cohesion. The last few campaigns looks like a sketchers ad, actresses on the Redcarpet portrays a very sensual and grown up allure for the brand and on the runway, we have millenial fashion.

I think that unfortunately, sometimes at brands, they underestimate the power of consistency and brand building. We can criticize Saint Laurent by Vaccarello as much as we want but it’s so coherent! For a lot of people, that’s what is sexy. The same message from the ads to the stores. They can dress their celebrities in the most unflattering big suits possible, for people it somehow still reads as sexy.

From a reality POV, given what Versace is putting in terms of visuals and collection, it would be impossible for me to guess what I would find in stores.

 

[proseccotabis]

Oh I was forgetting the stores... the Versace store in Montenapoleone, Milano, is the ugliest store in the street... hope they're gonna do a baroque store, with a very good Italian bad taste, like Gianni's house in Via Gesù (yes you must have a very good taste to know how to do bad taste and kitsch in a good way... and Dario may have learnt it from the master Miuccia!).

it's beyond tacky
its a disgrace their VM is like this not for one season but continuously.. when i was in milan recently and walked down the street to see Versace beside the elegant Marchesi and Hermes and Dior i had shiver down my spine... horrible.

Mutiny at Versace and Ruthless Layoffs
From the MailOnline April5th, 2025.

“MailOnline can reveal that there has been yet more drama at the company as they got rid of a number of long-serving and loyal staff in a round of cuts which coincided with the arrival of Donatella's replacement Dario Vitale, a former director at rival Miu Miu.
According to sources at the company, they were made redundant at the behest of chief executive, Emanuelle Gintzburger, who according to one insider didn't turn up to do it himself and was instead working abroad in Asia.
Insiders say that it has caused 'mutiny' at the firm, with one saying: 'Lots of highly rated staff have been sacked. It all happened last week, there are some really hard working, loyal people who have gone.

'They weren't best pleased that Emanuelle wasn't there to do it himself but then these things do get left to HR. They also say they were not thanked by him for their hard work and years of service.

'The whole place has changed since Donatella left, it is terribly sad, it shows just what a positive influence she was there. It was often a happy place then, now there is mutiny.'

They say Versace's chief executive, Emanuelle Gintzburger, and John Idol, boss of the label's owners, Capri Holdings, colluded to get rid of Donatella and replace her with Dario so they can continue with a succession plan that she didn't agree with.”

are we surprised tho.. unfortunately this is currently happening in 2-3 other big brands too and the way all of this is handled is a disgrace to say the least

 

[jeanclaude]

Miuccia should give Versace to Raf...a blonde wig for him; and let´s behold how his brain melts trying to fuse sexyness with intellectualism!! (nah...he would probably make body-con dresses with some "Joy Division" patches all over them...and call it a day).

I hate when Prada destroyed Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, so I am very skeptical this time. But the difference here is that Versace was already destroyed when Prada bought it. So...

 

[PDFSD]

​

Bloomberg​

Versace’s ‘Quiet Luxury’ Blunder Opened Door to Prada Takeover​

Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg

April 10, 2025

Fashion executive John Idol thought Versace leaned too much on ornate designs and aimed to fix it by dialing things down, then boosting prices.

Fashion executive John Idol thought Versace leaned too much on ornate designs and aimed to fix it by dialing things down, then boosting prices.
When his company, Capri Holdings Ltd., acquired the fashion house in 2018, he said his strategy would double the brand’s revenue over the next decade. Six years later, that vision has unraveled. He’s sold Versace to Prada SpA for $1.38 billion, a roughly $700 million loss, and sales growth is significantly off course.
Capri is expecting Versace to report revenue of around $813 million in the current fiscal year that ended in March. That’s below the $843 million in sales it reported in fiscal year 2020, the first full year that Capri was running the brand.

Versace’s future now rests with Prada, a company that’s nimbly navigated the recent slowdown in luxury spending. Revenue at Prada, which also includes the Miu Miu brand, rose 17% in 2024. By contrast, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect Versace to report a decline of around 20% in sales for the fiscal year that ends in March versus the prior year. Capri also owns the Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo brands, which have reported sales declines, too.

Capri said in a statement on Thursday announcing the deal that it would use the proceeds from the Versace sale to make investments in Michael Kors.
“We also believe a sale of Jimmy Choo would be the right move for Capri,” Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman wrote in a research note Thursday.

When Idol took over Versace, the brand was known for its ornate designs and its signature Barocco print, but he later steered it toward the more muted “quiet luxury” trend. Idol said the shift was necessary because Versace had become overreliant on the print. “You don’t want a store that is 70% Barocco — and that became a bit of a crutch for the company,” Idol, who is chairman and chief executive officer of Capri, told analysts in February.
He also acknowledged the shift was too abrupt. While affluent shoppers embraced the more muted designs, the mid-tier shoppers who drive Versace’s sales did not. Revenue growth started to slow.
“It’s not been the turnaround story that they wanted it to be,” Sherman said in an interview. “The strategies haven’t been the right strategies.”
.
Compounding the problem, Versace hiked prices and reduced the amount of affordable items it sold. “We went too far, too fast,” Idol said in February. “Customers who used to shop with us came in and said, ‘I like that, but I can’t afford all of that,’” Idol said. “Probably the customers are sitting there saying, ‘Wait a minute. What happened to the old Versace?’”
Now, Versace is scrambling to undo the damage. The brand is lowering price points on some core items: In the fall, silk shirts will start at $990 instead of around $1,500, the company told Bloomberg News, and its sneakers have become more affordable. Its Galaxia style, for example, starts at $550.

The brand also reduced discounts. While end-of-season sales on apparel and footwear still start at 50%, the second markdown is now 60%, the company said, versus 70% in the past. And Versace stopped putting handbags on sale at its full-price boutiques.
The shift “is painful,” Idol said, “but it is the right thing to do.”

In March, the company announced that Donatella Versace was stepping down as chief creative officer, a role she’s held since 1997. She’s become chief brand ambassador and supports the company’s philanthropic efforts. Former Miu Miu executive Dario Vitale succeeded her on April 1.
“We are confident that his talent and vision will be instrumental to Versace’s future growth,” Idol said about Vitale in a statement.
Capri’s Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Edwards left in April for the role of CFO and chief operating officer at Macy’s Inc. “His departure comes at a precarious time,” Telsey Advisory Group analyst Dana Telsey wrote in a research note. “Leadership transitions always carry an element of risk.”
Risks have increased further, and Capri’s shares have fallen further since President Donald Trump pledged to implement sweeping tariffs.

Pyrrhic Victory​

The sale of Versace to Prada is a Pyrrhic victory for Idol, who has led Capri since 2003. Wall Street cheered when Idol appeared to have found a potential buyer for Versace: Capri shares rose on March 3 after Bloomberg News reported on the deal talks.
But Idol’s plan wasn’t to split Capri into pieces. He aimed to sell the whole company to Tapestry Inc., which owns Coach and Kate Spade, for $8.5 billion in 2023. That would have afforded Idol a grand exit after decades at the helm of Capri. What could have been a crowning achievement, though, was toppled last year when a federal judge ruled the combination of the rival conglomerates would harm competition in the US handbag market.

Idol, 66, had already tried to take steps to ease out of his day-to-day CEO role in 2021. Capri’s board appointed Joshua Schulman to lead the company so Idol could move on to become executive chairman. Several months later, in an unexplained and surprising about-face, Capri said Schulman was leaving the company and Idol would remain CEO and chairman.

While the battle over Tapestry’s acquisition of Capri was playing out in the courts, Idol and his team didn’t appear to be drawing up a Plan B for their remaining brands.
“The company used the excuse of the deal with Tapestry for its inertia,” GlobalData analyst Neil Saunders wrote in a research note in February. “That excuse is no longer viable, and the company needs to do the heavy lifting of reinvention.”

​

 

[GoldenPetals]

Versace is the last fashion house that should be pursuing "quiet luxury". And while Prada/Miu Miu are not entirely in different galaxies as Versace, I don't know if it's going to know how to steer it back on course.

 

[GoldenPetals]

Actually, I'm not too familiar with Dario Vitale's work. What are his best/worst collection? Perhaps some people could post some of his good and bad work here.

 

[PDFSD]

Actually, I'm not too familiar with Dario Vitale's work. What are his best/worst collection? Perhaps some people could post some of his good and bad work here.

its very hard to know his contribution (nobody outside of the company can give an estimation) to miu miu for now as miu miu was ruled by mr.prada and fabio and than stylist input ....the recent success is with the new stylist lotta which changed miu miu allot.

we will see his true capabilities with his versace ....usually prada designers have a good modern foundation because they are hired everywhere at other brands.

the article on his apartment give ancora level taste vibes but we already discussed this in other tread, interpersonal wise i know he is a company guy does not ruffled feathers a good studio collaborator that keeps the bosses happy ...i never heard of his great talents as in term of creative person of great taste.

was same for ancora guy prior to his gucci and we all know how that ended.

 

[jeanclaude]

CEOs playing fashion designers...what a virus! Hope Capri goes to hell.

 

[reese06]

My opinion does not change on Donatella needing to exit but that is NASTY work, pushing her into the quiet luxury space, which is not in her repertoire, nor the customer’s wants and then pushing her out when she doesn’t deliver. Ruthless

 

[JohannesL]

I think Versace is a bit like Cavalli, which is not a typical brand that CEOs know how to deal with, especially in an era when designers are afraid of being called tacky and vulgar. In contrast to those good tastemakers who can be clinically cold or artistically quirky but never tacky and vulgar, it is part of the reasons why many brands are betting on the inoffensive quiet luxury aesthetics. I am more of a business person than a creative but reading some of the overwhelming comments toward some designers in this forum just makes me feel that managements do know trends but they are just wrongly emulating them on the wrong brands.

 

[blueorchid]

I still think Gianni’s early work would fit perfectly within quiet luxury. I don’t think it’s as incompatible as people think. Donatella’s vision needs to take a back seat.

 

[proseccotabis]

My opinion does not change on Donatella needing to exit but that is NASTY work, pushing her into the quiet luxury space, which is not in her repertoire, nor the customer’s wants and then pushing her out when she doesn’t deliver. Ruthless

I agree, this industry is so cruel and merciless and the way they deal with people who dedicated their life to the craft most of the time is diabolical

 

[Salvatore]

It was definitely time for Donatella to go, BUT I do feel she deserved to go out with an epic collection and show full of her iconic designs from over the years. A retrospective with her favourite Versace models/women would have sufficed. The fact that her last collection was FW 25, which I found not good, leaves me disappointed.

 

[fashionlov]

Yes! The fw campaign will be their last!

The last thing I need is Versace styled by Lotta Volkova. I would love to see Carine Roitfeld though, it could work in my opinion

 

[JohannesL]

Donnatella is still the perfect Versace woman！I just hope that the Prada husband will not transform it into a more mature and sexy Miumiu supposing it is the blueprint for this brand but I am glad to be proven wrong.

 

[Salvatore]

@blueorchid Why the eyeroll to my post ? 🙄