[UPDATE: Balenciaga and Alexander Wang today, July 31st, made it official with a statement, they are going their separate ways. It sounds like Wang gave it a go, but truly thought it better to focus on growing his own label. Thus the chatter about outside investors in Alexander Wang that arose at the same time as all the Balenciaga break up rumors.]
French fashion label Balenciaga has chosen not to renew Alexander Wang‘s contract, according to reports published this morning by WWD. Owned by parent-company Kering, rumors surfaced earlier this month that negotiations over Wang’s contract renewal were not going smoothly with a spokesperson stating, “There are discussions between the designer and Balenciaga regarding the renewal of the contract.” While no official statement has been made, it looks like Wang’s final presentation will be the upcoming collections showing Spring 2016.
Kering reported its 2Q earnings earnings on July 27th and though earnings disappointed, sales results were better than expected across all brands with YSL showing especially strong results. Specific numbers were not broken out for Balenciaga, but that company said earlier this year that it had posted double-digit sales growth.
If Kering is focused on reeling in spending, it’s possible it concluded Wang wasn’t worth the money, especially for a label as small as Balenciaga. After all, it recently replaced the designer of its biggest money maker, Gucci, with Alessandro Michele, an unknown who was promoted from within and thus far seems to be doing a capable enough job.
And then, too, as we speculated when the contract talks first arose, maybe Wang himself really didn’t want to go forward. He has plenty going on with his namesake label and perhaps he concluded that trying to juggle both would be too much of a drain on his own brand.
