Stella McCartney Ditches Kering, Signs On With LVMH

Stella McCartney continues to make moves with news today (July 15, 2019) the London-based brand has received a minority investment from Paris-based luxury brand powerhouse LVMH. McCartney will stay on as creative director with additional details on the scope of the deal to be revealed in September.

It’s a noteworthy move if only because label founder and head creative Stella McCartney made waves just four months ago when she bought back Kering’s 50 percent ownership in the brand. LVMH and Kering are long standing rivals so while the label itself won’t be a financial needle mover for LVMH, symbolically the move reads as a big loss for Kering.

While with Kering, Stella McCartney’s sales were not publicly divulged, however, London-based Citigroup analyst Thomas Chauvet estimated the brand achieved $320 million in sales in 2017, accounting for two percent of Kering’s luxury division sales, according to the NY Times.

In a statement, McCartney said she had fielded multiple investment inquiries since leaving Kering. She explained, “Since the announcement of my decision to take full ownership of the Stella McCartney brand in March 2018 there have been many approaches from various parties expressing their wish to partner and invest in the Stella McCartney House. While these approaches were interesting none could match the conversation I had with Bernard Arnault and his son, Antoine.”

The London-based label has long been known for not using leather or fur in its designs and more recently has begun to emphasize sustainable manufacturing practices, a growing trend LVMH clearly wants in on.

Driving home the point, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault stated, “I am extremely happy with this partnership with Stella. It is the beginning of a beautiful story together, and we are convinced of the great long-term potential of her House. A decisive factor was that she was the first to put sustainability and ethical issues on the front stage, very early on, and built her House around these issues. It emphasizes LVMH Groups’ commitment to sustainability.

He added, “LVMH was the first large company in France to create a sustainability department, more than 25 years ago, and Stella will help us further increase awareness on these important topics.”