In a major strategic change Dsquared2 has ended its long-time licensing agreement with Staff International, the key operating company of Italian fashion billionaire Renzo Rosso.
Dean & Dan Caten, by Giampaolo Sgura
“Dsquared2 Group announces the immediate termination of its licensing agreement with Staff International S.p.A. Consequently, the Group will assume direct control over the production and distribution of its Ready-to-Wear collections,” the Milan-based house said in a terse release Saturday.
“This transition takes effect immediately and will commence with the upcoming Pre-Collection Spring/Summer 2026 sales campaign,” added Dsquared2, which was founded by twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten over three decades ago.
Staff International is the key production wing of Only The Brave, the holding company of Rosso, which also owns Diesel, Marni, Maison Margiela and Jil Sander, as well as the manufauring license of Viktor&Rolf.
“Dsquared2 Group expresses its sincere gratitude to all those who have contributed to this collaboration and looks forward to fostering continued partnerships in the future,” the release added.
The agreement with Staff International dates back to 2002, and helped fuel the spectacular development of Dsquared2, the last runway brand in Milan to have grown into a major global fashion brand.
Born in Willowdale, Ontario, Dean and Dan Caten (Catenacci, originally) began their career path in fashion by moving to New York in 1983 to attend Parson’s School of Design. In 1991 they arrived in Italy where in 1994, after numerous collaborations with major fashion houses, they first staged their debut runway collection. It marked the first in a long line of runway extravaganzas that would capture the attention of journalists and buyers for their unique brand of fashion, music and theatre.
The Catens went on to build a multi-million dollar business. And to dress everyone from Madonna in her iconic western video clip, “Don’t Tell Me”, to Beyoncé for her Super Bowl performance. The duo also has an impressive range, all the way to dressing the four-time English Premiership Champions, Manchester City. And a great HQ, a former electric energy headquarters converted into office, show-space, inn, gym and rooftop restaurant with swimming pool. They have become one of the city’s great fashion institutions without every losing the DNA of the Wild North. And famed for their ovations, where they take their bow in matching outfits – whether disco dragoons, Klondike trappers or matinee idols.
Leave it to the Canadian duo to stage an epic 30th anniversary show in Milan this past season, the cast marching out of a wrecked brick garage, or arriving in a series of mighty wheels. From armored personnel carriers and Ford Mustang convertibles to an all-silver DeLorean and a vintage Rolls Royce – all took turns arriving in the huge warehouse done up like a nightclub.
All of the Caten’s great archetypes got an outing. Mad saucy trapper girls in giant puffers and lots of legs; a trio of rockers with Kiss goth makeup but in three-piece suits; Klondike gold diggers off to an all-night rave; sexy vampy rock goddesses with bumster leather pants and fur coats with trains; and a beautiful black rodeo gal with mini cocktail made of bands of Western belts. Leading to the arrival with sirens of NYC police car, from which a dominatrix leather police captain played by Brigitte Nielsen escorted two white collar criminals. You guessed it – Dean and Dan.
And amid huge roars, JT and Doechii took the floor in a call and response duet surrounded by the entire cast.
Renzo Rosso’s fashion holding company OTB suffered a setback in 2024, seeing revenues fall 4.4 percent at constant exchange rates to 1.8 billion euros, recording EBITDA of 276 million euros and EBIT of 44 million euros. Retail (+7.4 percent), Japan (+16.3 percent) and North America (+13.3 percent) held up. Among the brands in the portfolio, Maison Margiela (+4.6 percent) and Diesel (+3.2 percent) performed positively.
In the past fiscal year, the Vicenza-based company sustained investments of 77 million euros, with a focus on the expansion of the retail network and major innovation projects.
The departure of DSqyared2 will be seen as a setback for Rosso, who has long praised the brand as a dynamic creative force.
Plant-based hair growth and wellness brand Vegamour has announced the appointment of Michelle Miller as its first-ever chief marketing officer.
Michelle Miller – Courtesy
In her new role, Miller will oversee brand, growth, digital and community initiatives as she leads the Los Angeles-based company into its next phase of expansion.
A seasoned executive across haircare and beauty, Miller has experience in scaling high-growth beauty brands and crafting marketing strategies.
She most recently served as chief marketing officer at K18, where she led the brand to become the leading haircare brand on social media, generating more than 25 billion TikTok views and earning over 50 industry awards. She also played a pivotal role in K18’s acquisition by Unilever Prestige.
Prior to that, she served as vice president of marketing at Kosas, where she helped establish the brand as a leader in clean beauty and contributed to the acquisition of Too Faced by Estée Lauder.
“Michelle is a brand builder who understands how to convert cultural momentum into commercial growth,” said Eric Hohl, CEO of Vegamour.
“As Vegamour continues to scale, her leadership comes at the perfect time to sharpen our positioning, deepen customer connection, and accelerate global momentum.”
Last year, the clean beauty brand expanded into Canada via an exclusive retail partnership with Sephora.
Meta Platforms Inc., ramping up work on a deluxe version of its popular smart glasses, plans to include hand-gesture controls and a screen for displaying photos and apps.
Bloomberg
The company intends to introduce its first glasses with a screen as early as the end of this year — a product it sees as a key step toward providing an alternative to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and other mobile devices, according to people familiar with the matter.
Meta employees estimate pricing for the device, which is code named Hypernova, will come in at over $1,000 and as high as $1,300 to $1,400, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing unannounced products. The final price is unlikely to be decided until closer to an announcement.
The company’s current smart glasses, the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, start at $299 and have been a surprise hit. Meta will continue to sell that entry-level version and is banking on their popularity to push users toward the higher-end models. Other companies, including Amazon.com Inc., have pledged new versions of their own glasses to better compete with the social networking giant.
The significant price increase for the new model is driven almost entirely by the screen, which is a monocular panel that will be located in the lower-right quadrant of the right lens. That means information will only be displayed in front of the wearer’s right eye and will appear most clearly when they are looking downward.
The company has already begun work on a second-generation version of the product, codenamed Hypernova 2. The major difference is the inclusion of a binocular display system, which means the device will have two screens and show information in both eyes. That device is currently planned for 2027, the people said.
The glasses with screens will mark another stepping stone toward Meta’s vision of true augmented reality glasses, which the company previewed last year. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
A look at a prototype version of the first Hypernova glasses indicates how the glasses are likely to work when they go on sale.
When they are turned on, the display shows a “boot screen” with logos for Meta and other partners — such as chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. — on the product.
Once the device is on, the user will see a home screen comprised of circular icons laid out horizontally, similar to the app dock on Apple devices or Meta’s Quest mixed-reality headset.
The glasses include dedicated apps for taking pictures, viewing photos and accessing maps. There is also support for notifications from phone apps, including Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp.
The glasses will otherwise work similarly to the current Wayfarer-style Ray-Ban Metas, focusing on capturing images and video, accessing AI via built-in microphones and pairing with a phone for calls and music playback. The new version will continue to rely heavily on the Meta View phone app.
Like Meta’s other new devices, the glasses will run a highly customized version of the Android operating system from Alphabet Inc.’s Google. The company isn’t currently planning to include an on-board app store.
Users will be able to control the glasses using capacitive touch controls on the sides of the glasses, meaning they can scroll through apps or photos by swiping against the temple bars and then tapping to open something specific.
Meta also plans to begin offering a so-called neural wristband for the first time, which will allow a wearer to control the glasses with gestures, such as rotating their hand to scroll through apps and photos and pinching their finger and thumb to select items. Meta is currently planning to bundle the accessory, codenamed Ceres, in the box with the glasses.Meta also plans to upgrade the camera.
Internally, the company considers the 12-megapixel camera on the current models on par with an iPhone 11 from 2019. For the new model, it would like to rival the iPhone 13 from 2021, the people said. It’s also planning a new carrying case dubbed Heres, which is shaped like a triangular prism and folds up.
The Hypernova glasses are still months away from being introduced, and the company’s current plans could change. Meta is known for making product changes — or even axing new initiatives — late in the development process. About 18 months ago, it canceled a variant of the Ray-Ban Metas with the camera removed. That device, codenamed Luna, was designed to bring down costs and increase privacy, the people said.
Besides the Hypernova glasses, Meta is also finishing up work on new smart glasses without a display dubbed Supernova 2. They will operate similarly to today’s Ray-Ban Metas, but will instead be built on a glasses design from Oakley, Bloomberg has reported. This pair will be optimized for athletic use, including biking. The company recently began testing in public environments.
The Hypernova follow-up project for 2027 sets up some overlap with Meta’s work on true augmented reality glasses, which overlay interactive images, video and information over the real world. Those products require more advanced and expensive technology than the simpler so-called heads-up displays in the Hypernova devices.
The company last year announced prototype AR glasses dubbed Orion, but the the first version for actual customers is likely to be a follow-up product dubbed Artemis, Bloomberg has reported. It’s using Orion internally for software testing and app development purposes — and could ultimately seed it to developers. The Artemis device likely won’t arrive before 2027.
There are questions within Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops these products, as to whether Meta will ultimately combine the Artemis and Hypernova products or if they’ll eventually arrive separately at distinct price points, the people said.
Recently launched U.S. luxury sportswear brand Off Season announced on Tuesday the appointment of Victoria Picca as president.
Victoria Picca – Courtesy
As president, Picca will lead the company’s business operations, brand strategy, and growth initiatives, including future licensing partnerships, global expansion opportunities, and continued product innovation. “Off Season is building something truly special—where fashion, sport, and cultural relevance come together in a new way,” said Picca. “I’m thrilled to join Emma and Kristin at this pivotal moment and help lead the charge as we expand our reach, deepen our impact, and create something lasting.”
With decades of experience in the sports, media, and commerce industries, specifically in licensing, strategic partnerships, and business affairs, Picca joins Off Season from Fanatics, where she served as senior vice president of business affairs, overseeing Fanatics licensing management and a global portfolio of more than 700 licensees.
During her tenure, she was instrumental in negotiating agreements with major sports leagues and clubs, helping drive more than $2 billion in sales.
Prior to Fanatics, she spent 14 years at the NBA, rising to senior vice president, licensing and business affairs, where she led the league’s global licensing strategy and helped shape impactful brand partnerships. “Vicky’s exceptional leadership and business acumen will be a game-changer for Off Season,” said Emma Grede, CEO and co-founder of Off Season. “Her expertise will play a crucial role as we continue to scale, push boundaries, and solidify Off Season as a dominant force in the market.”
Off Season launched in January as a collaborative project between Grede the National Football League, Kristin Juszczyk and Fanatics. Launch as a luxury fashion brand that redefines the intersections of football, sports and fashion, the first Off Season boasts puffer vests, puffer jackets and long coats that represent the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills.
Leveraging its license with the NFL Players Association, the brand also incorporate NFL players’ names and numbers into its designs.
The Off Season collection is available in sizes XS–XXXL, with prices ranging from $295 for vests to $495 for long coats.
“Emma and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Vicky to the Off Season team,” added co-founder Juszczyk. “Her deep understanding of sports licensing and her passion for forging innovative partnerships make her the ideal fit for this next phase of our journey. We are confident that her leadership will elevate Off Season to new heights, seamlessly blending fashion and sports in a way that genuinely connects with fans.”
Entertainment8 years ago