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. Who, in turn, has already sued the designers in response.
Dean & Dan Caten, by Giampaolo Sgura
However, six hours after DSquared2 announced the termination of its long-time licensing agreement with Staff International, the licensor sued the fashion house for breach of contract. The conflicting statements suggest that this issue looks like becoming a major court battle pitting one of Italy’s largest fashion empires and one of Milan’s hottest runway brands.
“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.
However, later Saturday, Rosso’s group responded forcefully: “Staff International reiterates its conviction that the license agreement is fully effective and confirms its intention to fully execute it until its natural expiry. Therefore, the company firmly rejects any possibility of early termination of the contractual relationship, and believes that legal conditions for early termination do not exist.”
“Staff International will continue to act with the utmost transparency and determination to protect its rights, honour its contractual commitments and safeguard its reputation, and reserves the right to take any further action,” it added.
The agreement – which is said to last 25 years, 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 ever 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 emerged a dominatrix leather police captain played by Brigitte Nielsen escorted two white collar criminals. You guessed it – Dean and Dan. Before, 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 possible departure of DSqyared2 will be seen as a setback for Rosso, who has long praised the brand as a dynamic creative force. Like every season, Rosso sat front row at the 30thanniversary show in Milan on February 25th.
“Staff International will continue to act with the utmost transparency and determination to protect its rights, honour its contractual commitments and safeguard its reputation, and reserves the right to take any further action,” read the last paragraph in Rosso’s company statement.
For decades, the fiercely independent Prada SpA Chairman Patrizio Bertelli talked about the need for Italian fashion houses to acquire size and scale to take on sprawling industry behemoths like LVMH and Kering SA and also avoid being gobbled up by them.
And yet his efforts to add heft to the Milan-based company he controls with his wife Miuccia Prada through an acquisition binge in the late 1990s left the group saddled with more than €1 billion ($1.13 billion) in debt and later forced the couple to seek help from Italian banks to prevent losing control.
More than a quarter century on, the family — including the couple’s oldest son Lorenzo, Bertelli’s designated successor — is seeking a different outcome from the biggest acquisition in Prada’s 112-year history: Versace.
Prada on Thursday agreed to buy the brand founded in the 1970s by late designer Gianni Versace from Capri Holdings Ltd. for €1.25 billion. The amount was significantly less than the initial asking price of more than €2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Prada even squeezed out a last-minute discount on the agreed €1.4 billion-euro price following the turmoil created by US President Donald Trump’s tariff push. The final price tag could be lower still, following several adjustments.
Adding Versace to Prada’s small yet growing stable of brands may give the Italian house the ability to stand alone in the fight for customers against the world’s biggest luxury giants as key markets like China and the US weaken. The bulk it adds strengthens the succession plans of the Prada-Bertelli family, which owns 80% of Prada. Miuccia, 76, and Patrizio, 79, have been determined to hand over the reins of the company to Lorenzo in a way that ensures the fashion house can maintain its independence.
Guaranteeing succession is a critical issue for Italian family-controlled businesses. Over the years, they have seen one brand after another scooped up by bigger global players. LVMH owns Fendi and Loro Piana and last year bought a stake in the company that controls Moncler SpA. Kering owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta and has an option to gain control of Valentino. For the families behind these brands, it has meant a loss of control.
Lorenzo, 36, a former rally driver who joined the family business about six years ago, is currently the head of marketing and social responsibility at Prada. He’s set to take over his father’s responsibilities in coming years.
In Versace, Prada gets a brand with a polar-opposite aesthetic, widening its range. While designer Miuccia has created her “ugly chic” style at Prada, Versace has been known for its elaborate, ornate designs and its signature Barocco print.
“Versace’s distinctive aesthetic fits perfectly into our portfolio, adding creative and customer complementarity,” Lorenzo said. “As we’ve seen in recent years, unlocking a brand’s full potential doesn’t necessarily require a revolution, but rather an evolution through small and constant steps.”
Prada’s purchase comes after record 2024 results, thanks to its Miu Miu label, which caters to younger consumers and helped it weather the recent global downturn in high-end fashion. But taking on a troubled label, which while still a global name is far removed from its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, may be a risky undertaking in the current climate for the luxury sector.
“We see the relaunch as a long and demanding process, which slightly dilutes the equity story of visible and consistent growth of the two main brands, Prada and Miu Miu,” said Paola Carboni, an analyst at Equita, in a note to clients. Prada, which went public through a 2011 IPO in Hong Kong, has fallen more than 30% from its mid-February record high.
Prada has already warned that fixing Versace will take time. The decision to buy it was “for the long term, for long-term success,” Chief Executive Officer Andrea Guerra said.
Prada plans to run Versace as a separate unit, as it does with Miu Miu, said the people who asked not to be named discussing private plans. Miuccia, or “La Signora” as she’s known at the company, won’t be designing any collections for Versace, which recently hired Dario Vitale, formerly of Miu Miu, as its chief creative officer, following the departure of longtime designer Donatella Versace.
Prada will have to decide on the direction the brand needs to take to turn its fortunes around.
In a heartening note for Italy’s family businesses, the deal has brought together two of the best-known clans of the country’s famed fashion industry, a fact that was welcomed by Donatella, who stepped down in March as Versace’s creative director. It was a role she had taken over in 1997, when her brother Gianni was killed outside his home in Florida.
“I am absolutely delighted for Versace to become part of the Prada family. Gianni and I have always had a huge admiration for Miuccia, Patrizio and their family,” Donatella wrote in a post on Instagram.
French fashion giant SMCP announced on Friday the appointment of Kleine Tan as CEO of the firm’s Asia region, effective April 1.
Kleine Tan – SMCP
Tan succeeds Jimmy Lam, who has decided to pursue new opportunities outside the group, which owns the Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot, and Fursac brands.
“I am delighted to join SMCP. I look forward to working closely with the teams on the ground to build on the strong foundations already in place,” said Tan.
“I would like to thank Isabelle Guichot and the rest of the SMCP management team for the trust they have placed in me to continue driving the development of our brands across the region.”
An expert in the Asian market, having lived and worked in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, Tan most recently served as president of Loewe Asia at LVMH, where he played a pivotal role in the brand’s expansion and performance in the region.
He began his career in 1999 at Louis Vuitton in retail and merchandising before joining Burberry, where he held regional roles in retail operations and merchandising. In 2010, he moved to Prada and Miu Miu in similar roles, followed by senior leadership positions at Givenchy as managing director for Asia-Pacific and VP Japan & APAC, where he led the strategic turnaround and growth of the business in the region.
“I am very pleased to welcome Kleine Tan as CEO of SMCP Asia. Having lived and worked in Asia for the past two decades, Kleine brings a solid international perspective and a deep understanding of the retail and wholesale dynamics across the Asia-Pacific region,” said Isabelle Guichot, CEO of SMCP Group.
“As we continue to implement our strategic roadmap in the region, notably with our network optimization in China, I am confident that Kleine will bring a new pragmatic and expert vision to the table, seizing potential new opportunities and inspiring the teams to reach new milestones. I would like to join the SMCP team in wishing him every success as he steps into his new role, and at the same time, thank Jimmy for his unwavering commitment over the past eight years with the Group.”
Evelyne Chetrite and Judith Milgrom founded Sandro and Maje in Paris in 1984 and 1998, respectively, and continue to provide creative direction for the brands. The firm acquired Claudie Pierlot and Fursac, respectively, in 2009 and 2019, with firm’s portfolio of brands present across 50 countries globally.
Renzo Rosso, the Italian fashion mogul who made his name as the founder of Diesel jeans, is on the lookout for new deals — even after a setback in his bid to buy the Versace brand.
“We have no partners, no debt and we’re not listed,” Rosso, chairman of the OTB holding, said in an interview in Milan. That combination creates room for maneuver that bigger rivals can’t match, he said.
Rosso in February made a “formal bid” to buy the Versace and Jimmy Choo brands from US-based Capri Holdings. But it “was never considered, and we don’t know why, even if our offer was in line with the final deal,” Rosso said.
Rosso remains undaunted, however, and said he’ll consider other deals. “There are many more dossiers on our desk,” he said.
One possibility that’s been mentioned in the industry could be Milan-based fashion house Etro, controlled by L Catterton, the private equity firm backed by LVMH founder Bernard Arnault.
Clearly, though, Rosso has a type of target in mind.
“I don’t want to buy just for the sake of buying,” he said. While some possible acquisitions offer “decent revenue,” in many cases they’re not of interest because “they are not cool, not bold, maybe they don’t have as strong a brand identity as ours.”
OTB reported turnover of €1.8 billion ($2.04 billion) for 2024, down 4.4% at constant exchange rates compared with the previous year. Japan and North America rose 16.3% and 13.3%, respectively.
While an initial public offering remains a possibility at some point, Rosso said the option doesn’t make sense under current market conditions.
“We don’t need an IPO to make acquisitions, if we want to buy, we can make our move,” he said.
Dubbed the “Jeans Genius” by some media outlets, Rosso, 69, founded Diesel in the late 1970s, and acquired complete control of the brand in 1985. In 2002 he created OTB as a holding for Diesel and for future acquisitions. The group today encompasses brands including Jil Sander and Maison Margiela.
Rosso says he’s now considering raising prices in the US to counter potential effects of future tariffs and fading consumer demand.
“Traffic in US shops is declining by double-digit percentages, while consumers are holding back on purchases,” he said.
To react, Rosso is planning more US events for the full range of OTB brands, not just the high-end ones, while adjusting his distribution network.
Rosso has always seen the US as key to his group’s success. As far back as the 1980s, he made bets on Diesel’s now-signature worn-out look and on a push into the US market.
“Being part of the American dream was a must,” Rosso said. And when it came time to open the first Diesel store in the US, he deliberately picked a spot near a Levi’s location on New York’s Lexington Avenue.
Why? “To show them that my jeans were the coolest thing around.”
Entertainment8 years ago