Staff International, the main operating company of Renzo Rosso‘s Italian fashion empire, has fired the latest volley in its dispute with Dsquared2’s decision to interrupt their licensing agreement.

The Staff release comes six hours after Dsquared2 released a communiqué Thursday morning alleging that Staff had committed “several serious contractual breaches,” forcing the fashion house to end the license prematurely.

Originally signed in 2002 and extended in 2010, the license was due to end in 2027. The Milan-based fashion house, founded by twins Dean and Dan Caten, first announced its decision to sever the licensing contract on Saturday morning, leading to a first rebuttal by Staff International that it would enforce the agreement.

But in the latest tit-for-tat, Staff responded Thursday afternoon: “In relation to the further statements released today by Dsquared2 through the press, Staff International denies the existence of any breaches of the license agreement in place with Grascoe Holdings Limited, Dsquared2 Trademarks Limited and designers Dean and Dan Caten.”

Besides Dsquared2, Staff International also manufactures several other acclaimed runway brands, which are controlled by Only the Brave (OTB), Rosso’s main holding company. These include Maison Margiela, Marni, Jil Sander, and his key denim marque, Diesel.

Staff International also noted that: “It reiterates that it has already brought an action before the Court of Milan seeking a declaration that the license agreement is still in force and that it is Grascoe Holdings Limited and the designers Dean and Dan Caten who have failed to fulfill their contractual obligations.”

Grascoe Holdings Limited is a business services company based in Dublin, Ireland, with an office in Lugano, Switzerland. Staff International filed a filing with the Milan commercial court naming it along with the designers and their trademarks.

The legal dispute between the Caten twins and Rosso, who scrupulously sat in the front row at Dsquared2 runway displays for two decades, is expected to prove increasingly bitter and complicated. In their release Thursday morning, the Catens referred to him as “billionaire Rosso” and insisted they were merely “safeguarding our dream, our legacy.”

The remarks clearly hit home, as Staff International concluded its release by stating: “It should also be noted that the involvement of Renzo Rosso in the statement issued by Dsquared2 to the press is completely inappropriate, as Renzo Rosso is not a party to the license agreement (which was signed exclusively by Staff International).”

This leads most observers to conclude that this is one fashion battle that will not be settled quickly.

Under a social media heading ‘We’re Back!’, shirtmaker and menswear retailer TM Lewin announced its return to physical retail after an absence of five years.

The retailer has opened a flagship store on Bow Lane in the City of London, the area where it excelled pre-pandemic with its offer appealing to the area’s corporate/finance workers.

The brand took to Instagram to say: “We cannot wait to welcome you to our first retail store after a challenging five years. We believe the saying goes ‘nothing that comes easy is worth having’ so here’s to that. Thank you for your patience, loyalty and kindness throughout, and roll the next chapter. The best is yet to come…”

The upbeat message comes after that “challenging” half-decade that had seen the retailer enter administration twice after struggling to make a positive return post-pandemic.

In 2020 the business was bought by SCP Private Equity, resulting in it cutting 600 staff and closing 66 UK stores.

The retailer collapsed into administration for the second time in 2022 and was followed by a rescue deal that April when it was sold to TM Lewin Shirtmaker Limited, a company owned by its main lender Petra Group, to become a purely digital retailer.

In February, it was announced that following the second administration, the then-failed business saw its debt load rise to almost £10 million while owing unsecured creditors over £30 million.

It’s turning out to be a very busy spring on the tech front for The Very Group. Fresh from unveiling a new Beauty Inspiration Hub for its signature brand, the digital fashion retailer has now turned to expanding its data-led creative expertise by launching HelloStudio for other businesses.

Targeting external brands, the new proposition “will provide a multi-channel creative service which taps into the latest technology, offering bespoke and tailored content that connects brands to their consumers”.

And  “a rich history of delivering creative campaigns to captivate audiences, including those for global brands” will be at the heart of the HelloStudio offer.

Leveraging The Very Group’s 1.4 million daily site visits, 4.3 million active customers and tech capabilities, HelloStudio “will utilise the retailer’s wealth of customer data throughout the ‘ideation’ process to collaborate with brand partners on new concepts”, it said. 

The launch of the new creative solution follows the roll-out of Very Media Group, which combines the internal retail and data expertise of The Very Group and the retail media knowledge of its in-house SMG team.

The HelloStudio team’s experience spans big household names across diverse categories, from Adidas and Apple, to Levi’s, Ray-Ban, Meta and SharkNinja, “helping deliver material increases in key measures such as sales, return on ad spend and social conversions”.

Julie Phelan, head of Creative at The Very Group said: “We’ve been working with brands, delivering eye-catching creative campaigns for years now, so while the proposition is new, working with brands has been at the heart of The Very Group for a long time.

“We have a proven record of conceptualising and delivering channel bespoke content which customers love. There is no channel after thought or retrofitting in our work. Plus, we harness and embrace new technology to enhance our rich content.”