Tissa Fontaneda gets new investment and CEO to boost global growth

Spanish accessories and ready-to-wear label Tissa Fontaneda has announced a crucial strategic investment as the brand enters its 15th anniversary year.

It’s the first time the label, which was founded in late 2010 and is still creatively led by Tissa (short for Patricia) Fontaneda, has raised capital externally.

“Strategic partner” and entrepreneur Daniel Codes Llamas has joined as CEO as the company targets international expansion. We’re told he “brings a renewed strategic direction based on financial structuring, brand scalability, and professionalised management. His expertise in transforming design-led businesses into high-value, globally positioned luxury brands marks a decisive step in Tissa Fontaneda’s evolution from heritage atelier to international luxury house”.

Going for growth

The brand is best known for its signature ‘bubble’ napa leather bags but also offers other leather bag styles, plus a concise edit of clothing, eyewear and jewellery. It has its flagship store on the upscale street named after Claudio Coello in Madrid, as well as a smaller London location on Chelsea’s Motcomb Street. There are also wholesale stockists in multiple countries, with a “loyal community across Europe and the Middle East”.

But it’s now targeting an acceleration internationally with North America, Japan, the Middle East, and the DACH German-speaking countries of Europe its key targets.

Codes Llamas will work with the founder and aims to “build upon the foundations laid by Fontaneda and evolve her artisanal vision into a scalable business model poised for broader international growth”.

The company hasn’t revealed the size of the investment but said that “to reinforce the balance between creativity and strategic expansion, the new capital will be directed toward four strategic pillars”. They include marketing, wholesale, e-commerce, and the “professionalisation of operations, including the strengthening of the company’s international supply and retail network”.

Wholesale at its broadest should see it boosting the label’s presence in high-potential regions such as North America and the Middle East, “building on its existing foundation” across the 19 countries it’s already in. But at a more targeted level, it’s entering “niche, strategically significant markets, including Japan where craftsmanship and artisanal heritage resonate strongly with local consumers”. 

To this end, it has partnered with “a leading international wholesale showroom in Italy, creating a dedicated hub where global buyers can experience the collections firsthand and curate selections tailored to their markets”.

As for e-commerce, its newly launched website is described as “a pivotal step” in the brand’s digital transformation, reflecting a “thoughtful blend of Tissa’s pre-digital, deeply tactile aesthetic heritage with the demands of a modern, digitally native audience”. 

The company said that “while the brand’s visual language was shaped in an era before social media, this next phase embraces the future through a comprehensive digital strategy that includes strengthened e-commerce capabilities, expanded storytelling, and a full-scale social media program across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube”.

And the marketing strategy will be about “deepening the sense of community that has long defined Tissa Fontaneda. Designed for women who seek not only beautifully crafted pieces but also a place where they feel seen, understood, and connected, the brand’s communication will emphasise emotion, belonging, and shared aesthetic values. This next chapter focuses on nurturing a global community of women who choose the pieces because they resonate with their identity, because the texture, colour, and craftsmanship make them feel good. By elevating storytelling and expanding brand touchpoints, [we] will reinforce the emotional world that sits at the heart of its luxury proposition”.

The aim here is clearly to hang on to what has summed up the label during its 15-year history and to retain its existing clientele, while reaching out to younger consumers, particularly the key Gen Z demographic.

Change and continuity

Daniel Codes Llamas summed up the approach by saying that the new stage “doesn’t change the soul of Tissa Fontaneda, it enhances it”.

And that soul can be seen very clearly in the two existing stores, one of which we saw when we sat down with Fonataneda in London just before the investment announcement. 

The London location on Motcomb Street is a clean-lined but welcoming space. It’s also in an interesting position that feels very much like a neighbourhood store. Fontaneda admitted it has its challenges given that Motcomb Street hasn’t developed into the shopping hub once expected. But she clearly loves the area and the customer events she runs are driving footfall to the store, particularly among the affluent locals and tourists who can afford to spend €300-€2,000+ for a pochette, an evening bag or an everyday shopper.

Footfall is less of an issue in Madrid where her store is in the heart of its key high-end shopping district. London, by contrast, is more complicated. It has multiple upmarket neighbourhoods and there’s always a chance now that the brand could turn up in one of them. “I can see myself on Mount Street, or Elizabeth Street” Fontaneda said, adding: “But Madrid right now is the place to be, it’s booming. It’s in vogue, and so many people from all over the world are there. It’s a small shop, but it’s really in the centre.”

Both shops look and feel very ‘personal’ to Fontaneda and that’s no surprise given how personal the project to create the brand has been in the past 15 years.

With a background in the luxury accessories sector (she was previously at Loewe and Swarovski), she’s nurtured the brand through its first decade-and-a-half during a period in which holding your own against the big players has been tough.

“I’ve worked in luxury accessories all my life, and sometimes I really thought, oh my God, there are so many bags about, how can you compete with LVMH?” she said. “Then I thought, OK, I will just do it. But I have to do something that is really different and special and that people really fall in love with”.

Hence the creation of the bubble leather, which is lambskin shaped via a special technique using steam. 

It’s an exclusive material sourced from only one manufacturer in the world “with whom we have a wonderful relationship since many years,” she said, although when she first came up with the idea, even they were resistant. 

“They said ‘this is impossible. You cannot do this. This is so expensive and complicated’. If I was Tom Ford, that would probably [be different]. But I was insistent and it’s wonderful,” she explained

But to get to the next level, the company clearly needed extra help. “I needed a Pierre Bergé”, Fontaneda joked, referencing Yves Saint Laurent’s longstanding backer. “I built the brand, I gave it a name, and I think there is a good base. But I needed a partner in this.”

That’s especially the case when targeting growth in markets like the US and Japan. “If you’re not already super-big in Europe, then it’s slow [to build],” she explained. “But [the Japanese] love the brand, they appreciate this leather, the softness. But as I told you, I needed somebody who helps me. I wanted somebody who also understands what I’m what I’m doing, who appreciates it.”

That was bound to be a tough task with many private equity investors more focused on ultra-luxe and exclusive, or looking for a move towards greater mass production. “So it was a very big challenge to find the right person,” she explained.

She’s clearly managed that and Codes Llamas undeniably ‘gets’ the brand. He said that he thinks “the combination of Tissa’s artistic sensitivity and a modern management approach will allow us to bring the emotive experience of Tissa Fontaneda luxury products to new audiences while keeping its authenticity intact”.

And Fontaneda is very upbeat about the future, saying: “Danny Codes joining Tissa Fontaneda fuses craftsmanship with technology and tradition with genesis, uniting a creative spirit and a financial mindset around one shared mission: taking a beautiful brand to the next level.”

We’ll be watching with interest.