LVMH presses pause button on Rihanna’s fashion brand Business

LVMH, owner of Louis Vuitton, and music star Rihanna have agreed to suspend its Fenty fashion line less than two years after its launch, the French luxury giant said on Wednesday.

LVMH said in a statement that Paris-based Fenty’s ready-to-wear business would be “on hold” pending better terms – a rare setback for the luxury group, which has weathered the crisis better. coronaviruses than most of its rivals.

The R&B and LVMH singer launched fashion label Fenty in May 2019, just the second time the French group has created a label from scratch as they sought to tap the growing demand for celebrity collaborations. luxury.

LVMH did not elaborate on why it hit the pause button, but after a big launch and a first collection, the brand kept a low profile and never followed up with major marketing events, even before the Covid-19 crisis.

Commercial publication WWD, who first broke news of the label’s suspension, said Wednesday that small staff remained at the Paris headquarters to shut down remaining operations.

Asked about the fashion adventure when the group’s third quarter results were called last October, LVMH’s CFO, Jean-Jacques Guiony, called it “work in progress”. “We’re still in a launch phase, and we need to figure out exactly what the right offer is,” Guiony said. “It is not something easy.”

LVMH also said on Wednesday that private equity fund L Catterton, which is linked to the group, had taken a stake in Savage X Fenty, Rihanna’s lingerie line.

“LVMH and Rihanna reaffirm their ambition to focus on the growth and long term development of the Fenty ecosystem by focusing on cosmetics, skin care and lingerie,” he added.