Farfetch, the global luxury marketplace, has purchased the Milan-based luxury fashion holding company New Guards Group for $675 million, Business Wire reports. The Italian company is home to many of the industry's leading streetwear brands—in addition to investing in acclaimed labels such as Palm Angels and Heron Preston, New Guards Group helped launch Virgil Abloh's illustrious Off-White trademark.
“The addition of New Guards’ brand platform brings a creative and industrial dimension to our suite of capabilities which, combined with our community of more than 650 boutiques, enables us to power and promote both new and existing creative names in the luxury industry to build the brands of the future," Farfetch CEO José Neves said in a statement. The marketplace said it would pay for New Guards Group in cash and Farfetch shares.
Earlier this year, outlets began reporting that French luxury conglomerate LVMH was in talks with New Guards Group, which "amazed" the company's co-founder and CEO, Davide de Giglio. During an interview with Business of Fashion in April, de Giglio said he wanted to build New Guards Group into an Italian fashion conglomerate similar to the French's LVMH.
"Look at the French: they have big fashion groups. There is not one Italian company like this," De Giglio explained. "This is something that I see: to be an Italian company capable of building something. Italians have a thousand years of experience in making clothes. It’s in our DNA."
In regards to the Farfetch acquisition, the New Guards CEO echoed his previous statement about the holding company's growth and sourcing the tenants of success from the entities with such capabilities.
"We started New Guards Group because we had a vision to build a platform that could support the best creative talent in the world and build iconic brands," said de Giglio. "Creative visionaries need to be empowered with best-in-class design studios, industrial capabilities, and global distribution channels. Farfetch has the technology, expertise, and vision to take our business to the next level and unleash the talent of the future.” De Giglio is expected to stay on as the chief executive.
The Farfetch acquisition of New Guards Group is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019.
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