Source: Edward Berthelot / Getty
Working for LVMH has once again proved victorious for Virgil Abloh.
Before taking his post at Louis Vuitton as the fashion house’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear, he was successful in his own right thanks to his elevated streetwear brand Off-White which he founded in 2013. Now LVMH –which owns Louis Vuitton– is interested in Abloh’s still growing brand as well– so much so that they’ve bought a majority stake.
Abloh understands that LVMH purchasing the 60 percent stake in Off-White isn’t just a big-money move, but his importance in the industry just grew tenfold.
“I’m getting a seat at the table,” Mr. Abloh told the NY Times.
When Abloh was first hired in March 2018, LV knew that it was breaking the mold, which was something that needed to be done to breathe new, younger life into the historic brand.
“We’re not trying to emulate a model that already exists,” Michael Burke, the chief executive of Louis Vuitton. “It’s more like what Bernard Arnault did when he bought Dior and decided to create a federation of luxury brands.”
Abloh has previously spoken about destroying all the glass ceilings possible to make things easier for the next generation so they won’t take as long as he did to accomplish certain career goals.
“I’m also honored to use this partnership to deepen my longstanding commitment to expand opportunities for diverse individuals and foster greater equity and inclusion in the industries we serve,” Abloh said. “This is an incredible new platform to take the disruption we’ve achieved together to a whole new level.”
The deal between LVMH and Off-White is expected to be complete within the next 60 days, and Abloh’s role at Louis Vuitton will remain the same.
