[Image: DKNY Designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Oborne.]
LVMH has confirmed that it has sold Donna Karan International (DKI) (owner of DKNY) to G-III Apparel Group for $650 million. According to WWD, Toni Belloni, group managing director of LVMH, stated: “We believe the DKNY brand has a dynamic position in the market, and when G-III approached us about acquiring the brand, we concluded that the time was right and that G-III was the right steward going forward.”
As G-III Apparel Chief Executive Morris Goldfarb put it, G-III Apparel is known for scooping up “businesses that are being abandoned in the marketplace.” The $650 million transaction ends LVMH’s 15-year struggle to squeeze growth out of the DKNY and Donna Karan brands, which generated $300 million in sales from wholesale channels and 50 retail stores, down from a peak of $700 million to $800 million, according to Goldfarb.
[Image: A look from Donna Karan New York’s final collection.]
G-III Apparel Group currently owns brands including Vilebrequin, Andrew Marc, and Marc New York, and has licensing deals with Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Karl Lagerfeld among others. The group said that it felt it was well positioned to move the company (founded in 1989 by Donna Karan herself, who departed her namesake labels last year) into its next stage of growth.
However, creative directors of DKNY, Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow, who continue to run their own brand Public School, will remain at the label along with CEO Caroline Brown. Goldfarb added: “Donna Karan International is an iconic global fashion company. Its lifestyle aesthetic resonates well with consumers throughout the world. We are excited to build upon its strong foundation as we seek to capitalise on a significant market opportunity. We believe we are well positioned to create and sustain additional value for our shareholders, partners, and customers.”
Goldfarb plans to resurrect the Donna Karan label, selling it via luxury department stores like Neiman Marcus, while also expanding into home merchandise and footwear. He concluded: “There will be a huge opportunity in footwear. It’s an area that we believe can be very dominant.”
