PPR, a French holding company known for its ownership of luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen, had its eyes on Brioni, an Italian fashion house that specializes in hand-made suits. Schumpeter’s blog post Italian Suits in French Hands on The Economist mentions that on November 8, “PPR [took] over 100% of Brioni for what is said to be €350 million ($484 million).”
Although PPR is famous for its domination of high-end fashion, it claims that the company needs to expand its market niche. The French conglomerate therefore made a purchase on Brioni as well as Puma before that in order to attract, specifically, men. I believe there are two outcomes from purchasing the suit-producing company:
The good? Society has better access towards rare, fashionable goods and Brioni will be able to increase its fame. We can now expect Brioni to hit the shelves more frequently despite already being quite profitable before PPR “came to the rescue.”
The bad? Many Italian brands are known for being family-owned, but changes to them can eventually lead to changes in our perception of Italian fashion. Think: in twenty years, will the Italian fashion industry even exist anymore?