Diane von Furstenburg is bringing the operation back in-house after the brand was operated externally by Chinese distributor Glamel for four years.
DVF announced the change on Friday afternoon, along with the appointment of Graziano de Boni, who served as an executive at luxury brands such as Valentino and Prada before founding a consulting firm in 2018. De Boni has been with the brand since October 2023, but DVF is only making his appointment public now.
DVF has a long history, dating back to the brand’s founding in 1970 and the release of the iconic wrap dress in 1974. But in 2020, DVF was on the brink of collapse or a sale due to the pandemic. CEO Sandra Campos resigned and the brand closed 12 of its 13 stores, laid off half its employees and cut its production by half. She handed the reins of the company over to her Chinese distributor Glamel and shifted her focus to a primarily China-focused wholesale business.
The move was worth it. In 2021, DVF recorded a profit for the first time and continued to work on stability and success. Now it is time to put the business back under US control.
“Graziano has spent a lot of time this year working on the product and focusing on building the brand strategy,” founder and designer Diane von Furstenberg said in a statement. “In order to execute this strategy, it was necessary for us to bring our operations back in-house. I am thrilled to support Graziano’s leadership. (He plans to) reshape the company and surround himself with talent that understands the zeitgeist of today and respects and appreciates the richness of the assets of the past.”
DVF will operate entirely in-house by the end of the year, but will remain affiliated with Glamel, which will sell and distribute DVF products across China. The brand has had several CEOs since the appointment of its first CEO, Paolo Riva, in 2015. Riva resigned just 18 months later. Since then, Sandra Campos and Gabby Hirata have held the post, which now goes to di Boni.
The past few years have been a difficult market for many luxury brands. Over the summer, brands like Burberry, Hugo Boss, Richemont and even LVMH reported earnings that showed signs of a further weakening market. In October 2022, a year after DVF reported a profitable quarter for the first time, former CEO Gabby Hirata, who resigned in June, said DVF was “making less money now, but more premium dollars.” Reported profit margins at the time were 10%.
