Philipp Plein Takes Full Control of Billionaire Couture Menswear Brand
MILAN — Philipp Plein is now fully in control of the Billionaire Couture brand and retail and commercial expansion plans are in the pipeline.
As a first step, the luxury menswear brand returns to Milan Men’s Fashion Week with a show Friday evening at the Four Seasons Hotel. The last Billionaire show took place in February 2020 at the Presidential Suite of the Principe di Savoia hotel in Milan, the ideal setting for a collection of sleek python trenches, dinner jackets in patterns of golden peacocks, camel cashmere coats with detachable mink shawl collars and silk pajamas in monochromatic feathers inspired by Jay Gatsby from “The Great Gatsby.”
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The amount paid for the stake he did not already own was not disclosed and the agreement applies to the production and distribution of apparel, shoes, leather goods and accessories including eyewear, watches and perfumes.
The German designer first took a majority stake in the Billionaire Couture brand in 2016 through a joint venture with the Briatore Group and real estate developer and retailer Percassi with the goal to develop it under his creative and commercial lead.
The line is named after the famed Billionaire nightclub in luxury resort Porto Cervo, Italy. The Billionaire Couture menswear fashion line was launched in 2005, co-owned by Italian entrepreneur Flavio Briatore and Antonio Percassi. The latter owns beauty firms Kiko Milano and Womo and has several investments in real estate in fashion for brands ranging from Gucci to A/X Armani Exchange.
Plein said that Billionaire Couture will allow him “to express an aesthetic and a style very different” from his own, describing it as “a brand with a very precise DNA and aimed at men who are successful, confident, beyond fashion trends and exacting.” It targets men “who are not afraid to be special in formal occasions and classic in special occasions. Always with the right dose of ease that is typical of those men who have made it in life.”
Carmine Rotondaro, Plein’s business adviser, said this new development “will allow Billionaire to tap into new and more extensive synergies” including a “full integration with the group’s online distribution platform, which represents a unique commercial and advanced technological success in the fashion sector.” Billionaire will benefit from being presented at Plein’s Milan showroom, gaining additional visibility, Rotondaro continued.
As per the brand’s retail expansion of both directly operated and franchised stores, Plein is planning to open a new flagship in Milan.
Billionaire’s current monobrand stores are located in Moscow; Marbella, Spain; Cairo, and Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Units in London; Monaco; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Doha, Qatar; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and New Delhi are currently under discussion.
The brand also has about 150 multibrand wholesale accounts.
Plein is also planning an expansion of Billionaire’s licenses, starting from the childrenswear collection. A license for Billionaire Kids ready-to-wear has been granted to Altana Group, and a license for Billionaire Kids footwear has been granted to the Montelpare Group.
The designer is also eyeing licensing opportunities for the production and distribution of new watch and eyewear collections.
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