Safilo Group Interrupts Chiara Ferragni Eyewear Licensing Agreement
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MILAN — Santa is not bringing any gift from Safilo Group to Chiara Ferragni this Christmas.
The Italian eyewear manufacturer revealed Thursday evening at the end of trading in Milan, where it is publicly listed, that it was interrupting the licensing agreement for the design, production and distribution of the Chiara Ferragni-branded eyewear collection “following the violation of contractual commitments undertaken by the brand owner.”
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No additional details were provided but a market source said that Ferragni “infringed the ethical codes of the company” and that “her behavior does not respect Safilo’s principles of good faith and conduct.”
Ferragni’s representative did not respond to a request for a comment at press time.
While not elaborating on the reasons for the split, the source said Safilo’s decision was made after Ferragni’s reputation over the past few days has been clouded by what she called “a communications error” in an Instagram post.
Italy’s competition authority AGCM last week revealed it was fining Ferragni more than 1 million euros after finding that she allegedly misled consumers by teaming with Italian confectionery maker Balocco last year on the Pink Christmas charity project.
As per AGCM, consumers were tricked into thinking that by buying a Ferragni-branded Christmas cake, the alternative to panettone called pandoro, they were contributing to a charity for a children’s hospital. According to the regulator, Balocco made a 50,000 euro payment to the hospital months before launching the Ferragni pandoro and that sales of the product, which retailed at double its regular price, had no effect on the donation. In addition, AGCM revealed that Ferragni allegedly received 1 million euros for the initiative but that she made no personal donation to the hospital.
“My error, in good faith, was to link, via communications, a commercial activity with a charity one,” Ferragni said in response to the controversy in her video post. She appeared to be on the verge of tears, wearing a gray wool jumpsuit, her blond hair tied back — contrite and demure, miles away from her usual shiny, confident and fashion influencer image.
She pledged a donation of 1 million euros to the Turin-based pediatric hospital Regina Margherita, originally the recipient of the charity initiative last year.
Ferragni said she believed the AGCM fine was “disproportionate and unjust,” and that she would appeal it. If the fine were to be reduced, she said she would devolve the difference to the hospital.
The AGCM also fined Balocco 420,000 euros.
According to Notjustanalytics, in six days Ferragni lost 72,000 followers out of a total of almost 30 million, receiving some criticism even from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — although the latter did not name her directly.
Ferragni and Safilo Group revealed they had inked the licensing deal in September 2021, which sparked a 12.2 percent jump in the eyewear company’s share price on the Milan Stock Exchange.
The Chiara Ferragni optical and sun range was unveiled for the spring 2022 season, hitting stores in January that year.
In addition to its proprietary brands Polaroid, Smith, Blenders, Privé Revaux and Seventh Street, Safilo produces under licenses for brands ranging from Carolina Herrera, Dsquared2 and David Beckham, to Isabel Marant, Jimmy Choo, Tommy Hilfiger and Under Armour, among others.
The Chiara Ferragni brand overall was launched in 2013 as a footwear label, and gradually introduced T-shirts and sweatshirts. For fall 2021, Ferragni introduced the first fall apparel collection produced by Swinger International, which also owns Genny and has long been manufacturing the Versace Jeans Couture line. Swinger had no comment on Thursday evening.
Ferragni long ago distanced herself from the mere role of influencer, piling up modeling contracts over the years with the likes of Pantene, hairstyling products company GHD, Lancôme, Pomellato, Bulgari, Hublot, Oreo and Nespresso, and taking on the role in 2017 of president and CEO of TBS, the company that manages her The Blonde Salad blog and activities. Ferragni is also the CEO and creative director of Fenice, which manages her namesake line.
Her brand collections include footwear with Mofra; a children’s line with Monnalisa; innerwear and beachwear with Velmar; jewelry with Morellato; stationery with Pigna, and children’s products, from strollers to furniture and textiles, with Nanan.
Her own first makeup line was launched in November 2021.
She is a member of the Tod’s Group board.
In June, Ferragni revealed she had a new business partner and that AVM Gestioni was set to buy a 26 percent stake in Fenice from venture capital company Alchimia SpA. Prior to the sale, Alchimia held a 40 percent stake in Fenice. Other shareholders included Ferragni’s vehicle Sisterhood with a 32.5 percent stake and N1 and Esuriens with a 13.75 percent each.
As reported, Ferragni last year gave a mandate to BNP Paribas to help find an investor in her company to accelerate growth with more financial muscle.
Fenice in 2022 reported revenues of 14.2 million euros, compared with 6.6 million euros in 2021. Net income amounted to 3.4 million euros, compared with 1.9 million euros the year before. Aggregate turnover totaled 61 million euros, compared with 26 million euros in 2021.
TBS Crew closed 2022 with revenues of 14.6 million and net income of 5.1 million euros.
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