Style capital takes over Giuseppe di Morabito

Style capital adds a new jewel to its creative treasure trove. It has just signed an agreement with Giuseppe di Morabito, one of the Italian talents who are earning their spotlight. According to the terms of the agreement, which MFF can exclusively unveil, Roberta Benaglia, founding partner and managing director of the private equity fund management company that invests in fashion and luxury, will take over 80% of Giuseppe di Morabito Milano srl with Style capital. The 1992-born designer made its debut with its eponymous brand at Milan fashion week with the spring-summer 2015 collection. The designer will still hold the remaining 20%.

The deal was co-invested with industrialist family Paoloni, which had already joined Style capital for the Msgm transaction, and together they are preparing a development path that will give new momentum to the brand, which is loved by buyers and also celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Zendaya, and Katy Perry. «We are happy not only to support big companies but also young emerging designers with great potential, both financially and industrially», Roberta Benaglia explained to MFF, confirming that she is very attentive to young brands and talents. «For 2023, we are focusing on consolidation. 2024 will bring new things, we are planning on debuting with a fashion show».

The brand has achieved a relevant international presence in high-end wholesale distribution by selling its products through 180 multi-brand luxury boutiques worldwide, as well as leading online retailers. When it comes to the next steps, the focus is on a communication strategy in line with the brand’s philosophy, the debut of its e-commerce website, and the ramp-up of the direct retail channel, as well as the strengthening of the collection through the development of the accessories category and the creation of international business partnerships. This vision will lead to precise and reasoned growth, as happened in the past with other transactions carried out by the fund.

In recent years, Style capital has invested about 350 million euros in the lifestyle, fashion and luxury sectors to support the development of smes with a turnover indicatively between 10 and 100 million euros. The brand of the calabrian designer, which in these years has expanded in Europe, the US, and Asia, would perfectly meet these criteria. Giuseppe di Morabito joins a group of international brands that under the wing of Style capital have seen their businesses take off in just a few years and accelerate expansion abroad.

Since the acquisition in 2017, Forte_Forte has grown from 14 million in sales to 29 million in 2022, with mainly retail progression. The development of the Msgm brand created by Massimo Giorgetti, which was generating about 40 million when it was taken over in 2018 and rose to 55 million last year, has mainly focused on the Asian market. Later, Re/done, the California-based digital native and fully sustainable up-cycle denim company, also joined the fund, growing from 12 million in 2018 to 48 million. In February 2021, the fund took over the australian brand Zimmermann, which, two years later, rose from 220 million to 380 million australian dollars (equivalent to about 232 million euros at yesterday’s exchange rate) in sales.

Finally, the deal with LuisaViaRoma at the end of 2021, still the group’s only fully digital company. The fund was already planning new steps as early as last year when it unveiled the birth of Style capital 2. «We are in raising a new fund that will have a similar initial endowment of 350 million», the entrepreneur anticipated to MFF at the time (see MFF of April 9, 2022). «We will make the first closing by the summer with a 250 million endowment to close the raising by the end of the year», Benaglia had continued. «The focus will not change, as it will always concern fashion and luxury world, and companies with turnovers of 20 to 200 million». (all rights reserved)