Costume National: the Capasa brothers exiting

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 15, 2016

Ennio and Carlo Capasa have said good-bye to Costume National, the fashion label they founded in 1986. To widespread surprise, the announcement was made in a brief press release.

Ennio Capasa, the designer who launched the ready-to-wear brand in 1986, and presented its latest collection exactly two weeks ago at Milan Fashion Week, and his brother Carlo, who was looking after the label's management, stated that they are stepping down from all of their functions within the company.

The company is now owned by its Japanese partner Sequedge, which became a Costume National shareholder in 2009 with a 17% stake, and has acquired the company after a deal was reached between the two parties. It appears that tensions between the founders and the investment fund lie at the root of this departure.

In the press release, Ennio and Carlo Capasa explained that "in order to continue living their story and revitalising their vision, the time has come to take on new challenges." In fact, according to the deal agreed on with Sequedge, the two Costume National founders "are immediately free to pursue new, wide-ranging international collaborations."

Carlo Capasa himself is already highly involved with the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI), of which he is the President.