New Guards owners searching for investors, LVMH rumored to be interested

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 18, 2019

New Guards Group, the DJ designer-driven Italian group that includes Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, is looking for an investor, according to sources in Milan.

The group’s principal partners Davide de Giglio, Claudio Antonioli and Marcelo Burlon, who founded the group in 2015, are understood to be keen to cash out part of their stakes given how hot their five labels have become.

Abloh’s night job is as designer of menswear at Louis Vuitton, the largest brand within the LVMH stable. Besides Off-White, New Guards Group includes Burlon’s County of Milan brand, along with Palm Angels, Unravel Project, Alanui, A Plan Application and Heron Preston, who made his runway debut in Paris on Tuesday.

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In Paris, FashionNetwork.com asked Bernard Arnault at the Dior Men's show about the reports of possible interest.

With a smile, the LVMH Chairman replied: “New Guards, c’est quoi ça?” meaning, "What’s that?"

“It’s a new restaurant!” replied Pietro Beccari, CEO of Dior. 
 
While in Milan, New Guards Group did not return calls for comment.