Louis Vuitton has bought 60% of Virgil Abloh’s Off-White brand.
In less than 10 years and after his departure from his career-launching stint with Kanye West, Abloh has sold the majority share of his company to Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and will now working on making luxury products in a variety of categories within the new parent company’s offerings.
The Rockford Illinois native started working in 2018 as the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection and the new deal will not change that.
When asked about the acquisition, Abloh said in a corporate statement “For nearly a decade, we’ve been building Off-White to be a brand designed to empower our generation and challenge the status quo. LVMH brings to the table the additional firepower and scale to accelerate our momentum and evolve Off-White into a truly multi-line luxury brand.”
The Chief Creative Director and Founder of Off-White, and Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton continued, “I’m also honored to use this partnership to deepen my longstanding commitment to expand opportunities for diverse individuals and foster greater equity and inclusion in the industries we serve. This is an incredible new platform to take the disruption we’ve achieved together to a whole new level.”
It seems that LVMH has been doing a lot in their diversity and inclusion missions, including recently hiring Shona Pinnock as their Vice President Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Louis Vuitton Americas.
During her acceptance of this role, she said that she was excited to work “closely” with the “DEI Advisory Committee and the entire LVA team to make the necessary practical and cultural shifts” that are aimed to move everyone “closer to the goal of access and belonging for all.”
Abloh’s deal will be completed by the fall, with the LVMH team’s goal to finish up the particulars in 60 days.
“I’m incredibly excited to work together with LVMH on other possible,” says Abloh.
We are excited to. Congrats.