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French-fashion juggernaut LVMH is selling the Virgil Abloh-founded streetwear label Off-White to brand management firm Bluestar Alliance.
The Big Picture: The sale of Off-White shows how founding designers and their labels are often intrinsically combined. When talent has left, the brand may be little more than just a name.
Between the Threads: Bluestar Alliance — which counts Hurley, Scotch & Soda, English Laundry, and Bebe in its portfolio — is now charged with finding a new life for Off-White.
- Bluestar acquired the brand from LVMH for an undisclosed amount (LVMH owned 60% of Off-White, while Farfetch owns 40%).
- The brand, which now counts stylist and magazine editor Ib Kamara as creative director, hasn’t regained its cultural footing after Abloh shockingly died from cancer at 41 in December 2021.
- While Bluestar says it plans to “honor and build upon the enduring legacy of Virgil Abloh,” Abloh’s estate no longer has any affiliation with the brand. Virgil Abloh Securities, run by Virgil’s widow Shannon Abloh, concluded its partnership with Off-White in 2022.
The Future: LVMH acquired Off-White through Abloh’s LLC in July 2021 when Abloh was already acting as the artistic director of LVMH’s flagship brand, Louis Vuitton. The luxury house hoped to bring more of Abloh’s creations into the fold and have him play a bigger part across all of its brands. That, unfortunately, never came to pass.
The sale of Off-White is a rare divestment for LVMH, demonstrating that without Abloh’s fame and creative vision, streetwear may no longer be of much interest to the conglomerate… or to the luxury industry at large.
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