LuisaViaRoma Appoints New CEO
MILAN — LuisaViaRoma has appointed Tommaso Maria Andorlini its new chief executive officer as the Italian luxury retailer eyes further development and international growth.
He succeeds Alessandra Rossi, who joined the company in October 2021, following the closing of the deal with Milan-based private equity firm Style Capital, which acquired a 40 percent stake in the company.
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Before the acquisition the CEO role was held by Andrea Panconesi, whose grandmother Luisa Jaquin opened a small boutique on Florence’s Via Roma in 1929.
Panconesi, who following the deal with Style Capital retains a 60 percent stake in the company, remains chairman of the board and said Monday that Andorlini’s arrival “represents a strategic opportunity to join together our strengths and create a new point of reference in the digital and fashion sectors. The shared values and the complementary skills will open the path to new exciting possibilities and challenges.”
Andorlini has two decades of experience in the fashion industry. Since 2020 he has been leading the companies he founded: FFW, which creates and manages e-commerce sites for fashion brands, and SOTF, bridging digital and brick-and-mortar.
Bringing his experience to LuisaViaRoma will help further consolidate its position in the fashion and luxury segment in sync with its long-term vision, “leveraging potential synergies to the advantage of clients and partners,” said the company in a statement. LuisaViaRoma is also banking on Andorlini’s know-how in the sportswear area and sneakers category.
In an exclusive interview, Andorlini said that, having been born and raised in Florence, LuisaViaRoma has “always been a point of reference for me and an inspiration. It’s a point of pride for me to join it, the only company that tempted me, with its legacy, excellence and innovation.”
While admitting it was early to map out his strategies, he did say that the first step is to “consolidate LuisaViaRoma’s position in the fashion and digital industry,” mulling the idea of creating capsule collections, working on private label, and entering the beauty and cosmetics segments. This is in sync with Panconesi, who told WWD in June that beauty is a category he sees as so strategic that he’s eyeing the creation of a LuisaViaRoma-branded cosmetics line.
“Our goal is to expand in other categories but with products that would reflect the style of LuisaViaRoma,” said Andorlini.
The executive also pointed to another key step — the opening of the first international outpost in New York, which is expected in spring 2024.
LuisaViaRoma inked a long-term lease for a 7,855-square-foot retail space at 1 Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo.
The U.S. accounts for 17 percent of LuisaViaRoma’s overall sales, making it the retailer’s second-largest market after Italy, which represents 25 percent of total revenues. Another 25 percent is generated by France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany combined.
At the same time, Andorlini is working on more operational projects, such as a new logistics facility near Florence to support the growth of the business. Likewise, he is keen to support the sustainability initiatives of the company with new technologies to improve tracing the pipeline.
Style Capital, helmed by CEO Roberta Benaglia, invested 130 million euros to acquire a 40 percent stake in the retailer. Last year, LuisaViaRoma’s sales totaled around 250 million euros, of which more than 90 percent were generated online. Panconesi forecast revenues will exceed 300 million euros in 2023.
The retailer’s acceleration has been boosted by a strong performance in its domestic market — where sales increased 40 percent in the past two years — and by its ever-increasing work in brand scouting and overall enhancement of its offering, now encompassing more than 600 luxury brands with highly curated selections.
Last year LuisaViaRoma partnered with Vestiaire Collective on a project enabling its clients to sell their previously worn fashions in exchange for credits to be spent on new goods on the e-commerce site.
In June, LuisaViaRoma staged a major fashion extravaganza in Florence with the “Runway Icons” outdoor show in partnership with British Vogue in front of more than 2,000 guests. The show featured designs from emerging and established labels, ranging from Bottega Veneta, Fendi and Giorgio Armani to Loewe and Valentino, and casting models from Natalia Vodianova and Irina Shayk to Eva Herzigová, Mariacarla Boscono, Vittoria Ceretti and Pat Cleveland, among others.
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