MILAN, Italy (AFP) — The year 2008 will be one of change for Italian fashion as giants Prada and Ferragamo list on the stock exchange and several other houses -- including Valentino and Ferre -- see generations pass the torch.
The Prada luxury group last month announced a plan to join the public equity market this year after having successfully refocused activity on leading trademarks Prada and Miu Miu, and selling loss-making Helmut Lang and Jil Sander.
The result of the new strategy left Prada enjoying a turnover of 1.42 billion euros in 2006 and seeing a 40 percent jump in pre-tax profits in the first half of 2007.
And another major "Made in Italy" signature, Salvatore Ferragamo, is also to go public this year.
"Entering the stock market allows fashion houses to finance their future growth and stay abreast of the competition," said Claudia D'Arpizio, a fashion consultant at Bain & Co in Milan. "But stock market listings also reflect a generational change in Italian fashion."
Going public is a way to make a family business "more managerial, which gives it more guarantees, more flexibility, and greater transparency on the market," she said. "Actually, Italian houses are doing what the French houses did years ago."
Prada, founded in 1913 by Mario Prada, is still owned today by an heiress, 58-year-old Miuccia Prada, who designs clothes while husband Patrizio Bertelli works as the company's managing director.
Similarly, Ferragamo is managed by the widow and descendants of the founder, who died in 1960.
Entering the market "also allows the family to keep a hand in the business," D'Arpizio said, noting the loss of independence that can occur when a fashion house joins a big group.
Years ago Fendi and Emilio Pucci went this route, signing up to the LVMH empire, while Gucci and Bottega Veneta joined Pinault Printemps Redoute instead.
While the stock market climate is "not very favourable" this year, D'Arpizio said that both Prada and Ferragamo were strong enough to risk the move.
Meanwhile 2008 will see the changing of the guard at Ferre and Valentino, where new designers have entered the scene after the death last June of Gianfranco Ferre and this month's retirement of Valentino Garavani after a 45-year career.
Valentino's new designer Alessandra Facchinetti, 35, will present her first women's line in March, while 47-year-old Ferruccio Pozzoni will show his first menswear collection on Friday.
At Ferre, 41-year-old Lars Nilsson of Sweden threw his first models on the catwalk last weekend at the menswear collections for Milan Fashion Week.
Both Ferre and Valentino are keen to avoid the problems that played out at Ferragamo -- a destabilising revolving-door of designers with Graeme Black stepping down last August after only four years to be replaced by Cristina Ortiz.
But D'Arpizio said the departure of a star designer does not necessarily tarnish the image of a fashion house: "The brand often has more value for the client than the designer hiding behind it, and changes of creators don't inhibit growth," she said.
With Valentino heading into retirement, all eyes now are on what will happen at Armani.
Giorgio Armani, who at 73 has no heirs, manages with continuing energy to juggle the roles of sole stakeholder, CEO and designer in chief.
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