Family-owned luxury fashion empires are not exactly known for their openness when it comes to succession planning. The world’s largest, LVMH, is still controlled by chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault. Four of his five kids have seats on LVMH’s board and are all in the running to take over once he eventually steps down.
Last month, Giorgio Armani, the famous Italian designer behind his eponymous brand, raised eyebrows when he said he hadn’t ruled out the idea of eventually selling the business.
Now, another luxury company’s heir has weighed in on the subject, saying he’d consider making acquisitions for his 110-year-old brand.
“We have been and will always be open to considering opportunities,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s head of social responsibility and heir of its billionaire controlling family, told Bloomberg.
Bertelli was responding to questions regarding Armani’s future, which he declined to comment on. However, it’s telling that he’s now discussing the possibility of growing Prada’s stable of brands, which includes Miu Miu and Church’s, when only three years ago he fended off suggestions that Prada itself might one day be sold, saying he wanted the group to remain under family control.
Prada and Armani are among the Italian fashion houses that have remained independent during an era of widespread M&A. Alongside Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and Canali, they remain controlled by the families that founded them.
Many others have been snapped up by conglomerates such as France’s LVMH and Kering—both family-controlled—including Berluti and Gucci respectively.
Prada itself has been active in deal-making, albeit on a smaller scale, including acquiring a minority stake at knitwear maker Fedeli last year.
The Hong Kong-listed company, 80% of which is controlled by the Bertelli family through a holding company, is certainly in a strong position to consider M&A. While tightening customer wallets have affected the luxury industry, Prada has bucked the trend.
The company reported strong results in 2023 and has been investing heavily in its retail presence to appeal to more shoppers. It may not be nearly as big as market leader LVMH—Prada’s sales hit €4.7 billion ($5 billion) last year, compared to the French conglomerate’s €86.2 billion ($92.6 billion)—yet it is one of the most recognizable brands in luxury and has a legacy that goes back over 100 years.
Staying independent no matter what
Owners of family businesses often want to maintain control, in the creative and financial sense, to protect their family legacy—and who better to project that legacy than, well, family?
Armani, still the CEO of his company at 90 years old, said that “independence from large groups could still be a driving value for the Armani Group,” in an interview with Bloomberg last month when he first acknowledged the possibility of an acquisition.
“I don’t currently envisage a takeover by a large luxury conglomerate,” Armani said. “Listing is something we have not yet discussed, but it is an option that may be considered, hopefully in the distant future.”
Armani’s CEO succession plan also hasn’t been made public, although he does have many high-profile lieutenants in the company’s management, from a longtime collaborator to his nieces and nephew.
As for Prada, it will be interesting to see how the Bertelli family shapes its future as the forces influencing luxury continue to change.
Representatives at Prada didn’t return Fortune’s request for comment.
