Dolce & Gabbana label will die with us, say designers

Italian fashion legends vow to continue to reject takeover offers and never to give away control

‘Once we’re dead, we’re dead. I don’t want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana’

DOLCE & GABBANA, the Italian designers, have said their brand will die with them as they do not want their business ruined by outsiders.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said they had rejected numerous takeover offers. “Once we’re dead, we’re dead. I don’t want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana,” Mr Dolce told Italy’s Corriere della Sera.

The pair started the business in 1985, when they were a couple. Although they split in 2004, they have continued to work together, dressing Madonna, Melania Trump, the Duchess of Cambridge and many more.

“One can have a lot of money but if you are not free, what do you do with it?” Mr Dolce, 55, said. In the financial year ending in March 2017, turnover rose by 9 per cent to $1.296 billion with a net profit of £70 million.

“When we split up, we said to ourselves that it was better to divide up everything, because if I took a blow to the head the next day he would have found himself dealing with someone not involved in the industry, like for example my cousin, who could ruin the business,” Mr Gabbana said. “We have created a trust neither of us can touch.”

Famed for their “more is more” approach, Dolce & Gabbana’s repertoire includes opulent biannual ready-towear shows at Milan fashion week, “secret” shows for their clique of millennial ambassadors (among them Sistine Stallone, Gabriel-kane Daylewis and Lady Amelia Windsor) as well as a roster of events around the globe. Five days of parties and shows kicked off yesterday in New York, which will take in the unveiling of the latest Alta Moda and Alta Sartoria collections, their idiosyncratic take on haute couture.

There are plenty of cautionary tales which may have persuaded Dolce & Gabbana that independence should be a priority. The designer Jil Sander lost control of her label after Prada acquired a 75 per cent share in 2000 – since then she has only returned for two-year stints. Donna Karan resigned in 2015 from the brand she built. The following year, LVMH sold the name to American licensing company G-III for $650 million (£460 million).

Last month, Stella Mccartney regained complete control of her label after a 17-year partnership with luxury conglomerate Kering, which also owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent. “It is the right moment to acquire the full control… This opportunity represents a crucial patrimonial decision for me,” she said.