EXCLUSIVE: Roberto Cavalli CEO to Exit Company
MILAN — Gian Giacomo Ferraris is leaving his post as chief executive officer of the Roberto Cavalli company at the end of the year, WWD has learned.
In an internal letter obtained by WWD, Ferraris announced the news to his team “with mixed feelings, which include some satisfaction, a bit of sadness and a few regrets.” As of Sept. 30 and until the end of the year, Ferraris will be in smart-working mode.
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Ferraris joined Cavalli from Versace in 2016, succeeding Roberto Semerari. The executive wrote that in this period “we worked together with extraordinary commitment and passion in order to ensure a future” for the company, thanking everyone for their contribution to stabilizing business and revenues in 2017 and 2018, “after years of significant decline. Unfortunately, as you all know, despite my strenuous and steady commitment, we didn’t manage to secure the financial resources needed to continue our efforts in 2019. Instead of investing to renew the store network and support the brand repositioning with appropriate marketing and communications campaigns, with investments in VIP and celebrity partnerships and in digital communications, we had to face a financial restructuring. We managed to overcome that crisis situation after significant sacrifices, also thanks to our new shareholder. But, very soon after, our plans were halted by the devastating impact of the pandemic.”
Roberto Cavalli is owned by the founder and chairman of Damac Properties, Hussain Sajwani, through his private investment company Vision Investments, which bought the company from Clessidra SGR in 2019.
Questions were swirling in Milan over the future of Ferraris at Cavalli after a tumultuous period of negotiations with the unions and the closure of the brand’s complex outside Florence and move of the entire company to Milan, which led to more than 100 out of 170 employees to lose their jobs.
