DVF CEO Graziano de Boni Talks Evolution of the Brand and Product and First Collection Since Return of Creative Director Nathan Jenden

Yahoo

29-01-2025

Diane von Furstenberg continues to reimagine itself for today's consumer.
Over the past 16 months, Graziano de Boni, the brand's chief executive officer, has upgraded the product and rebuilt the team in an effort to evolve the 53-year-old company into a primarily direct-to-consumer operation.
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'The word here is everything is evolving. We are evolving. We're not revolutionizing, we're not reinventing, and we're not relaunching,' de Boni said in an interview. 'We are a 53-year-old heritage brand at this point. We went through the ups and downs of the economy, the market and trends…and have passed the test of time. We're not looking to reinvent. We're just trying to make sure that what we're doing is relevant and correct for today's woman, as simple as that.'
One of his most significant steps is taking DVF's global business operations back in-house, which becomes effective Feb. 1.
For the last four years, DVF has been in an operating partnership with Glamel Trading Ltd., a Hong Kong-based firm. Glamel's China team handled production while DVF's London team was in charge of global e-commerce and wholesale jointly with the brand's New York team, which handled the design direction, print, social media, public relations and marketing. DVF decided to limit the partnership with Glamel, and now Glamel will only handle distribution of its products in the Greater China region — as it did from 2010 until 2020.
Another important move was bringing back Nathan Jenden, who returned to the brand in January 2024 as a consulting designer and was named creative director this month. Jenden, who has been with DVF on and off since 2001, and most recently left in 2020, was responsible in the past for some of DVF's bestselling styles.
The first collection under Jenden's creative direction is spring 2025, which will hit retail on Sunday.
De Boni succeeded Gabby Hirata, who was CEO from 2019 to 2023 and became global president of Halara.
De Boni said he originally met von Furstenberg through Domenico De Sole, who called him up and said that he had to meet with Diane. 'So I met Diane and basically two weeks after that, I joined the company,' de Boni said. Von Furstenberg asked him to come in and figure out where the brand was at and develop a plan of options of what should be next. 'So that was my original mandate,' he said.
De Boni met with the partners, spoke to people and visited China a few times. They soon concluded that the best go-forward situation for the company was to bring the business operations back in-house.
De Boni has an extensive designer background, having previously been CEO of Armani USA, president of Reed Krakoff, president and CEO of Prada USA and president and CEO of Valentino USA. Most recently, he founded de Boni Consulting in 2018.
When asked whether von Furstenberg was still involved with the collection's design (she has previously told WWD she wants to spend more time with her philanthropy, her women's work and living in Venice), de Boni said, 'Diane, as you know, is omnipresent. And I want her to be absolutely even more so on the creative side.'
In a separate interview, von Furstenberg said that taking back the license was not exactly what she was planning. 'But I had time since COVID-19 [to think about the business]. That was an opportunity for me to step back and to look and see if the business was even worth it. But then there were things that happened such as the DVF exhibition in Brussels and the Hulu documentary.
'I realized this brand is a real brand that's more than 50 years [old]. It stood for so much for women, and so many generations,' said von Furstenberg, who was speaking from Venice. Last week, she received the Annual Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The award is given to cultural leaders who have made significant contributions to advancing social, environmental and creative progress worldwide.
Von Furstenberg confirmed that she asked De Sole what she should do, telling him how the brand is even sustainable because if you go into a vintage store, you see DVF dresses that have belonged to two generations of women. De Sole suggested that she needed to hire someone to make a plan. 'He said he was going to Italy, and 'I'll call you in a week,' and instead he called me half an hour later, and said he wanted me to meet this guy [de Boni]. Everything in life is also about timing,' von Furstenberg said. She hired him and gave him one year to make a plan. 'He went to China and he came back and said, 'You have to take this back,'' she said.
DVF said she keeps telling de Boni, 'I'm an older woman, but I am involved. I pretend I'm not. It's like somebody who's taking a brand and the person is no longer alive, but I am alive. Because everything is changing so much, it's kind of exciting to take this old brand that has so many generations of women, and every time there's a new 20-year-old, they get excited about it,' von Furstenberg said. 'It's a very unique situation. Graziano is great. He's European, he knows America and he understands manufacturing and understands everything. He believes in the brand so much, and he wants to make it happen so much,' von Furstenberg said.
Without any fanfare, Jenden returned quietly a year ago. 'Everything happened silently, I don't have investors and I don't have to announce everything,' von Furstenberg said. 'Other than my early years, when it was me on it, he was definitely by far the best one [designer]. It's like your children. People work with you and they all try to reinvent everything. But then they leave. And when when they leave they really understand what the brand is about,' she said.
Von Furstenberg said there are no licensing deals in place. 'The brand is as virgin as it's ever been. That's also very exciting. We have no commitment, no one to check it with. It's really about taking control of the product, taking control of the narrative and choose the best distribution and with digital and pop-ups. It's nice not to have to carry over things that are heavy,' she said.
Von Furstenberg said she wouldn't consider selling the intellectual property to a brand management company such as Authentic Brands Group or WHP Global. 'I could have already done that when I really needed it. I'm not going to do that,' she said. 'I have no debt, I have no investors, I don't owe anything to anyone. I've taken care of everyone,' von Furstenberg said. She said her son, Alexander von Furstenberg, granddaughter Talita von Furstenberg and husband Barry Diller are on the board.
'There's no reason to sell anything. We may, along the line, partner with people who could bring something, but not money. Now it's very clean, I didn't think I would get back the control,' Diane von Furstenberg said. 'Everyone on the team believes in it so much. It is a brand that has value, much more than I thought.'
She said the DVF designers are coming to Venice next week to work on the collection. 'I have a big place in Venice and it's very inspiring to work here,' she said.
As for her modus operandi, she said, 'You keep on improvising. That's what life is about. As long as you are true to yourself and as long as you don't lie, you really don't get in trouble. You go through highs, you go through lows, but you've got to be honest. The product has to be honest and the narrative has to be honest, and you have to good fabrics. Otherwise, it falls apart,' she said.
There's no question the company had some major challenges in recent years. As von Furstenberg discussed in a WWD story in 2023, during the time leading up to COVID-19, the company was losing money, had too many outlet stores and she had to decide whether to declare bankruptcy or sell the business. There were much-publicized layoffs in the U.S., Britain and France and multiple store closings.
'I had offers, but then I would have to relinquish all of the assets, the archives, the trademarks.…I started to make a list of the assets — and my family wouldn't let me relinquish the assets,' von Furstenberg said during that 2023 interview.
At the time, she said she wiped the slate clean and decided to manufacture only ready-to-wear, which was generating $130 million in retail sales and became profitable again. There were no licensing agreements and they were basically rebuilding the brand, which von Furstenberg called 'the third rebirth' at the company.
At the height of the company in 2014, DVF was generating about $500 million in retail volume. The company declined to reveal the volume today. During the 2023 interview, von Furstenberg said the company wasn't for sale and she would welcome the expertise of partners to help and would be looking to hire a creative director.
In October 2023, de Boni stepped in and developed a three-step plan for the business. The first and most important was to set up design and make sure they had the talent they needed. The whole idea was not just to bring the design back in-house and rehire Jenden, but also to elevate and improve the products, materials and quality, de Boni said.
The brand also reintroduced more luxurious fabrics such as silk. While they are working with better materials and products, de Boni said the prices are only going up slightly. He said they still have a good offering of dresses at $398 at retail, but they never had dresses more than $1,000. Now they are going above $1,000 for certain materials such as silk georgette and chiffons.
The spring collection will be introduced online and in its retail stores, such as DVF's Meatpacking District store, on Sunday.
De Boni stressed that they are a democratic brand with an aristocratic DNA. 'There's Diane, the Princess and the European aristocrat.' But on the other side is they've always been a very accessible and approachable product.
According to de Boni, they are managing the business as a designer brand and not a contemporary label. He said it has nothing to do with price points, but the way one treats and respects the brand, the branding, the product and the quality relative to the price points. 'It's all in attitude and that spirit is very important for me, for us and everything we do in the company,' he said. If you ask, people think Diane von Furstenberg is a designer brand, he said.
The second step was evolving their content, narrative and image. 'I said we need to surround ourselves with New York-based talent. So we started to go outside and we started to engage with a stylist and photographer, and people are helping us create this evolved image of DVF. Because I don't need to tell you, you can have a great product, but if the image doesn't match it.…' The campaign will be mostly digital.
The third step was to have a closer relationship to the consumer, and the business will be mostly DTC. During the transition, they made the decision to rethink how they are distributed and should be positioned. 'And we came to the conclusion that wholesale in the traditional way is not really a model that we want to pursue in that respect. We decided to get out of all wholesale and work to set up a significant retail distribution partnership,' de Boni said.
Starting with the spring 2025 collection, DVF is being distributed at Neiman Marcus, in addition to dvf.com and the DVF stores — one each in New York, Brussels, Azerbaijan, Thailand and 48 stores in China. At Neiman's, it will be mostly on the retailer's e-commerce site, in addition to four brick-and-mortar locations.
'The idea of being special [and not over-distributed] is a way to evolve and elevate the presence of the brand in the market,' he said.
DVF has added employees in sourcing, product and the product development side. The collection is made primarily in China. Right now, it's a relatively small team working at headquarters. Von Furstenberg's granddaughter, Talita, remains co-chairwoman. Von Furstenberg herself is the other co-chairwoman.
De Boni said over the years, von Furstenberg had all kinds of products such as shoes, bags and accessories, but they are not in conversations with any companies about licensing deals. 'We are a ready-to-wear brand first,' he said. 'We're very happy with that. For now, I want to really set up the ready-to-wear and make sure that we're doing the best we can and build it. You know, one day we will have the opportunity to expand in other categories and all that.'
He said that they've had a two-year transitional period. '2024 was the year of working to set it up and take the business back in-house. 2025 is the year where we basically go live and test and see what works and what doesn't work, and improve what's not working.' And eventually, they'll be set up for growth past 2025, he said.
International distribution is another growth opportunity. The company's e-commerce is global and the Chinese partner is remaining their distributor. 'And we're very happy with that remaining, and they've been a terrific partner. We've very grateful for Greater China. It's also mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.'
Globally, they are working on similar retail distribution partnerships (such as Neiman Marcus) in major regions of the world.
Last year, DVF did a successful collaboration with Target, which de Boni claimed was one of the best collaborations the mass retailer has ever done. 'It was super successful at a business level. It was great for our brands, we actually learned a lot of things. We loved the way they put the product together and merchandised it.' He said it also underscores how the brand is both democratic and aristocratic. 'The elasticity of the brand is incredible and it's all because of Diane,' de Boni said.
De Boni said he's there full time and committed to the brand. 'You know, I love the brand and I love Diane. I love what she stands for. I'm actually having so much fun and love working with Diane. I'm here to support her.'
He said he's also there to make sure they keep building brand equity that creates long-term value 'and really help her with anything she needs to make sure that her legacy is really forever, and that's the goal.'
'If it takes an extra year, or an extra two years…it's been 53 years that she's been in business. And honestly, it's a privilege and it's really a unique situation for any brand to be in this position,' he said.
What's unique to DVF it has a double helix DNA, he said. He explained that there's the super strong product identity of the wrap dress that hundreds of millions of consumers know by name. And then there's the other identity — the purpose of Diane and what she stands for.
'We see consumers coming into our stores and sometimes they come to buy from us because they love the brand and product or because they love the message of Diane. It's the combination of the two. For sure, women know both. How many brands have that strong duality of DNA identity?' he said.
He said they'll be working on plans at the end of the year for brand development. In the meantime, he said, 'We are going to be steady, ambitious but not in a rush. A key element of building legacy is time.'
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