MILAN — Luxury Italian cashmere brand Malo is coming back Stateside, courtesy of an exclusive partnership with Saks Global.
Less than eight months after Glickman Capital — led by technology and telecoms entrepreneur David Glickman — acquired the ailing knitwear label, the relaunch strategy set in motion by newly installed chief executive officer Michelle Kessler-Sanders is hitting its first high with the debut of a capsule collection for pre-spring 2026 in the U.S. and globally.
In the country it will be available starting Tuesday at four physical Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus doors across the U.S., in addition to the respective e-commerce sites.
“I joined five months ago and the very first point on the agenda was evaluate, elevate, reset,” Kessler-Sanders said in an interview. “We have made significant changes already and improvements in bringing the quality back to where it was and…bringing Malo back to its rightful place.”
Entrusted by the new owner alongside Leonardo Minerva, who was named chief operating officer, to lead the company, Kessler-Sanders said, that since her arrival in June, Malo has recruited a new creative team from around the world.
The company remains based in Florence and will open an office and showroom in Milan timed with the sales campaign for the fall 2026 sales collection, the first to be fully developed by the new design team.
Hinged on the reinterpretation of archival styles, the women’s only, 10-piece capsule debuting in the U.S. comprises hooded knits, oversize cardigans and crewnecks, as well as hand-embroidered numbers bearing Fair Isle and flower motifs.
The ad campaign for Malo’s pre-spring 2026 capsule collection.
Nikolai von Bismarck/Courtesy of Malo
“It’s based on our archives, but not looking backward,” Kessler-Sanders said. The rationale was “what should we do that reintroduces the brand to this incredible market [the U.S.] where it was so beloved for so many years?” she noted. “Let’s bring back beauty…I want beauty in the world again.”
Marking the collection’s launch, Malo conscripted young British photographer Nikolai von Bismarck to portray models against a placid seaside landscape, clad in pieces from the capsule as well as menswear carryovers. The campaign was developed under the creative direction of David Lipman and his studio, who also masterminded a new visual identity and web platform for the brand.
Kessler-Sanders said that Malo currently counts about 175 stockists, mainly specialty boutiques based in Europe, in addition to seven flagships, including Italian units in Milan, Rome, Venice, and the resort destinations of Porto Rotondo and Forte Dei Marmi, as well as in Courchevel, France, and Marbella, Spain.
“We love independent stores, and we want to continue to grow our independent network. They are so close to their customer, they know how to sell, they know what their customer wants before their customer even knows. So we’re very, very committed to that network of retailers, and globally, of course, we aspire to grow our business within the Saks Global network. But we are [also] looking toward the bigger stores across Europe and Asia,” Kessler-Sanders explained.
The brand boasts an existing partnership with Japanese distributor Woollen, but the new owner plans an expansion also in South Korea, where the brand used to have seven stores at the peak of its success, out of its network of 44 flagships.
“Malo was really quite a force….We see a global distribution in the right stores, in the right locations, with the right customers, with the right brand adjacencies,” she said.
Despite a marked downturn in global luxury spending, which is only now showing some signs of recovery, Kessler-Sanders said she’s been studying brands that are still winning and growing their market share and recognized in all of them a certain “magic,” which she sees in Malo, too.
“I know our magic. We have a few pillars: we’re an independent brand, we have our own factories [in Italy] — two of them — we’re a knitwear brand in our DNA, and our offering will be, at all points, likely close to 65 percent knitwear and 35 percent the balance,” she explained.
“Knitwear sells and it sells because it’s easy. It’s beloved by people, it’s flexible…it’s an easy purchase, and also, I’m a believer in respectful pricing, gentle, respectful pricing. I think the market got out of control, and I agree that the customer just rebelled [against it]. It’s pretty simple,” she opined.
“We have to make clothes that people want to buy and that fit well, that are modern, that look right and the quality has to be high, and then…the customer always chooses right,” Kessler-Sanders said. “The consumer has a very innate understanding of the price-value relationship. They just do, no matter what we say….That is how I plan to move our company forward,” she said, noting that the average price for Malo knitwear will be 800 euros.
The ad campaign for Malo’s pre-spring 2026 capsule collection.
Nikolai von Bismarck/Courtesy of Malo
Founded in 1972, Malo manufactures women’s, men’s, baby and home decor products featuring 100 percent Italian cashmere, in addition to vicuna, alpaca, baby llama, camel, mohair, silk and Makò cotton. In addition two its two propietary factories, Malo relies on a network of Italian suppliers.
As reported, Glickman Capital partnered with Naga Brands — a team of entrepreneurs providing functional expertise and financing to creative founders, designers and brands — on the transaction.
Glickman acquired the company from Finplace Due Srl, the Padua, Italy-based company that has owned Malo since September 2018 when it was the only participant in the auction organized by the Florence court to find a buyer for the company, which went bankrupt in June 2018. The binding offers started from a minimum amount of 10 million euros, which is how much Finplace Due offered.
The new acquisition price wasn’t disclosed.
