LuisaViaRoma Charts New Course with New Investors

MILAN — LuisaViaRoma has finally found its white knights.

A pool of Italian investors with industrial backgrounds has submitted an irrevocable purchase offer to take over LuisaViaRoma’s business. In a first vote of confidence, a Florence Court greenlit the lease of the beleaguered Italian e-tailer’s business operations to LVR Srl, the newco established and promoted by the investors. This will ensure business continuity throughout the upcoming fall 2026 season.

The pool of investors is led by veteran fashion executive Paolo Corinaldesi, a former chief executive officer of Woolrich and CEO and president of Filson, known for his pragmatic business approach and acumen.

Corinaldesi spearheaded the creation of ATO SpA, the holding company that submitted the irrevocable purchase offer, backed by investors including two branches of the Marzotto family with Luca and Gaetano Marzotto directly involved; entrepreneur and manager Gian Luca Sghedoni, the current CEO of Litokol and former Kerakoll chief; Ettore Riello, an entrepreneur and manager partner of the Verona, Italy-based Riello dynasty of industrialists, and Luca Poggi, name partner and founder of law firm Poggi & Associati, among others.

Corinaldesi was named executive chairman of LVR Srl, while current LuisaViaRoma CEO Tommaso Maria Andorlini will continue in his role.

In an exclusive interview with WWD, the businessman enthused about the future of the Italian e-tailer and its current CEO.

“Tommaso and I have been friends for a long a time and I was brought onboard to gather a pool of new investors… They all come from an industrial background, there is no private equity involved,” Corinaldesi said. “I trust Tommaso and his broad knowledge of technological infrastructures.”

This is the first successful development as part of LuisaViaRoma’s court-mediated procedure called “Concordato Semplificato.” The company had filed for the measure under Italian liquidation law last March. Rumors have been swirling ever since that the business plan submitted to the court included a sale of the business.  

LVR Srl’s irrevocable offer ultimately entails an outright acquisition of the business, which the new investors expect the court to approve in mid-September.

The offer pertains to the majority of the retailer’s assets, including its e-commerce operations, its e-commerce white label business, its brick-and-mortar stores — including the storied flagship on Florence’s Via Roma and a childrenswear store in town, in addition to an outlet in Prato, Italy called LuisaViaRoma Archive — and SOTF luxury sneaker stores in Florence and Forte dei Marmi. It also includes LuisaViaRoma’s 181 employees, merchandise stock, technology infrastructure and trademark.

The offer does not include the retailer’s New York flagship, opened in 2024 in NoHo and quietly shuttered at the end of last May.

Corinaldesi acknowledged that the LuisaViaRoma business needs restructuring across its core units. The new, long-term strategy is hinged on three pillars, he said.

“We want to buy differently than we have in the past, returning to a more selective vision while once again becoming a physical and virtual partner that brands genuinely want to work with. We don’t want to work with too many brands; we want to lean into a more curated approach. Over the past two years, LuisaViaRoma has been more transactional, whereas we want to become a go-to [fashion and luxury] authority again… bringing in brands that don’t yet have physical distribution, for example,” Corinaldesi said.

A focus on up-and-coming talents; a highly customized customer journey, helped by AI when appropriate, and a deeper integration between product, editorial content — including shoppable videos — data and technology are all key to the strategy.

“We’re going to focus relentlessly on product and assortment, both in what we buy and in the brands we develop in-house. The proposition has to be different, because consumers are not especially interested in buying from us brands that have hundreds of physical flagship stores already,” he said.

To be sure, as part of that newfound impulse toward curation, the executive highlighted the importance of LuisaViaRoma’s in-house labels. These include the high-end 1929, contemporary menswear specialist The Core, and womenswear understated brand Annagreta, all hinged on timeless wardrobe essentials with modern twists, as well as sportswear firm SOTF.

“We want to develop our own brands to fill gaps between demand and supply, because we see customers looking for something they’re not finding in retail,” Corinaldesi said. “They are still small businesses today, but we’re betting on them in a meaningful way. We have very strong internal teams, that have spent a great deal of time studying this business, so we believe these brands have significant room to grow… if we can keep building [qualitative] credibility, the opportunity is substantial,” he said.

The executive is also committed to reenergizing the white-label e-commerce business.

“We want to continue being a technology platform for white-label services, which has been a healthy part of the business and has generated positive EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and profits,” he said. “We believe we can be an attractive partner for small- and medium-sized brands looking to grow in the e-commerce space. We also believe there is room right now for an Italian player to step in as a compelling platform for a wide range of brands.”

Handled through FFW Srl, a LuisaViaRoma subsidiary, the unit at the peak of its success contributed to 30 percent of the overall business.

As part of the new plan, Corinaldesi expects LuisaViaRoma’s business to log sales of between 120 million and 140 million euros in 2027, its first full year under the new ownership. This would compare to sales between 280 million and 300 million euros in 2025.

“We’re aiming for a smaller but healthier business,” Corinaldesi said. “Our plan is to target lower revenues but higher margins through more full-price sales, compared to the heavy markdown activity that has defined the business most recently.”

Corinaldesi ruled out layoffs or redundancies, quashing the concerns of local trade union Filcams Cgil over the fate of the 200 workers employed by LuisaViaRoma at the time. The retailer’s new investors did resort to the “cassa integrazione,” a state-funded wage support measure in the transition period.

“We do not simply intend to return to the market, but to return with a point of view,” said CEO Andorlini in a statement. “Our operational priority will be to fully restore trust with brands, suppliers and customers, maintaining rigorous discipline while also introducing a strong element of innovation. Technology and data will be central to understanding the customer better and offering a more personal, relevant and engaging experience. We want to build a model in which product, content and relationships converge in a single journey of discovery, improving both the quality of the experience and business performance.”

As a result of the LVR Srl deal, while the LuisaViaRoma business is leased, and eventually transferred to the new entity, its former parent company LuisaViaRoma SpA will move through the next phases of the judicial liquidation procedure.

This latest development marks the culmination of a year of attempts at safeguarding the LuisaViaRoma business.

First signs of turmoil emerged in July last year, when LuisaViaRoma revealed plans to streamline its business operations by shutting its unit and office in Milan.

A month later the company resorted to protection measures filed with a Florence court and the Italian Chamber of Commerce aimed at ensuring business continuity as it sought to restructure its debt and operations.

LuisaViaRoma’s former controlling shareholder, the Italian private equity fund Style Capital, exited the business after four years in December, leaving the multibrand e-tailer in the hands of CEO Andorlini, who gained control of 40 percent of LuisaViaRoma.

Last year the CEO told WWD that his plan to reignite business and performance entailed restructuring its debt, cost trimming and rationalization processes, including a reduction in brand selection and stock-keeping units per brand, a process initiated in 2024.

However, as the company continued to feel the pinch of macroeconomic headwinds, dented consumer confidence and geopolitical instability, it was forced to place its ailing business future into the hands of the court-mediated “Concordato Semplificato” procedure.

The LuisaViaRoma business was established by Luisa Jaquin, who opened a small boutique on Florence’s Via Roma in 1929, planting the first seeds of the family company’s success.

When Style Capital invested 130 million euros through a capital increase in 2021 to acquire a 40 percent stake in the Florence-based multibrand e-tailer, Andrea Panconesi — Jaquin’s nephew — became chairman of the company. Yoox veteran Alessandra Rossi joined as CEO that year and was succeeded by Andorlini in 2023.