MILAN — As Moschino’s parent Aeffe grapples with its financial woes, on Friday evening the brand said that it was parting ways with creative director Adrian Appiolaza by mutual agreement, effective immediately.
Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Aeffe SpA, thanked Appiolaza “for his significant contribution to the development of Moschino over the past two years,” and went on to “wish him every success in his future professional endeavors.”
Appiolaza’s first collection for Moschino bowed in February 2024.
“I was given a remarkable opportunity to express my creativity for an important Italian brand with an extraordinary creative heritage such as Moschino,” said Appiolaza. “I am grateful to Aeffe, and in particular to Massimo Ferretti, for this opportunity. I would also like to thank the entire creative team with whom I shared this intense experience.”
In a statement, Moschino said the new creative director will be revealed in due course, while sources in Milan say they have already seen Sunnei designers Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina in the brand’s offices. Moschino had no comment on the speculation.
Appiolaza brought to Moschino a decade of experience as women’s ready-to-wear design director at Loewe, working with creative director JW Anderson. He previously held the same role at Chloé with Clare Waight Keller. Moving to London from Buenos Aires, he enrolled at Central Saint Martins, meanwhile working as a junior designer for Alexander McQueen and Miguel Adrover. In 2006 he moved to Miu Miu and four years later he joined Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton as a senior designer. He returned to Chloé in 2012 as design director with Keller, leaving in 2014 for Loewe.
At Moschino, the Argentinian designer had succeeded Davide Renne, who died prematurely in November 2023 and had been tapped after Jeremy Scott exited the Italian brand.
As reported last month, the Italian fashion group, also parent of Alberta Ferretti and Pollini and listed on the Euronext Milan market of Borsa Italiana, has received an offer from Oxy Capital Srl that would allow a corporate turnaround. Aeffe is in the midst of a corporate restructuring within a negotiated composition of the business crisis.
The group has been selecting potential investors with the support of Lazard. Oxy Capital, with offices in Lisbon, Portugal, and in Milan, is specialized in corporate turnaround transactions, and is acting “as lead investor on behalf of a consortium of industrial and financial partners still in the process of being structured,” Aeffe has stated on its website. The offer is preliminary and nonbinding as due diligence is ongoing.
As per the transaction, all of Aeffe’s business assets “would be transferred to one or more entities belonging to the bidders’ consortium,” and the Italian Bourse stated that “the consultants consider this a positive offer.”
Upon completion of the transaction, Aeffe would be released from its indebtedness and would also be substantially devoid of assets.
As per the latest figures reported in November, sales in the nine months ended Sept. 30 amounted to 155 million euros, a 25.4 percent decrease, compared with 207.8 million euros in the same period last year.
Consolidated losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounted to 11.9 million euros.
Net of the IFRS effect, debt stood at 114.9 million euros compared with 67.7 million euros at the end of December 2024.
