In 2005, American designer Tom Ford set out to create the first true luxury brand of the 21st century, and he succeeded—admittedly, in spades. He founded his namesake label on silver stilettos during his decade-long stint as creative director of Gucci, eventually growing the company to include men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, and a blockbuster range of cosmetics and fragrances. Perhaps most importantly, he made sure everyone knew what Tom Ford stood for: a kind of power and sexiness with a luxe vibe. Now we have an idea of the value of his work. In a $2.8 billion deal announced Tuesday, US cosmetics giant Estée Lauder — which has manufactured, marketed and sold Tom Ford Beauty products under a licensing arrangement since 2006 — is set to acquire the rest of Ford's fashion enterprise.
News of the Tom Ford acquisition first lit up the industry's radar back in July, when bloomberg It reported that the brand had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to pursue a potential sale. Reports entered during the summer naming Estée Lauder (a longtime licensee of Tom Ford Beauty) and then Kering (the French luxury group that owns, among other homes, Gucci and Saint Laurent, both of which hired Ford as creative director in the '90s) as buyers. potential. In the end, Estée Lauder won, not only keeping the highly profitable beauty business but also gaining the opportunity to build out the brand's other segments.
Tom Ford in 2007, to attend the launch of his new fragrance in London.Nick Harvey / Getty Images
Estée isn't the only long-term partner of Tom Ford mentioned in the deal. Italian luxury group Ermenegildo Zegna, which has held the license to produce and distribute Tom Ford menswear since 2006, will now oversee all Tom Ford fashion, including womenswear, accessories, jewelry and even lingerie. (Zegna also owns the American marque Thom Browne; interestingly, Brown is behind Ford Next CFDA President Just last month.) Marcolin, who has owned the Tom Ford eyewear license since 2005, will continue to produce its eyewear. In short, it appears that the brand's current quality structure remains, in many ways, intact, which is good news for it. Any agarwood lover Abroad.
A powerful luxury brand like Ford has many branches, and maintaining those connections makes sense with this kind of multifaceted acquisition. A huge cosmetics group like Estée Lauder usually wouldn't have the infrastructure to keep up with today's fashion business, while those systems already exist with Zegna and Marcolin. Regarding the arrangement, Ford V press release that he was "delighted to see that the wonderful relationship we've built over the past 16 years has been preserved," and Estee Lauder said she and Xenia will be "closely aligned" in the creative direction moving forward.
(Speaking of branches: trans BoFTom Ford's fashion business will remain a separate entity from Tom Ford's intellectual property, which is owned exclusively by Ford, though it's unclear what exactly that IP covers.)
In more continuity news, longtime Ford business partner Domenico del Sol, who is currently president of Tom Ford International, will consult on the brand during the transition. As for the man himself, Estée Lauder is only confirming that Ford will remain the brand's "creative visionary" through 2023.
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