Giorgio Armani outlines succession plan following health issues

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani has revealed plans to gradually pass on the baton of responsibilities concerning his eponymous brand to his closest family and collaborators, after declining health issues caused him to miss Paris and Milan catwalk shows earlier this year.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Armani outlined his plans for the succession of the brand he founded in 1975, saying: “My plans for succession consist of a gradual transition of the responsibilities that I have always handled to those closest to me...such as Leo Dell’Orco, the members of my family and the entire working team,” to the FT’s How To Spend It supplement last Friday.

The news comes after Armani, who is 91 and the CEO and creative director for Giorgio Armani, missed the brand’s Milan Men’s fashion week shows for the first time ever. At the time, he had been hospitalized in the city for a couple of days and was not able to be present in person. In his absence, Dell’Orco, head of menswear design and the designer’s right-hand man, filled in Armani’s shoes. In early July, Armani thanked the public for their support through a newspaper advertisement, adding "See you in September."

Armani noted that he preferred his succession to the brand to be “organic and not a moment of rupture.” One of the industry’s most well-known names, Armani is the sole owner and holds 99.9 percent of the shares in the fashion company he established with his late partner Sergio Galeotti. The remaining 0.01 percent of the Armani Group shares are owned by the Giorgio Armani Foundation, which was founded in 2016 to oversee the company’s governance.   The Armani Group, which includes the Giorgio Armani brand, Emporio Armani, and A|X Armani Exchange, reported a revenue of 2.3 billion US dollars (2.3 billion euros) in 2024.