Italian luxury house Giorgio Armani, present in India with two Emporio Armani stores and a Giorgio Armani label store, is ending its Indian joint venture with DLF Brands, a division of real estate giant DLF. The Italian fashion house will now enter into a franchisee deal with Genesis Luxury to expand its retail presence in India.
DLF Brands Chief Executive Officer Dipak Agarwal said the break-up with Armani is in line with its strategy of withdrawing from luxury. "We are not expanding in luxury anymore. Also Armani wanted to move to a franchise mode which we could not do," he said.
The retail arm of real estate developer DLF and Giorgio Armani set up a joint venture in 2008 to roll out retail stores of the luxury brand. Armani held 51 percent equity in the venture.
(Source: cpp-luxury.com)