Richemont names Laurent Malecaze CEO of Dunhill, Mauro Grimaldi strategic advisor in charge of AZ Factory
Swiss luxury group Richemont has reshuffled some of its top management roles. The head of the group’s fashion & accessories division, Philippe Fortunato, has announced the appointment of Laurent Malecaze as CEO of Dunhill. Mauro Grimaldi, former CEO of Le Printemps, has been named strategic advisor and will notably be in charge of AZ Factory, previously led by Malecaze.
The latter took charge of AZ Factory, the fashion start-up that was the first own label founded by designer Alber Elbaz, in October 2020, and took care of its launch. A graduate of the HEC business school in Paris, Malecaze began his business career at consulting firm Bain & Company in 2011 and, before joining AZ Factory, he was in charge of US luxury e-tailer The Webster (since 2018 as president, and from 2019 as managing director), which he had joined in 2015 as COO.
Malecaze is leaving AZ Factory in the midst of a transition period for the start-up, in the wake of the death last April of designer and founder Elbaz, who set up the company in 2020 as a joint-venture with Richemont.
“Laurent is an entrepreneurially minded executive with an extensive experience in the retail business. At AZ Factory, working alongside the late Alber Elbaz, he demonstrated his ability for establishing a strong design identity thanks to a data-driven approach,” said Fortunato in a press release. Fortunato sees Malecaze as “the ideal candidate to start a new chapter at Dunhill,” where he succeeds Andrew Maag.
As for Grimaldi, he has been appointed strategic advisor to Fortunato, as reported by US magazine WWD, which indicated that Grimaldi’s main mission will be to oversee the operational running of AZ Factory.
Grimaldi, who was named global CEO of department store group Le Printemps in early 2020, is a highly experienced luxury industry executive. He was head of retail in France for Tod’s from 2001 to 2003, then took charge of the wholesale and retail business of Dolce & Gabbana, before joining Valentino, where he remained until 2007, as retail and wholesale director EMEA.
Grimaldi then worked for Salvatore Ferragamo, as head of western and central Europe. He left in 2013 to become vice-president of Elie Saab until 2015, before becoming the CEO of Emilio Pucci from 2015 to 2019.
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