MILAN — Matteo Franceschini has been named chief executive officer of the Viktor & Rolf brand, controlled by the OTB Group.
Franceschini, who will report to OTB CEO Ubaldo Minelli, also maintains the role of the group’s licensing and collaborations director. He succeeds Andrea Collisei, who was both CEO of Viktor & Rolf and general director of Jil Sander, also under the OTB umbrella. Given the expansion of Jil Sander, Collisei is focusing full time on that brand.
Franceschini is tasked with leading the development and the expansion of the Dutch brand founded in 1993 by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren.
The executive joined OTB in October 2021. Previously, he held the role of licenses and business director at Dsquared2 and export sales director of Italian menswear brand Corneliani.
Minelli noted that Franceschini “has helped to develop licenses for all the brands of the group. I am sure that in this new position he will be able to guide the growth of Viktor & Rolf, a brand which alongside its haute-couture collections is active in meaningful licenses and collaborations.”
In 2018, OTB raised its stake in the Dutch brand to 70 percent from 51 percent. The Italian fashion group first invested in the brand in 2008. The remaining 30 percent stake is equally split between Horsting and Snoeren.
In 2015, the designing duo decided to halt their women’s and men’s ready-to-wear business to concentrate on couture, fragrances and special projects.
Prized for their experimental approach to fashion and reverence for glamour, Horsting and Snoeren started collaborating after graduating from the Netherlands’ Arnhem Academy. They shot to prominence in 1993 by winning the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France. Two of fashion’s consummate showmen, they have incorporated elements such as fog, pyrotechnics and scaffolding into their shows.
After entering the fragrance scene in 2005 with Flowerbomb, Viktor & Rolf last year launched an e-commerce platform dedicated to its signature scents under L’Oréal, including Bonbon, for example.
In April, the brand was invited as special guest of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, to parade its spring 2023 Mariage collection, which was officially introduced in 2017.
As reported, OTB net sales in 2021 totaled 1.45 billion euros, up 18 percent compared with 2020, driven by the luxury division, which comprises the Marni, Maison Margiela, Jil Sander and Viktor & Rolf brands. Founded by Renzo Rosso, OTB also has a minority stake in Amiri and controls production arms Staff International and Brave Kid.