Chinese-owned fashion group Lanvin aims to woo US consumers via Shopify ahead of New York listing

Lanvin Group is expected to go public in New York next quarter after it agreed last month to merge with a ‘blank-cheque’ company backed by private equity firm Primavera Capital

Formerly known as Fosun Fashion Group, Lanvin Group was created in 2017 as part of billionaire Guo Guangchang’s strategy to diversify his business portfolio

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Signage on the Lanvin headquarters building in Paris. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:30pm, 27 Apr 2022

A fashion group backed by a Chinese billionaire and named after the French brand it acquired last October has teamed up with Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify to tap American consumers.

Lanvin Group, a subsidiary of Fosun International – owned by Chinese tycoon Guo Guangchang – announced a partnership with Shopify, an Ottawa-based e-commerce website, to bring European fashion brands to the US market.

“Our goal is to have online sales in North America reach 25 per cent [of the total] in 2025, compared with around 13 per cent now,” group chairman and CEO Joann Cheng told the South China Morning Post. “Digitalisation is a global trend, especially in the United States and China.”

Lanvin Group, formerly known as Fosun Fashion Group, was created in 2017 as part of Guo’s strategy to diversify his business portfolio. It acquired a controlling stake in the century-old Lanvin in 2018 when the brand was struggling after the departure of star designer Alber Elbaz. It also bought Italian shoemaker Sergio Rossi, Austrian lingerie maker Wolford, American knitwear brand St. John, and Italian menswear brand Caruso.

Lanvin and Sergio Rossi will be the first among the brands to transition onto the Shopify platform for North America in the latter half of 2022.

The group rebranded itself as Lanvin last October and took on three new investors; Japanese trading conglomerate Itochu Corp, Hong Kong-listed footwear maker Stella International, and private equity firm Xizhi Capital.

Joann Cheng, chairman and CEO of Lanvin Group. Photo: Handout

Lanvin, with a valuation of US$1.5 billion, is expected to go public on the New York Stock Exchange next quarter after it agreed last month to merge with a US “blank-cheque” company backed by Chinese private equity firm Primavera Capital. The group currently operates 1,200 point-of-sale outlets, with €333 million (US$355.7 million) in revenue in 2021, according to a March investor presentation on its website.