Off-White™ Outlines Plan After Virgil Abloh
The label is set to carry out the late designer’s ideas that accumulated in WhatsApp conversations.
In a new report by the Business of Fashion, Off-White™ and its parent groups outlined the future of the label founded by the late Virgil Abloh.
Marking the future as the “next chapter” of Off-White™, the outline share how the influential imprint aims to “harness the legacy” following the death of the icon last November. The report highlights the unstoppable creativity of Virgil Abloh” as his label will carry out the “endless” number of ideas that he left in WhatsApp conversations over the years.
Andrea Grilli, who served as Off-White™’s Chief Executive Officer back since 2019, noted “The next two years, we are going to go full-speed. The fuel being poured into the brand, it’s for decades, for centuries. Virgil would have wanted us to do it. He always said this has to be a multi-generational brand; our kids need to go on Rodeo Drive and Rue Saint-Honoré and see it.”
Touching on the succession of Off-White™, the label is expected to adopt a “collective,” while remaining open to other routes to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of fashion.
“It’s going to be a group of people, a movement, a collective,” said Davide De Giglio, co-founder of New Guards Group, the parent company of Off-White™.” Think about Linux, open-source: you can inject something new and the software pattern evolves.” NGG, a Farfetch company, now holds majority ownership of Off-White™ with LVMH standing with an increased minority stake after a deal made last July. Though the report details that the long-term agreement between NGG and LVMH could be renegotiated or terminated at the end of 2026.
Louis Vuitton’s Chairman and CEO, Michael Burke, cited the similarity between the current situation at Off-White™ is similar to what Dior went through after the death of Christian Dior in 1957. “If the legacy is rich, authentic, and steeped in values that go beyond fashion, the odds of turning a passing into something eternal are spectacular.”
The insightful report from the Business of Fashion comes around the unveil of Off-White™’s Fall 2022 Ready-to-Wear collection which served to continue Virgil Abloh’s creative legacy.
For more contemporary fashion, KENZO recently unveiled the “Tiger Tail” Collection by NIGO.
