LVMH Has Sold Off-White™ to Brand Management Company Bluestar Alliance

Just three years after acquiring 60% of Off-White™ from Virgil Abloh in July 2021, LVMH has sold Off-White LLC — the Off-White™ brand’s parent company — to brand management entity Bluestar Alliance. In a poignant twist of fate, the sale was announced on the late Abloh’s birthday.

Financial details of the sale were not disclosed, but Off-White™ is one of many brands controlled by Bluestar Alliance, if not one that seems to be a hand-in-glove fit with the company’s current portfolio: other entities in the Bluestar Alliance stable include Hurley, Scotch & Soda, Bebe, English Laundry and Brookstone.

“Virgil was a creative pioneer who had a profound impact on the global fashion industry and creative community,” said Bluestar Alliance CEO Joey Gabbay in a statement. “Acquiring Off-White™ represents a unique opportunity for Bluestar Alliance to honor and build upon the enduring legacy of Virgil Abloh. His visionary approach to fashion resonates deeply with our core values. Abloh’s ability to fuse street culture with high fashion has laid a powerful foundation that aligns with our vision of fostering innovation while embracing diversity.”

LVMH echoed a similar sentiment in its own statement, noting that it was proud of the Off-White™ legacy and that Bluestar Alliance was the “perfect partner” to carry the legacy forward. “Bluestar Alliance shares our commitment to respect creative integrity, and we are confident that, under their stewardship, Off-White will continue to innovate while respecting the spirit and values of the brand,” the company noted. “The acquisition of Off-White™, and the opportunity to provide strategic investment and build upon our global network of resources will allow for the continuation of the cultural and creative momentum that Virgil ignited, one that Bluestar Alliance is committed to carrying forward.”

Abloh founded Off-White™ in 2012 as a follow-up to his PYREX VISION label, launched the brand’s first full womenswear collection at Paris Fashion Week in January 2014 and was nominated for the LVMH Prize in 2015. The same year, Off-White™ was absorbed into New Guards Group, an umbrella company owned by Marcelo Burlon, Claudio Antonioli and Davide De Giglio. New Guards Group was then purchased for $675M USD by Farfetch in August 2019.

However, when LVMH bought into Off-White™, they did so through the aforementioned Off-White LLC, which was the LLC through which Abloh would conduct his personal business, from DJ sets to Nike collabs — essentially, as Vogue put it in a 2021 article “[A] model like that of Karl Lagerfeld, or indeed any other inveterate freelancer: [Virgil Abloh] is horizontally integrated through his LLC and perhaps other entities with a series of clients … This means that in the future Abloh’s commitments to LVMH will be beyond the silo system of different designers in different houses. Instead he will hover above, acting as an internal creative consultant and lightning rod at an executive level.” This arrangement made for what the company likely hoped would be a seamless creative overlap with Abloh’s work at Louis Vuitton.

However, Virgil Abloh Securities, the “creative company” that was founded after Virgil Abloh’s passing to help continue his legacy and is led by his wife Shannon Abloh, is not associated with Off-White, meaning Virgil Abloh’s estate has zero connection to the brand. “Virgil Abloh Securities and Shannon Abloh officially parted ways with Off-White in 2022 and are no longer affiliated with the brand,” the outfit said in a statement of its own.

Bluestar Alliance’s purchase of Off-White™ comes as the label is still trying to find its footing under magazine editor and stylist Ib Kamara‘s lead: its recent show at New York Fashion Week was largely received, but came on the heels of a new CEO being appointed to lead the brand after a shake-up at New Guards Group.