Stella McCartney Buys Back Minority Stake From LVMH
- Samantha Conti
- Jan 29
- 5 min read
McCartney will continue to advise Bernard Arnault and senior LVMH management on sustainability issues.
Stella McCartney Spring 2025 Giovannni Giannoni/WWD
LONDON — Stella McCartney is buying back the minority stake in her fashion brand held by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, but will continue to work with the group with the new title of global ambassador on sustainability.
In a brief statement on Monday, the first day of the spring 2025 couture shows in Paris, LVMH said McCartney was taking back the stake “after more than five years of fruitful collaboration.”
The group added: “This new chapter for Stella McCartney reflects her desire to write a new page in her story independently, after working closely with the group to strengthen the fundamentals and governance of her house.”
LVMH said McCartney will continue to advise Arnault and the executive team on sustainability issues in he new ambassador role.
Stella McCartney did not return a request for comment.
Antoine Arnault and Stella McCartney at COP28. SEBASTIAN BOETTCHER / Courtesy Stella McCartney
The luxury giant purchased the stake in Stella McCartney’s business in 2019, and at the same time brought her on board as a consultant in all things green. McCartney’s previous investor was Kering, which had a 50 percent stake in her company.
Arnault said in 2019 that he was “extremely happy” about the partnership, and a decisive factor in the deal was McCartney’s early decision “to put sustainability and ethical issues on the front stage, and built her house around these constraints. It emphasizes LVMH Group’s commitment to sustainability.”
The luxury titan called the minority investment “the beginning of a beautiful story together. We are convinced of the great long-term potential of her house.”
For her part, McCartney got what she wanted: She retained a majority stake in her company, while under former partner Kering she had a 50-50 deal. She also had a new business partner who was set to be more supportive on the eco-front.
At the time, sources said it was McCartney’s friendship with Arnault’s eldest son, Antoine Arnault, then chief executive officer of Berluti and chairman of Loro Piana, that helped to seal the deal. LVMH’s own green ambitions were also a clincher.
Stella McCartney’s selfie of the LVMH Prize jury with LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault in 2022. Stella McCartney/Courtesy of LVMH
“The chance to realize and accelerate the full potential of the brand alongside Mr. Arnault and as part of the LVMH family, while still holding the majority ownership in the business, was an opportunity that hugely excited me,” McCartney said in 2019.
While Stella McCartney’s full revenue was never disclosed and always consolidated onto the Kering balance sheet, it is thought to be about 300 million euros. The company’s valuation when it split from Kering was estimated to be about 600 million euros, according to sources.
With LVMH as a partner, McCartney quickly got to work, shifting her fabric and supply chain research into high gear, and working closely with fellow LVMH brands.
In 2023, McCartney worked with Veuve Clicquot on a partnership that turned manually collected grape stems from the Champagne harvest into luxury accessories.
McCartney sent some of those accessories down the runway during her spring 2024 show at Paris Fashion Week. The open-air runway show was set up like a street market, and featured three Frayme bags and a bottle holder made from grape leather.
A model at Stella McCartney’s spring 2024 show carrying a bag made from upcycled grape waste. Courtesy
She also created two Elyse sandal styles that featured a platform wedge made from recycled cork waste collected from the Veuve Clicquot cellars in Reims, France.
According to LVMH, the grape material was created in less than 18 months and helped to reduce two great sources of greenhouse gas emissions: leather and winemaking.
The grape stems were sourced with full traceability from the environmentally-certified Grand Cru vineyard of Bouzy in Champagne, which Madame Clicquot purchased 200 years ago.
Jean-Marc Gallot, CEO of Veuve Clicquot, said the grape leather was the result of a “strong collective effort and our expertise in regenerative agriculture. It fills me with joy, that beyond crafting one of the best Champagnes, our grapes can now also contribute to drive a brighter future in fashion.”
Asked how the collaboration came about, McCartney said she set a challenge for LVMH.
“I’d been looking at cross-industry collaboration within the group, and one day I said to Mr. Arnault, ‘You know I’m putting bags down my runway made from grape skin waste from the Italian wine industry. Give me one of your brands and let me use that waste,’” McCartney said.
Stella McCartney’s new, mushroom leather Frayme Mylo bag, which will land in stores on July 1. Courtesy image
She also worked with suppliers outside the group. In July, 2022 McCartney launched the Frayme Mylo bag, which is made entirely from mycelium, the weblike roots of fungi. The handbag, which McCartney made in collaboration with the California-based Bolt Threads, retailed at 1,995 pounds.
McCartney said it was the first time that a “mushroom handbag” was available for sale. She added that it marked a milestone in her longstanding relationship with Bolt, and in overall vegan material innovation.
That same year McCartney was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, in Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday honors list. She received an OBE, or Order of the British Empire award, from the queen in 2013.
The designer also worked with King Charles III on environmental projects, and in 2021 represented the fashion industry at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England.
While under the LVMH umbrella, the designer also launched Stella McCartney Beauty, a skin care line, in 2022. The ambitious project aimed to tick as many eco-boxes as possible using the fewest number of products, and ingredients.
While the partnership may have been fruitful, the commercial end wasn’t always easy.
Like so many others, McCartney’s business ran into trouble in 2020 during the pandemic, with international travel and tourism grinding to a halt, brick-and-mortar stores shutting and expenses piling up.
Camila Alves McConaughey, Stella McCartney and Jessica Alba in 2023. Dave Benett/Getty Images
During lockdown in 2020, the business began retrenching and restructuring. It laid off staff, asked others to reduce their salaries for an extended period, and cut back on certain activities with an eye on reducing the overall cost base. McCartney did not pay herself a salary that year.
In fiscal 2021 Stella McCartney’s business reported losses of 32.7 million pounds on turnover of 32.5 million pounds, according to Companies House in the U.K. The figure only refers to the brand’s sales in the U.K.
Turnover in the 12 months to Dec. 31, 2021, rose 14 percent, while losses after-tax increased by 4.3 percent compared with the previous year. According to the filing, no dividends were paid.
The following year saw considerable improvement, with the company’s loss before tax narrowing to 10 million pounds. Turnover in 2022 rose 23 percent to 40 million pounds. Operating loss shrank to 8.7 million pounds in the period, from 30 million pounds in 2021.
The Stella McCartney sale is not unusual. LVMH is constantly evaluating its investments, and last September sold Off-White LLC, the company that owns the Off-White brand, to the New York-based Bluestar Alliance LLC.
LVMH originally bought a majority stake in Off-White in 2021, and later raised it to 60 percent before selling the company.
That deal came within days of LVMH teaming with the Italian entrepreneur Remo Ruffini to increase his stake in Moncler.
Over the next 18 months, the plan is for Ruffini’s investment vehicle, Double R, to buy more shares in Moncler SpA, boosting its stake to a maximum of 18.5 percent, consolidating Ruffini’s hold as the largest single shareholder.
LVMH will be providing the funding for those purchases and, in the process, will increase its investment in Double R up to a maximum of roughly 22 percent.
Ruffini, whose title is chairman and CEO of Moncler Group, told WWD last month that he’s grateful to Arnault for investing in Double R after two long-term shareholders exited earlier this year.
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