One minute Roberto Cavalli wants to sell his company, the next minute he takes it all back. Cavalli has been teasing investors like this for about a year, and WWD reports he met with an Italian private-equity fund on Tuesday to discuss selling a 20 percent stake in his company. But Cavalli’s still scratching his head over whether to cut a deal or not since his empire won’t fetch as much cash in the current economic climate. He plans to talk it over with his family, including his five children. “Business was much easier these past years, but today you have to push your workers to take things in a more constructive way and with more fantasy,” he said.
Cavalli said he’ll continue working with the bankrupt Ittierre SpA licensing company, which produces his younger Just Cavalli line. So he must be over how upset he was after they delivered the fall 2009 Just Cavalli line late with subpar production values, causing him to cancel the runway show. See, Cavalli acts with his wallet, not his heart: The contract with Ittierre doesn’t expire until 2010. And in the spirit of job creation he’s on the hunt for a CEO. Currently the company doesn’t have one, just a president (his daughter Cristiana Cavalli).
But the most exciting development in the Cavalli empire is the launch of a new website, perhaps more accurately described as an Internet portal into his world of fantasy, animal prints, and Italian things. “I would like the world to be sweeter and there to be more love, and I’d like to transmit these values through my own Web site with blogs, live online appearances, pushing young designers,” he told WWD. You know Roberto, it’s great that you’ve caught on to that newfangled Internet thing all the kids are doing, but the thing about blogs is: They’re not usually used as means of transmitting love and sweetness to the world. Except this one, obviously.
Cavalli Talks Go On [WWD]
