Sankyo Seiko to purchase French luxury fashion house Leonard

Designer Christine Phung appears at the end of her Fall/Winter 2020/21 women’s ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Leonard Paris during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, February 27, 2020. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

PARIS, July 25 (Reuters) – Privately-held French fashion house Leonard, known for its stylized orchid prints, is being sold to its long-time partner in Asia, Japan-based Sankyo Seiko, the company said Monday.

The move marks the end of family ownership for the luxury label, which was founded in 1958, and symbolizes the struggle of smaller, independent European houses to maintain relevance in a fast-shifting and highly competitive retail landscape dominated by large, global groups such as LVMH (LVMH.PA) and Kering (PRTP.PA).

Plans are to further expand Leonard, which sells dresses costing upwards of 1,170 euros as well as accessories, in Asia, drawing on its presence in South Korea to push further into Japan and Taiwan, according to the statement.

Financial details of the deal were not given.

The label will maintain its spot on the Paris fashion week calendar and its spring summer 2023 collection will be the first show under the direction of the new owner, a retailer and apparel producer and importer that has worked with the house for 50 years.

“The heritage and know-how of our house will live on throughout the world for many years to come,” said Nathalie Tribouillard Chassaing, president and CEO of the label founded by her father, Daniel Tribouillard.

Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; editing by David Evans

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