Luxury group Richemont has acquired a controlling stake in Italian footwear brand Gianvito Rossi. It described the acquisition as a private transaction, writes Leatherbiz.

The shoe brand’s founder, Gianvito Rossi, will retain a stake in the company and will continue to develop the business in partnership with Richemont.

He founded the brand in 2006 in the famous shoe manufacturing town of San Mauro Pascoli. It now has its headquarters in Milan. Gianvito Rossi is the son of famous shoe designer Sergio Rossi.

Richemont’s chief executive of fashion brands, Pilippe Fortunato, commented: “Gianvito Rossi is an exceptional maison with unique savoir-faire in the world of shoemaking. Its core attributes of uncompromising quality, elegance and timelessness are perfectly aligned with Richemont’s values.”

For his part, Gianvito Rossi, said: “In Richemont I have found a partner that shares values such as the greatest attention to quality, design and craftsmanship and the preservation of tradition handed down from generation to generation.”

He added that he had decided to accept the offer from Richemont to help him “keep developing the brand worldwide”; he said he admired the group’s “expertise and model of global expansion”.