NEW LICENSE: Blufin and Italian manufacturer Gimel have signed a license for the production and worldwide distribution of the Miss Blumarine childrenswear line.
The multiyear license will officially kick off with the spring 2025 collection dedicated to children and young girls. Aimed at strengthening the range’s international distribution, the deal is part of a wider plan reviewing the strategies for the licenses in the portfolio of Blufin, Blumarine’s parent company that passed under the control of Italian entrepreneur Marco Marchi’s EIH Eccellenze Italiane group in 2019.
As reported, Marchi first acquired Gruppo Blufin and its brands Blumarine, Blugirl, Anna Molinari and Be Blumarine from the founding Tarabini family, and two years later decided through his own fashion company Liu Jo Group to take over the licenses of Blufin’s contemporary and childrenswear lines, which are Blugirl and Miss Blumarine, respectively.
Marchi said the new deal with Gimel is the beginning of “an important project of development of the Miss Blumarine line” and added the two parties will “collaborate on the further success of this license, while maintaining the brand’s identity coherent in an increasingly competitive market.”
Gimel’s chief executive officer Cecile Beaurain also underscored how the new license will strengthen the company’s role in kidswear. Founded in 1977, the Apulia-based specialist already manufactures and distributes the kids’ collections of a range of fashion labels including Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, Just Cavalli, Ermanno Scervino, Dondup, Elisabetta Franchi and Jacob Cohën.
While revisiting the group’s licensing strategy, Marchi has yet to name a creative director for the Blumarine main line, after Walter Chiapponi’s sudden exit last month after only one season.