Farfetch names new Off-White CEO, New Guards chair as founders depart

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Jun 2, 2023

Farfetch announced on Thursday that Cristiano Fagnani has been appointed to the role of CEO of Off-White, while remaining in charge of New Guard Group's Reebok business as CEO of NGG++.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Fagnani was previously chief marketing officer for NGG, where he worked closely with Virgil Abloh-founded Off-White. Prior to joining NGG more than three years ago, he worked at Nike, where he led energy marketing, brand experience and product collaborations.

Coinciding with the Off-White news, the UK-based luxury platform said Stephanie Phair has been appointed chair of NGG. ​Phair, who has been working as a member of the operational boards for the NGG brands, will support the NGG leadership team toward "achieving the goals set out for the business and foster the continued successful integration with the Farfetch Group."

She maintains her role as group president, Farfetch.

As a result of the management shake-up, the company announced that NGG CEO, Davide De Giglio, along with his co-founder, executive director and Off-White CEO, Andrea Grilli, are stepping down from their roles. Reasons for the departures were not disclosed.

"Today, after a beautiful ten-year journey, I step down from my position at NGG. My heart is filled with gratitude for the opportunities I have been given, the extraordinary individuals I had the privilege to work with, and the collective successes we achieved," said De Giglio.

"I leave behind a resilient, dynamic, and robust group that I'm confident will continue to flourish and uphold our shared vision. I look forward with excitement to seeing where the next decade will take NGG.”

Meanwhile, the existing leadership team for Palm Angels, also owned by NGG, remains unchanged, with Stefano Robino staying on as general manager and Francesco Ragazzi as founder and creative director. The leadership of the other NGG brands remains unchanged as well, said Farfetch in a press release.

“New Guards has performed extremely well since 2019, and has continued to execute on its strategy with the recent launch of Reebok. I would like to thank Davide and Andrea for their dedicated leadership over the past four years, and for building a very strong team of successors to continue driving the strategy and operations of NGG," said ​José Neves, founder, CEO and chair, Farfetch.

"They leave with my fondest best wishes for their future endeavours. With a very experienced management team in Cristiano, Ib, Stefano and Francesco and the added benefit of Stephanie’s oversight, I am confident in the continued success of NGG.”

Founded in 2015 and based in Milan, NGG manages the design, production and distribution for global brands Palm Angels, Off-White and Reebok. It was acquired by Farfetch in 2019.