It doesn’t quite have the ring of The Antwerp Six.
But the latest evolution of Richemont’s AZ Academy initiative — A Bunch of Designers — is giving six emerging fashion talents a serious leg up as they move from their education phase to business realities.
All graduates of AZ Academy, a one-year postgraduate program that debuted last year as a tribute to the late Alber Elbaz, the six are receiving additional operational support, coaching and strategic guidance from the Swiss luxury group to produce commercial capsule collections for a one-month retail pop-up that will debut during Paris Fashion Week this fall.
“We felt like some projects were too good to be just left on their own, so we decided to go another step with them,” Philippe Fortunato, chief executive officer of Richemont’s fashion and accessories maisons, said in an exclusive interview. “We put them in contact with industrial partners, we financed their prototyping, product development and collection, and we will be helping them to sell their collections.”
In short, Richemont is accompanying the six in their last mile before launch — while stopping short of taking stakes in their fledgling businesses.
“We realized that what they needed is further coaching and companionship,” Fortunato said.
The “bunch” are: Rome-based womenswear designer Caterina Moro, whose brand is rooted in nature and art; Spanish designer Brais Albor, who is targeting the “bear community” of men who don’t fit standard sizes; Liwen Liang, who makes handbags and dresses decorated with thin tiles of ceramic, inspired by his family’s ceramic business in Jingdezhen, China; leather goods designer Manon Marcelot, who draws inspiration from her rustic upbringing in rural France; Merle Breuker, who incorporates flexible, adaptable elements into her modular designs, and Sandra Jao, whose mostly black womenswear prioritizes form, expressiveness and Japanese technical innovation.
A design by Sandra Jao.
Adi Putra/Courtesy of AZ Academy
The six are currently in the throes of launching production and fine-tuning promotional concepts in time for the Paris Fashion Week retail showcase, details of which are still under wraps.
“They will have the chance to promote, advocate for their brands, meet with customers, interact with them, show them the product, tell their personal story and the brand story that they are creating,” Fortunato enthused, lauding each designer’s “very interesting, unique and very distinct creative universes.”
Indeed, all are in the mold-breaking spirit of Elbaz, the acclaimed Israeli designer whose final venture, AZ Factory, centered on smart fabrics and with storytelling, problem-solving and entertainment embedded in design, distribution and communications.
Following Elbaz’s death in April 2021, AZ Factory evolved into a hub for serial collaborations before being transformed into AZ Academy. The experience helped Richemont, mostly known for its hard luxury brands headlined by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, connect with a new generation of designers, and understand the myriad challenges they face in building independent brands.
A Bunch of Designers reflects the group’s ongoing commitment to scouting and nurturing creative talents, primarily with education and coaching, Fortunato said.
“We really believe that the luxury of tomorrow is about craft — and bridging that world of business and that world of creativity, what I like to call the magic and the logic,” he told WWD.
While the Paris pop-up is consumer-facing, the participating designers can also invite potential wholesale accounts to come inspect their brand showcases, he noted.
A design by Merle Breuker.
Merle Breuker/Courtesy of AZ Academy
The 19 students in the second cohort from AZ Academy are to finish their program — spanning classroom sessions, supplier visits and internships — in late November, and a screening committee will gather in August to sift through applications for the third year of the postgraduate program, with those lessons starting in January 2027.
A host of top Richemont brass, including Fortunato, Nicolas Bos, group CEO, and Anne Dellière, group marketing and strategic planning director, are implicated in the initiatives, even leveraging their network to introduce promising designers to potential business partners. Seasoned designer Lutz Huelle, who has been part of the AZ Factory story, will serve as an ambassador for the Bunch of Designers initiative.
“The craft is there, the entrepreneurship is there, the bold aspect of risk-taking from these young kids is to be noticed and accompanied,” Fortunato said. “Transmitting Alber’s vision into the modern world is very important.
“Out of the six, some of them could have a very successful business going forward,” he continued. “They all have all the ingredients, the talent, and the personality to be good fashion entrepreneurs.”
In a separate interview, Graziella Valtorta, executive director and CEO of the Creative Academy at Richemont, described AZ Academy as another expression of the group’s long-standing mission to find and prepare talents for its mostly hard luxury brands.
Since it was founded in 2004, the creative academy has trained more than 400 people, and some have gone on to top creative director roles for strategic categories at Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, and for competitors too, like Prada, Valtorta noted.
Now the AZ Academy, based in Milan and in partnership with the Accademia Costume & Moda, thrusts it into fashion and leather goods, and helping entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running.
“By no means an easy task,” Valtorta commented. “But I find this ‘venture designer’ phase to be truly extraordinary because it allows them to put into practice what they learned during their master’s program.
“I’ve seen such enthusiasm, I’m hopeful for a great outcome,” Valtorta said. “They fully understand what needs to be done during this process.”
Training at AZ Academy: Business for Designers includes such key topics as finance, merchandising, pricing, distribution, production, communication and brand definition.
Valtorta said a few of the six are also in the midst of setting up new companies as they accompany their collections through the production processes.
