Giorgio

Armani
- the ultimate
fashion brand
By,
Kaushik.K
 Giorgio Armani- The
Businessman, Designer &
“My Philosophy has always been to help
women & men feel comfortable and
confident through the clothes they wear”
 Establishment, growth and
extension of a major designer
• 1934 Born in Italy, Inspired to become a doctor, but joined the
Infirmary in 1953.
• In1954 joined joined La Rinescente, as a window dresser. He
was later promoted as a buyer.
• In the early 1960s, he joined Nino Cerruti, a prominent fashion
designer, as an assistant designer for his men's wear brand,
Hitman. Over the next few years, Armani took up freelance
work for several clothing
• In 1974, with his partner Sergio Galeotti, he established
Giorgio Armani S.p.A with a menswear label, introducing a
womenswear line in 1975.
• Being a designer himself, he made apparel with his sense of
aesthetics, beauty and luxury, a sense that appealed to the
elite of the society that today includes the royalty of Belgium,
the royal families of many Asian countries and even the
• The company designs and manufactures with many sub-
brands designed under the parent umbrella brand of
Giorgio Armani to cater to the specific needs of different
market segments, they divulged into fashion accessories,
apparel, cosmetics, fragrances, home interiors, jewelry,
eyewear and watches under several labels like
• The signature Giorgio Armani line- Armani suits, Oscar
gowns, they are ultra priced, it caters to the Elite age group
between 30-35.
• Emporio Armani- Provides contemprory designs for the age
group between 20-35.
• Armani jeans- Value segment for the age group 18-35
• A/X Armani Exchange: This is the licensed brand of chain
of retail outlets of Armani fashion house. This serves as the
ultimate testimony to the power of the brand. By providing
the entire range of its apparels and accessories.
• Armani has been able to come up with winning
concepts in the other product lines of cosmetics,
watches, jewelry and eye wear.
• But Armani has not stopped at just these product
categories: Armani has extended the brand into
multiple other categories such as Armani Casa
(up-market furniture), Armani-branded Dolci
(confectionary), and Armani-branded Fiori
(Flowers).
• Armani teamed up with Samsung to make the
Giorgio Armani cell phone similar to the LG Prada
• In Feb2009 He opened up his first U.S Restaurant,
 Strategies adopted to
differentiate over Rivals
• Armani produces highly differentiated, expensive clothes that are
affordable only to the very rich. They supplement their sales by
producing a line of upscale ready-to-wear fashion for sale in luxury
department stores.
• The Giorgio Armani fashion house, like many other fashion houses,
has been built primarily on the unique personality and identity of
Giorgio Armani himself. The brand takes on the identity of the
founder through the designs created.(Founders identity)
• His collections define style and he is continuously creating
trendsetting styles in the industry
• Their suits & coats used by Hollywood stars during the
OSCARS.(Image differentiation)
• In contrast to some of his fellow designers like Gianni Versace
(Versace), who used bright colors and bold designs, Armani
preferred a neutral palette with simple cuts
• Giorgio Armani is one of the world's most desirable brands,
according to an online consumer survey. The company
found that one in three consumers would buy products by
the luxury brands.“Giorgio Armani clearly understand that
strong brands make profitable businesses,”
• It has nearly 300 stores in 36 countries. It is selling its
products through e-market . (Global reach)

• Licensing Policy with-

L’oreal-perfumes & cosmetics
Fossil- watches
Luxxotica-spectacles
Simmit- jeans & Emporio Armani menswear

• Single brand strategy.

 Factors to sustain Brand
exclusivity & Image
• Reputation- it has to keep up what it has earned so far.
• it takes a considerable time for the concept and products to
take root in the market. For any company to sustain this
gestation period, it needs to operate in an environment
where there are no day-to-day financial pressures. Having
this kind of financial independence to operate in has been
one of the key success factors for Armani.
• Keep updating-“With fashion you have to renew yourself…
you’re only as good as your last collection.” For over thirty
years, he has managed to stay both current and also
classic. Armani has never strayed from his original vision of
creating understated and elegant clothing. It is this
consistency that has garnered him his loyal following and
built up his reputation
• One of the main aspects of a fashion brand is its personality
and its identity in the marketplace. Armani, with its
 Brand Extension strategy
• As is the trend in the fashion industry to operate in the entire
spectrum from apparel, jewellery, cosmetics, watches, perfumes
and luxury hotels, Armani has been able to leverage its brand
equity to be present in most of these lucrative sectors.
• Today, Armani group has a retail network of 60 Giorgio Armani
boutiques, 11 Collezioni, 122 Emporio Armani, 94 A/X Armani
exchange, 13 Armani Junior , 1 Giorgio Armani Accessori and 16
Armani casa spread over 37 different countries.
• Though Armani might have extended its brand to hotels because
luxury travel is catching up fast as a fad with elite travelers,
managing the brand along these different dimensions could be a
massive challenge
• With so many things going on in the Armani stable, it might seem
a pretty picture at the outset. But this huge portfolio of brands and
product lines creates a much bigger set of challenges to the
Giorgio Armani brand strategy in the future.
• As the reputation of the brand stays alive , they have to maintain
Succession issue in a founder-managed
organization and the survival of a
brand beyond its founder-
• Forbes named him the most successful Italian designer,
estimating his net worth at $1.7 billion; in giving him the
same title five years later, the magazine estimated his
fortune had grown to $4.1 billion.
• By 2004, Armani had not identified a successor to his
fashion house. There was also a clear lack of a second-in-
command at the house. Even though Armani's sister and his
two nieces were closely involved with the business,
analysts doubted that he would name any of them as his
successor. While some people admired Armani for
remaining active and completely involved, even at the age
of 70, analysts began to increasingly feel that he was
behaving in an arrogant and irresponsible manner by not
marking out a succession plan
• Giorgio Armani was quoted as saying that the search for a
• Bernard Arnault, boss of the French luxury-goods giant
LVMH, and Domenico De Sole, formerly Tom Ford's business
right-hand man at the Gucci Group, have each approached
Armani. They want to buy the brand and could easily afford
the £2 billion tag. But Armani has spurned their offers.
• the Italian designer's recent revelations provide the answer,
that he plans to sell the business entirely. He does not wish
to burden his nieces and nephews with the running of a
4,500 man workforce. Neither does he wish to float the
company on the stock market, as this would weaken the
group and would put it at the mercy of those "who do not
always understand the business of fashion“
• Armani would only consider selling to someone who
understood that the business should be left in its present
state, with the current team intact.
The Fashion Icon