MILAN — LuisaViaRoma has appointed Tommaso Maria Andorlini its latest chief executive officer because the Italian luxury retailer eyes further development and international growth.

He succeeds Alessandra Rossi, who joined the corporate in October 2021, following the closing of the cope with Milan-based private equity firm Style Capital, which acquired a 40 percent stake in the corporate.

Before the acquisition the CEO role was held by Andrea Panconesi, whose grandmother Luisa Jaquin opened a small boutique on Florence’s Via Roma in 1929.

Panconesi, who following the cope with Style Capital retains a 60 percent stake in the corporate, stays chairman of the board and said Monday that Andorlini’s arrival “represents a strategic opportunity to join together our strengths and create a latest point of reference within the digital and fashion sectors. The shared values and the complementary skills will open the trail to latest exciting possibilities and challenges.”

Andorlini has twenty years of experience in the style industry. Since 2020 he has been leading the businesses he founded: FFW, which creates and manages e-commerce sites for fashion brands, and SOTF, bridging digital and brick-and-mortar.

Bringing his experience to LuisaViaRoma will help further consolidate its position in the style and luxury segment in sync with its long-term vision, “leveraging potential synergies to the advantage of clients and partners,” said the corporate in a press release. LuisaViaRoma can be banking on Andorlini’s know-how within the sportswear area and sneakers category.

In an exclusive interview, Andorlini said that, having been born and raised in Florence, LuisaViaRoma has “at all times been some extent of reference for me and an inspiration. It’s some extent of pride for me to affix it, the one company that tempted me, with its legacy, excellence and innovation.”

While admitting it was early to map out his strategies, he did say that step one is to “consolidate LuisaViaRoma’s position in the style and digital industry,” mulling the concept of making capsule collections, working on private label, and entering the sweetness and cosmetics segments. That is in sync with Panconesi, who told WWD in June that beauty is a category he sees as so strategic that he’s eyeing the creation of a LuisaViaRoma-branded cosmetics line.

“Our goal is to expand in other categories but with products that will reflect the type of LuisaViaRoma,” said Andorlini.

The chief also pointed to a different key step — the opening of the primary international outpost in Recent York, which is predicted in spring 2024.

LuisaViaRoma inked a long-term lease for a 7,855-square-foot retail space at 1 Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo.

The U.S. accounts for 17 percent of LuisaViaRoma’s overall sales, making it the retailer’s second-largest market after Italy, which represents 25 percent of total revenues. One other 25 percent is generated by France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany combined. 

At the identical time, Andorlini is working on more operational projects, reminiscent of a latest logistics facility near Florence to support the expansion of the business. Likewise, he’s keen to support the sustainability initiatives of the corporate with latest technologies to enhance tracing the pipeline.

Style Capital, helmed by CEO Roberta Benaglia, invested 130 million euros to amass a 40 percent stake within the retailer. Last 12 months, LuisaViaRoma’s sales totaled around 250 million euros, of which greater than 90 percent were generated online. Panconesi forecast revenues will exceed 300 million euros in 2023.

The retailer’s acceleration has been boosted by a robust performance in its domestic market — where sales increased 40 percent up to now two years — and by its ever-increasing work in brand scouting and overall enhancement of its offering, now encompassing greater than 600 luxury brands with highly curated selections. 

Last 12 months LuisaViaRoma partnered with Vestiaire Collective on a project enabling its clients to sell their previously worn fashions in exchange for credits to be spent on latest goods on the e-commerce site.

In June, LuisaViaRoma staged a significant fashion extravaganza in Florence with the “Runway Icons” outdoor show in partnership with British Vogue in front of greater than 2,000 guests. The show featured designs from emerging and established labels, starting from Bottega Veneta, Fendi and Giorgio Armani to Loewe and  Valentino, and casting models from Natalia Vodianova and Irina Shayk to Eva Herzigová, Mariacarla Boscono, Vittoria Ceretti and Pat Cleveland, amongst others.