“I could not be happier with this acquisition as the Estee Lauder companies is the ideal home for the brand,” Ford,61,said in a statement. “With their full commitment,I trust they will continue the brand’s future as a luxury company that strives to produce only the highest quality fashion and eyewear.”
Ford will stay on as the brand’s “creative visionary” through the end of 2023. He declined to comment through a company spokesperson.
The former creative director of Gucci,Ford split from the storied Italian brand in 2004 after it was acquired by French luxury titan Francois Pinault,citing concerns over creative control. He started Tom Ford with former Gucci chief executive officer Domenico De Sole shortly afterwards,first focusing on fragrance and cosmetics and later branching into eyewear and luxury menswear.
Estee Lauder already produced the Tom Ford Beauty line through a licence that was set to expire in 2030.
“The Tom Ford Beauty line is hugely successful — prestige,premium-priced,fast-growth — and,I suspect,highly profitable,” said Deborah Aitken,a luxury analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “That now all stays in-house.”
Unbounded