La Perla wants to leverage artisanal skills in recovery effort

A spokesperson for La Perla, a member of the current management, defined it as “a day of celebration and great gratification for our staff, our workers and all our people. Today we are here to support them.” La Perla made its presence felt at the recent Milan Fashion Week with a presentation at the Palazzo Giureconsulti, a way for the traditional Italian luxury lingerie brand to show that it still exists and is back in business, relying on its traditional Bologna brand. factory. The presentation will showcase 10 vintage looks and two outfits made in recent weeks by La Perla artisans.

“In recent years, La Perla's corporate structure has become very complex and fragmented,” the spokesperson said. “In 2017, under the previous owner, Scaglia, the company moved its headquarters from its former base in Bologna to London. The move was due to tax reasons, as Scaglia used to reside in London. Under the next owners, Tennor (currently in liquidation), the London office hired more staff, shifting the brand's center of gravity away from its Bologna roots.

The production company, La Perla Manufacturing, remained active in Bologna, with a facility employing 200 workers and a key core group of around 80 people, the most skilled artisans, working on product development and manufacturing of [label’s] items of the highest quality. That is why we wanted to exhibit garments made in Bologna in Milan, to show that these are products that require months of development, manufactured with extremely sophisticated techniques and materials almost always selected exclusively for us. Because we do not buy the same materials that others buy.”

Production resumed on September 2, with a small group of 20 workers, which increased to 30 the following week, “while our commercial director, who currently works remotely from Milan, receives many orders,” said the spokesperson, recalling the turbulent situation of La Perla. last twelve months.

“In November-December 2023, some of our companies began to default, while production continued,” he explained. “[The] London [company] He was the first to leave, and then the others suffered a domino effect. But after nine months of struggle, during which we continued working, even without pay, we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, having entered administration.” The administration procedure clearly aims to keep the company alive. It is a way of safeguarding the workforce while awaiting a committed buyer, with public administrators acting as guarantors in the joint sale of manufacturing assets and the brand. “We are convinced that the next owners will be true businessmen and will take care not only of [the La Perla] business, but also its people,” said the spokesperson.

On the retail front, La Perla still operates a concession in the Milanese department store Rinascente (owned by La Perla Italia, another company in the group) which has now been replenished. It is the only directly operated La Perla store and has never been closed. Another concession is active at Rinascente in Rome, but is not directly operated. On the other hand, La Perla still has a directly owned store in Dubai, through a company owned by the London parent company. There is also a small retail network in Asia and numerous wholesale customers, “who, despite our best efforts, we have not been able to supply on a continuous basis, but we are starting to work with them again,” the spokesperson said.

He points out that there have been several expressions of interest in the company, “which we present as active, with its production lines operational and with the declared and unwavering objective of maintaining commercial and production operations in Bologna. The next step of the procedure will be the sale negotiations that will be carried out by the administrators.”

London-based La Perla Global Management UK is no longer an active company and is being liquidated, a procedure run by Quantuma, so the label is effectively rebooted from Bologna. The employees of two other Bolognese companies linked to La Perla also hope to learn their fate. This is the Italian subsidiary of La Perla Global Management, a logistics and services subsidiary, and La Perla Italia, which managed the brand's Italian stores and the Bologna outlet (currently closed, but could reopen). For both, the goal is to be included in the administrative procedure.