MILAN — LuisaViaRoma’s attempts at extra-judicial negotiations with financial creditors over the past few months have reached their tipping point.
On Tuesday, the beleaguered fashion e-tailer filed for a court-mediated procedure called “Concordato Semplificato” under Italian liquidation law, paperwork reviewed by WWD revealed. The company has to provide the Florence Court with a business plan and has asked for a 60-day period to file it, subject to the court’s approval.
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Once submitted, the court has to decide whether to ratify the plan and the procedure, which would resolve the crisis. Otherwise, the company would be placed into judicial liquidation.
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In August, the company resorted to protection measures filed with a Florence Court and the Italian Chamber of Commerce aimed at ensuring business continuity as the e-tailer sought to restructure its debt and operations.
LuisaViaRoma’s former controlling shareholder, the Italian private equity fund Style Capital, exited the business after four years in December, leaving the multibrand e-tailer in the hands of current chief executive officer Tommaso Maria Andorlini, who shared plans to stabilize the business by retooling the strategy and paving the way for future growth.
However, as the company continued to feel the pinch of macroeconomic headwinds, dented consumer confidence and geopolitical instability, it has taken its ailing business future into the hands of the court-mediated procedure.
Simultaneously, LuisaViaRoma’s board has approved a 15 million euro capital increase, to be implemented before April 20 and aimed at curbing the retailer’s debt which, stood at 30 million euros in July.
Contacted by WWD on Wednesday, LuisaViaRoma said in a statement: “The process undertaken in recent months…has yielded highly positive results in the discussions with creditors and the banking system, establishing a solid foundation for the next phase.
“The company, in the interest of creditors and employees, is approaching this phase with the goal of preserving the value built over time and maintaining the widest possible scope of employment, within a profoundly changed market context.”
Andorlini added: “We are managing this phase with responsibility and vision. This is a natural step in LuisaViaRoma’s transformation journey, aimed at strengthening the business model and building a more robust, sustainable company ready for long-term growth.”
Local trade union Filcams Cgil isn’t equally optimistic and has called on LuisaViaRoma’s employees to stage a four-hour strike and demonstration outside the retailer’s Florence flagship on the eponymous Via Roma on Thursday.
In a statement, the union said “learning that LuisaViaRoma intends to pursue discontinuity through corporate restructuring leaves us speechless. Surely, the workers currently employed, who, despite the existing ‘Solidarity Contract,’ had hoped for an industrial solution to prevail, will feel the same. Today, we are faced with discontinuity through a liquidation arrangement.”
The unions are also speculating that management is hoping to transfer the e-commerce site’s operations to FFW Srl, a LuisaViaRoma subsidiary, which they allege is to be sold and spun off.
Filcams Cgil voiced its concerns over the fate of the about 200 workers employed by LuisaViaRoma, even as the company’s CEO reiterated his commitment to safeguard jobs in earlier stages of the crisis.
“We firmly believe that the expertise of the workers could tackle the current challenges. However, unfortunately, what we warned about long ago is eventually happening: Pure profit for a few is leaving hundreds of employees at the mercy of events; finance takes precedence over expertise, but this is a reality we refuse to accept,” the unions said.
A crisis table negotiation was initiated by the Tuscany region, where the retailer is based, and is scheduled for March 31.
Last year, Andorlini told WWD that his plan to reignite business and performance entailed restructuring its debt, cost-trimming and rationalization processes, including a reduction in brand selection and stock-keeping units per brand, a process initiated in 2024.
In July, LuisaViaRoma revealed plans to streamline its business operations by shutting its unit and office in Milan. This did not entail any layoffs or redundancies, but the retailer did resort to the “cassa integrazione,” a state-funded wage support measure.
Throughout the process, LuisaViaRoma did not close any of its brick-and-mortar stores.
In addition to the unit on Florence’s Via Roma, the retailer opened its second physical location in New York’s NoHo in 2024, under Andorlini’s lead.
The company operates three additional stores — an outlet in Prato, Italy called LuisaViaRoma Archive, and SOTF luxury sneaker stores in Florence and Forte dei Marmi. The latter two became part of LuisaViaRoma’s business following its acquisition of Holding IT, a firm helmed by Andorlini and the parent company to FFW Srl, which has created and managed e-commerce sites for fashion brands since 2011.
According to the most recent figures available, LuisaViaRoma logged sales of 310 million euros in 2024.
When Style Capital exited the e-tailer last year, Andorlini took over the 22 percent stake of Class A shares previously owned by Style Capital in Florence Srl, the investment vehicle that controls LuisaViaRoma. Florence Srl’s other investors remained onboard, holding a 40 percent stake in the e-tailer.
As a result, Andorlini gained control of 40 percent of LuisaViaRoma through his controlling stake in Florence Srl. This was in addition to the 8 percent stake in LuisaViaRoma he already owned through personal investment vehicle Holding 1. A third shareholder was Aima Srl, the investment vehicle of Andrea Panconesi, whose grandmother Luisa Jaquin opened a small boutique on Florence’s Via Roma in 1929, planting the first seeds of the family company’s success.
Style Capital invested 130 million euros through a capital increase in 2021 to acquire a 40 percent stake in the Florence-based multibrand e-tailer, setting up Florence Srl as the controlling vehicle.
Following the acquisition, Panconesi became chairman of the company, which back then generated revenues of around 230 million euros. Yoox veteran Alessandra Rossi joined as CEO that year and was succeeded by Andorlini in 2023.