Scale & Strategy
This is Scale & Strategy, the ‘tabasco sauce’ of business newsletters (we take what’s bland, and spice it up!)
Here’s what we got for you today:
- What’s Next for Giorgio Armani’s Fashion Empire?
- The Kelce Brothers’ Garage Beer Is Now Worth $200 Million
What’s Next for Giorgio Armani’s Fashion Empire?
The house now faces its defining test: moving past the founder without losing him.
When Giorgio Armani died at 91, fashion didn’t just lose a designer—it lost one of the last great owner-operators. While rivals folded into LVMH or Kering, Armani kept his empire private, pulling in $2.7B last year without answering to anyone but himself.
That independence wasn’t an accident. Armani built in safeguards to protect the house from takeover: a foundation to inherit control, bylaws limiting debt and acquisitions, and a governance system designed to preserve autonomy. The Giorgio Armani Foundation—established in 2016—will now oversee the company, with a board that includes longtime lieutenants and family members like Pantaleo Dell’Orco, Silvana Armani, and Roberta Armani.
Still, Armani’s death puts the brand in play. “Brands like these rarely come to market,” Bernstein analyst Luca Solca noted. Expect suitors.
The challenge? Armani is still globally recognized but slipping. Sales fell 5% last year, operating profit dropped nearly 25%, and analysts argue it needs tighter distribution and fresh creative direction. The company has responded by doubling down on investment: store revamps, in-house e-commerce, and expansions across its three-tiered fashion ecosystem (Privé, Emporio, Exchange), plus lifestyle ventures like Casa, Dolci, restaurants, and even hotels.
Fashion history offers a mixed playbook. Once, houses rarely survived their founders. Today, brands like Chanel, Dior, and Saint Laurent thrive under new stewards. But Armani was different: he wasn’t just creative director—he was owner, strategist, and gatekeeper. That model is nearly extinct.
Even Bernard Arnault once circled the brand. Armani walked away. “I would have been managed,” he said. “And so I thought to myself, if they want, they can go over my head.”
The independence he protected may now be both the group’s greatest strength and its biggest test. The brand must modernize without being swallowed, all while carrying forward the founder’s mantra: stay humble.
The Kelce Brothers’ Garage Beer Is Now Worth $200 Million
Durational Capital backs the light-beer upstart as it rides Gen Z and millennial buzz.
Garage Beer, the light lager brand backed by NFL stars-turned-media fixtures Jason and Travis Kelce, just pulled in its first institutional check—and a fat valuation to match. The company hit a roughly $200M valuation in a funding round led by Durational Capital, the consumer-focused PE firm behind Bojangles.
The numbers:
- Revenue is on pace to hit $60M–$70M in 2025, up from less than $20M last year.
- The raise will fund marketing and expansion, with ex-Constellation exec Bill Hackett joining the board.
- The brand is carving out loyalty with younger legal-age drinkers, especially Gen Z and millennials, thanks in part to the Kelce brothers’ constant presence.
CEO Andy Sauer says the company’s strategy is to “connect obsessively” with customers—answering every DM, showing up on billboards, and running IRL events. It’s working: Garage Beer has become a lifestyle play as much as a product, with the Kelce brothers deeply involved in launches and ad campaigns. Sauer even got a call from Jason on Labor Day to discuss new strategy moves.
The backdrop:
The broader beer industry isn’t exactly thriving. Health-conscious consumers are drinking less, younger adults are chasing canned cocktails and THC seltzers, and Ozempic is eating into demand. Even Constellation (Modelo, Corona) just cut its annual forecast after seeing weakness among core buyers.
That’s why Garage Beer stands out. It’s growing in a down market, a playbook that looks more like Michelob Ultra—leaning on low-cal, light beer positioned as “fun, not fussy”—than Bud Light’s old mass-market dominance.
The Kelces give it the cultural firepower, but the real bet is whether Garage can scale from NFL novelty to enduring category challenger.
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