MAGGIO EXITS: More changes are taking place at the Elisabetta Franchi fashion company.
Chief executive officer Gabriele Maggio has exited the brand’s parent company Betty Blue SpA, based in Granarolo Emilia, a town outside Bologna.
“The decision, taken exclusively in the best interest of the company, aims to ensure management continuity, proper operational efficiency, and the future strategic development of the business,” read a brief statement issued on Monday. No mention was made of a successor.
Maggio’s departure comes on the heels of Marco Bizzarri’s divestiture of his stake in the company in July and his own exit, resigning as chairman at the end of September. The namesake designer of the brand succeeded Bizzarri in that role, as reported.
Maggio joined Elisabetta Franchi in February 2024. His career in fashion spans more than 25 years, as he was previously president and CEO of Stella McCartney, which he exited in December 2023, after four years at the helm of the brand.
Prior to McCartney, Maggio was general manager of Moschino. He previously held several senior executive and board-level positions at both Gucci and Bottega Veneta. His curriculum also includes experiences at Giorgio Armani and Prada.
Bizzarri, the former president and CEO of Gucci, acquired a 23 percent stake in Elisabetta Franchi last year through a personal holding called Nessifashion. He is also an investor in Forel, which in 2024 entered into an agreement on behalf of the FARO fund to acquire a majority stake in Italian luxury interior design brand Visionnaire. The executive first dipped his toes into the investment fund pool in 2021, when he took a stake and became a partner in Orienta Capital Partners, which specializes in investments in small- and medium-sized companies with strong growth potential.
Franchi founded her namesake firm in 1998 and has been expanding its retail network internationally, with its first U.S. boutique opening in the Bal Harbour Shops in Miami at the end of last year. In the U.S., the brand also launched at Saks Fifth Avenue with the spring 2025 collection collection in stores, including New York, Beverly Hills and Houston. In April, it opened a sprawling new Milan flagship on Via Manzoni during Design Week.
