The Swiss Lalique Group has signed an agreement to take over the Zurich silk label Fabric Frontline. Founded more than 40 years ago, the company has belonged to the Swiss silk trading company Trudel Fashion Group since 2012. This had announced in June that it would discontinue the operation of Fabric Frontline in the course of the year if no other possibility of continuation was realised. The takeover by the Lalique Group is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
The group, which specializes in luxury goods, wants to maintain and revitalize the brand and implement group-internal cooperations. This includes, for example, co-branded foulard collections and accessories, as Lalique and Fabric Frontline have been doing since 2015, or silk textile applications for interior design.
Lalique Group will continue the operations of Fabric Frontline and rely on its own internal and external channels for future sales; however, the Zurich boutique is not to be taken over.
The first collection under the new ownership is planned for spring 2024, with the Lalique Group counting on the many years of know-how of the employees and Riccardo Pfenninger, owner of Trudel Fashion, according to the group in a statement.
“Fabric Frontline fits in perfectly with our group, which is broadly diversified in the luxury sector, and offers numerous opportunities for cooperation. 100 years ago, René Lalique created silk scarves whose designs, like those of Fabric Frontline, were often inspired by plants and animals. It is also important to us to preserve the traditional Zurich label. Building on its glorious history, we want to lead the quality brand into a successful future,” comments Roger von der Weid, CEO of Lalique Group.
Fabric Frontline was founded in 1980 by the “Zürcher Seidenkönig” Andi Stutz and his two sisters. The label gained international recognition with high-quality silk collections that rely on artistic design, high-quality fabrics produced in the silk capitals of northern Italy and elaborate traditional printing processes that give the motifs their precision and the colors their luminosity. At its peak, it collaborated with couture houses such as Hermès, Chanel, Dior, Nina Ricci and Vivienne Westwood.