UPDATE: Opening Ceremony to Permanently Shutter All Retail Locations
Including its 18-year-old New York City flagship.
UPDATE (January 14, 2020): The latest development in Opening Ceremony‘s acquisition by New Guards Group, the brand’s longtime retail locations in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo are set to permanently close sometime in 2020.
In a statement posted to Instagram as well as e-mailed to Opening Ceremony newsletter subscribers, founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon explain the decision.
“We’ve made a decision to focus on growing Opening Ceremony collection and brand with our new partners, New Guards Group, and expand the designs of Opening Ceremony…This is a moment of transition for Opening Ceremony and, together with our new partners, we are taking the chance to step back and evaluate the future of our Opening Ceremony retail experience. We are stepping back from multi-brand retail, for a moment, so we can come back with an experience that is just as inspiring, filled with love and relevant for the years ahead as Opening Ceremony has been.”
Lim and Leon’s first Opening Ceremony location debuted in 2002 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where the store quickly became a hub for downtown creatives and locals. Its forward-thinking selection of brands and directional in-house line solidified Opening Ceremony as one of fashion’s buzziest retail spots and labels. In 2011, Lim and Leon were named Artistic Directors of Parisian brand Kenzo — but just last year, the duo stepped down to focus more on their original endeavor, Opening Ceremony.
Stay tuned as an exact closing date of Opening Ceremony stores is announced.
ORIGINAL STORY (January 13, 2020): Following the recent AMBUSH acquisition, New Guards Group (NGG), the company behind labels like Off-White™ and Palm Angels, has revealed that it now owns Opening Ceremony’s trademark and intellectual property. According to Business of Fashion, the Farfetch-owned platform reportedly plans to take over the production of the label’s in-house clothing and accessories line.
The terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed; however, founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim will still be involved with their new co-creative director roles. Opening Ceremony’s in-house label currently only accounts for 25 percent of the company’s total revenue. With this acquisition, NGG aims to raise the current statistic moving forward and bring the brand’s in-house line’s production to Milan. Leon and Lim said in a statement:
“Our curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit have been at the center of Opening Ceremony since we founded the company and our continued search for innovation led us to this partnership with Davide de Giglio and Andrea Grilli, who have created one of the best global brand platforms in existence today. This next step for Opening Ceremony means we get to connect our desire to invent the future and design for our community to a dynamic infrastructure.”
In addition to this new change, NGG plans to relaunch Opening Ceremony’s website on Farfetch’s platform, as well as open a new showroom in Paris. Business of Fashion also states that the Italian holding company will also design and release items under Leon and Lim’s label’s in-house line regularly in order to raise its contribution to the company’s overall revenue.
In case you missed it, check out the Opening Ceremony x Vans “Snakeskin” sneaker capsule.
