Byblos (fashion brand)

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byblos (in lower case) is an Italian fashion brand in the upper price segment, founded in 1973 , for which Gianni Versace once worked as a designer.

Company history

Byblos was founded in 1973 as part of the Italian clothing company Genny SpA , which was founded by Arnoldo Girombelli and his wife Donatella in 1961 in Ancona . Byblos was initially led by Arnoldo's brother, Sergio Girombelli, and then from 1992 by Donatella Girombelli. From 1983 the byblos label was an independent brand in the Genny Group. The name byblos goes back to the luxury hotel of the same name in St. Tropez , which in turn owes its name to the Lebanese city ​​of Byblos .

In addition to the youthful, carefree, elegant, sporty and colorful collections, the trademark of byblos was the fact that the respective designer of the label always remained in the background and the byblos brand was always in the foreground. In line with the philosophy for the main label Genny - where the later Dolce & Gabbana designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana worked - byblos also always employed young, aspiring designers. The still rather unknown Gianni Versace worked for the house from 1977 to 1979. Versace had previously worked as a designer for Genny (from 1974) and then (until 1994) he was a consultant for the label.

A heyday of byblos was the 1980s and early 90s. Directed by British designers Keith Varty and Allen Cleaver, the byblos collections have been described as lively, youthful and aggressive, colorful, high quality and international. The brand was named in the same breath as Issey Miyake , Comme des Garcons and Jean-Paul Gaultier for its modern, fashionable orientation . Byblos not only celebrated great commercial successes on the Italian home market, but also worldwide. In the course of the expansion , further labels were launched, such as Options by Bylos , a second line that was later discontinued, or blu byblos , a youthful line that still exists today and under which its own boutique is operated in Cyprus .

From the beginning / middle of the 1990s, when simple, puristic styles and plain-colored fabrics were particularly in fashion, the company suffered considerable sales losses and, albeit with little success, brought American designers on board to refresh the label. In 2001 Donatella Girombelli finally sold the Genny company, and with it the byblos brand, to the Prada group. Prada, in turn, was mainly interested in the Genny production facilities, sold byblos in 2002 to Swinger International, a sportswear and casual manufacturer in Bussolengo near Verona , and in 2004 completely discontinued the Genny women's collection, but retained the rights to the brand. Swinger had previously manufactured the blu byblos collection under license from Genny.

byblos today

Byblos offers a women's and men's collection that has been described as "young and trendy" again since the mid-2000s. For the spring / summer 2011 season, men's fashion was last presented at the Milan Fashion Week as part of a presentation. The current fashion designer of the byblos label has been Manuel Facchini, brother of the CEO of Swinger, Mathias Facchini , since 2006 . At the end of 2012 Facchini also launched a new main line called byblos Milano for women, which has since been presented at the Milan Fashion Weeks, and at the same time opened a discotheque with the same name in the north-west of Milan . In addition, fragrances , glasses , wristwatches , shoes, lingerie, swimwear and children's clothing as well as home accessories and furniture are sold under the brand name byblos . Furthermore, the sportswear-oriented second line blu byblos is offered for women and men. In Verona , the company operates the byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà , a luxury hotel, and the byblos Art Gallery , a museum for contemporary art. As of 2013, Byblos stores are located in Milan, Verona, Limassol , Shenzhen and Johannesburg . In 2007 Byblos had a turnover of 100 million euros.

Designer at byblos

  • Gianni Versace (1977-1979)
  • Guy Paulin (1979-1982)
  • Keith Varty and Allen Cleaver (1981-1996)
  • Richard Tyler (1996-1998)
  • John Bartlett (1998-2000)
  • In-house design team (2000–2001)
  • Martine Sitbon (women's collection 2001–2002), Sandy Dalal (men's collection 2001–2002)
  • Greg Myler, Stefano Citron, and Federico Piaggi (2002-2006)
  • Manuel Facchini (since 2006)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New York Magazine via Google Books: A portrait of Genny (March 11, 1991)
  2. ↑ Financial Times Deutschland: From the shadow of the Gran Signori ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (June 14, 2008)
  3. ↑ Textile industry: Donatella Girombelli: Prophetess of the fashionably mature woman  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (February 10, 1993)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  4. ↑ Textile industry: A feat of strength for Genny, Byblos and Bartlett  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (January 27, 1998)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  5. ↑ Financial Times Deutschland: From the shadow of the Gran Signori ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (June 14, 2008)
  6. ^ New York Times: Clothes make the cocktail party, too (August 29, 1990)
  7. ^ New York Times: Fashion spreading style at lower prices (February 18, 1990)
  8. ^ New York Times: Tyler for Byblos (November 12, 1996)
  9. ^ New York Times: Bartlett joins Genny (April 14, 1998)
  10. ↑ Textile industry: Byblos expands its range of products (February 18, 2003)
  11. ↑ Textile industry: Byblos is repositioning itself  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (February 20, 2003)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  12. ↑ Zimbio: Byblos Milano: An Exclusive Club Lounge Opens ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (October 2, 2012) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zimbio.com

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