MILAN – After unveiling his first collection as creative director of the Tom Ford brand in September last year during Milan Fashion Week, Peter Hawkings is exiting the company.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Peter for his exceptional contributions to Tom Ford from the very beginning,” said Guillaume Jesel, president and CEO, Tom Ford and Luxury Business Development, The Estée Lauder Companies.
“I want to thank Peter for his collaboration since Tom Ford Fashion became part of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group. Along with his team, Peter has contributed to this important initial phase of development. I wish him all the best in his next chapter,” said Lelio Gavazza, CEO of Tom Ford Fashion.
The brand’s spring 2025 collection will be presented in the Milan showroom in September and a successor will be announced in the near future, said the company on Monday.
Hawkings’ collections were met with mixed reviews although he was certainly not new to the label, as he began working with Ford in 1998 as a menswear design assistant at Gucci, going on to become the senior men’s designer at the company. He left Gucci in 2006 to join Ford in the launch of his eponymous brand, where Hawkings oversaw the design and production of menswear, eventually adding accessories including eyewear, bags, shoes and jewelry. He rose through the ranks to become senior vice president of Tom Ford menswear.
Ford showed his final women’s collection in April last year and, upon Hawkings’ appointment that same month, he described him as “an incredibly talented leader with tremendous industry experience,” which led Ford to be confident that his own “commitment to creating fashion products with the highest level of design and quality will continue.”
Given his proximity to Ford, Hawkings’ collections were indeed aligned with the brand’s aesthetic and vision. But clearly a lot is at stake for the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which is responsible for all of Tom Ford’s fashion business.
Chairman and chief executive officer Gildo Zegna has repeatedly said that he was focused on propelling Tom Ford Fashion to stand among the top 10 luxury fashion names in the world.
To help achieve that, Zegna named Lelio Gavazza to the newly created position of chief executive officer of Tom Ford Fashion. He brought more than 20 years of experience in global luxury, joining from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, where he was executive vice president, sales and retail at jeweler Bulgari.
At the time of his appointment in July, Gildo Zegna touted Gavazza’s “world-class business acumen,” his “track record of strong global leadership” and his “outstanding luxury expertise” across retail management, wholesale distribution, marketing, digital and key markets, including China, expressing his confidence that the executive would “prove invaluable” in the development of the fashion brand globally.
Tom Ford and chairman Domenico De Sole continued to serve as brand advisers through the end of last year.
The Estée Lauder Cos. acquired Tom Ford’s company in November 2022 in a deal valued at $2.8 billion. Under Lauder, Ford’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear is licensed to Zegna, which previously held the license for menswear since around 2006. At Lauder, Guillaume Jesel is Tom Ford’s president and CEO.
With the Ford deal, Zegna, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, ventured into new territory: In addition to Ford’s men’s and women’s rtw, Zegna is now licensed for Ford’s accessories and underwear, fine jewelry, childrenswear, textile and home design products. Zegna Group is in charge of the end-to-end Tom Ford Fashion business, from collection creation and development to merchandising through to production, as well as retail and wholesale distribution. Marcolin holds the perpetual license for Tom Ford eyewear.
Tom Ford’s fashion operation is expected to create synergies for Zegna, which also owned a 15 percent stake in the company prior to Lauder’s acquisition, and could allow it to strengthen its womenswear segment.
As reported, the Ermenegildo Zegna group, which comprises the Zegna, Thom Browne and Tom Ford brands, last year more than doubled its net profit, which reached 135.7 million euros, compared with 65.3 million euros in 2022, on revenues that rose 27.6 percent to 1.9 billion euros.
The Tom Ford Fashion segment generated revenues of 235.5 million euros and adjusted operating losses of 1.7 million euros, mainly attributable to the 15.6 million euro one-off charges related to the purchase price allocation.
