MILAN — Giorgio Armani’s longtime executive Livio Proli will leave his role as managing director of the Milan-based company at the end of March. Proli will remain on the board of the fashion company and he will remain president of the Olimpia Milano basketball team owned by the designer. His responsibilities will be divided among existing people already inside the company.
No additional details or comments were provided by Armani.
Armani’s longstanding passion for basketball and his financial investments helped save the Olimpia Milano team, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy before he stepped in to back it in 2004, and has since won three Italian championships titles under Proli’s watch.
A soft-spoken manager, Proli was never in the spotlight, but is one of the members of the close-knit group of people close to Armani, who is also chairman of his fashion house.
The company is busy consolidating his various collections under three labels, as it undergoes an internal restructuring. Starting with the spring2018 season, Armani Collezioni and Armani Jeans were blended into three main lines: Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and A|X Armani Exchange. The designer has also been experimenting with the coed format for both his Emporio Armani and his namesake brand.
In 2016, the designer, who has long been vocal about his aversion to taking on a business partner or an investor as well as to publicly listing his company, confirmed he had established the long-rumored Giorgio Armani Foundation which, while aiming to fund social projects, also ensures that his 2.3 billion euros fashion group will live on.