MILAN — Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA, the licensee of fashion brands No. 21, Paolo Pecora and Iceberg, has filed for protection measures with a Rimini Court, paperwork available on its corporate website revealed.
As part of the measure called “Composizione Negoziata della Crisi,” a voluntary, extrajudicial negotiated restructuring process, Gilmar has been assigned independent expert Mauro Morelli, who is tasked with conducting negotiations with creditors.
The fashion company has concurrently resorted to the ancillary court-mediated protection measures available to companies undergoing the restructuring procedure. While in place, they protect the company from enforcement proceedings and bankruptcy declarations.
The company reported positive operating profitability through 2019, when earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization stood at 3.5 million euros. Since 2020, it has experienced a contraction in sales and a drop in production value, which that year alone declined 44 percent versus a year earlier.
The company attributed the deteriorated performance to exogenous factors such as the havoc wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the wholesale business crisis and increased energy costs, as well as a 25-million-euro loss in annual revenues after the termination of its M Missoni and Siviglia licenses.
As of Aug. 31, Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA’s total debt stood at 36.63 million euros. The company has more than 800 creditors, according to the filing.
A hearing on the confirmation of the protection measures and their duration has been scheduled for Nov. 24 at the Court of Rimini, according to the filing.
Gilmar had no additional comment on Tuesday.
The three-pronged restructuring plan submitted to the Rimini Court includes the controlled wind-down of Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA’s licensing business. The company plans to complete and ship orders already acquired for the fall 2026 season and halt the development of new licensed collections for 2027.
Founded in 1992, Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gerani Group SpA, which is owned by the namesake family, including Silvano Gerani chairman and co-chief executive officer and Paolo Gerani, vice chairman and co-CEO.
Gerani Group also controls Gilmar SpA, which owns the Iceberg label. Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA holds the design, manufacturing and distributing license to Iceberg. The brand had no comment on Tuesday.
No. 21, founded in 2010 by designer Alessandro Dell’Acqua, first signed a licensing agreement with Gilmar for the spring 2013 collection. Two years later, the fashion group acquired a 30 percent stake in the designer brand through Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA, while Dell’Acqua retained a 70 percent majority stake in the company.
Reached on Tuesday, the brand had no comment on Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA’s proceedings.
According to industry sources in Milan, private equity fund StyleCapital — the owner of MSGM, Forte_Forte and Autry, among other brands — is actively looking at No. 21 for a potential investment. The fund did not return WWD’s requests for comment on Tuesday.
Both No. 21 and Iceberg did not hold their usual fashion shows during Milan Fashion Week last September. The latter also skipped the fall 2026 edition last February. Its collections are designed by James Long.
In addition to licensing, Gilmar Divisione Industria SpA operates a third-party manufacturing business that it plans to shed off finding an interested industrial partner. This transaction is intended to preserve about 126 manufacturing job, or potentially up to 185 positions, should the buyer be interested in acquiring also logistics functions.
The third avenue for restructuring would come from the sale of Gilmar’s industrial complex in San Giovanni in Marignano on the outskirt of Rimini, Italy. The facility is described as the company’s principal asset and as free of mortgages.
Gilmar said in its filings that it intends to seek full satisfaction of creditors.
— With contributions from Sandra Salibian