MILAN — Fashion talent management network Elite World Group wants to dress you — and much more.
After introducing a partnership with Italian sportswear and activewear brand Freddy earlier this year, characterized as a licensing agreement to develop athleisure pieces, the company is further pressing on the licensing pedal, unveiling plans for forays into fragrances, beauty, eyewear and tech gadgets.
In an interview with WWD, Elite World Group’s chief executive officer Paolo Barbieri detailed the thinking behind the strategy. He recalled that the company is not new to the licensing game as it had some successful cases in the past — for example, Rowenta for hair tools — but these were halted during Julia Haart’s tenure of the company, between 2019 and 2022.
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“But I’ve always believed that licenses make sense for a company like ours, mainly for two reasons,” said Barbieri. “First, because they strengthen the brand: you can ink these deals because you have a strong branding, but at the same time, when you have these partnerships you have to keep investing in your brand. Then, of course, they generate bottom line.…So it’s a win-win scenario.”
The goal is to further boost the group’s sales, which totaled $235 million in 2024. Last year, the company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $13.4 million, up 12 percent versus 2023. Without disclosing specific projections, Barbieri forecast moderate growth for 2025.
Barbieri underscored how licensing operations can also “create a sense of belonging in our employees and talents.…Handing them something with the name of their agency builds image and brand equity,” said the CEO. “The most important thing was to ensure the quality, so that our employees and our talents feel proud of using them, and to be coherent with what we do.”
To this end, Flavio Facincani joined the company more than a year ago in the role of Elite World Group’s director of licensing and partnerships to spearhead the strategy, which he set up rapidly and across different categories.
After the first joint effort with Freddy — a capsule made up of women’s and men’s ready-to-wear aimed at an active lifestyle — launched in April on the brand’s e-commerce, the apparel line’s sophomore collection has just hit the shelves of Freddy’s wholesale distribution.
“Every time we approached a collaboration with a partner, among the first requirements we demanded was distribution, which obviously we don’t have,” said Barbieri. “Each of them has its distribution channel and can include the Elite product in there, from their own stores and e-commerce, but also across their wholesale channel.”
Starting in mid-November, the company’s inaugural eyewear range will hit opticians’ stores, such as GreenVision, with 400 doors in Italy. The line was developed with Modena, Italy-based specialist Fluxus.
The Made-in-Italy styles will include sunglasses and optical frames priced between 129 euros and 149 euros, in a mix of classic shapes and more fashion-forward silhouettes.
Elite World Group’s first fragrances will also hit the market starting in mid-November. The result of a licensing deal with Italian perfume and cosmetics manufacturer Italart Srl, the collection dubbed “Elite the Mix” was first presented at the TFWA World Conference in Cannes earlier this month.
Developed in only nine months, the range comprises four scents created by French noses and aimed at targeting Gen Z customers with their catchy names nodding to cocktails and sweet-spot price positioning. Named “CosmoPride,” “Allinclusive,” “Glowtonic” and “Noirspritz,” the fragrances are available in two sizes, retailing at 19.50 euros and 38 euros for the 30-ml. and 100-ml. format, respectively.
In the beauty arena, the company has also signed a deal for dermocosmetics — such as makeup removers, skin cleaners, antiaging creams, serums and patches — which Barbieri see as “very coherent with what we do, if you think about our models and how their skin is stressed by the constant makeup [application].”
Such products, along with skin care devices, were developed with Hong Kong-based company Asia Kingston. The inaugural line will be presented at the Beautyworld Middle East trade show running Oct. 27 to 29 in Dubai, before hitting the market starting from the end of the year. Incidentally, an additionally license for makeup is also in the pipeline, with Barbieri eyeing the product launch in June 2026.
As for Elite World Group’s partnership with Asia Kingston, this also extends to the development of tech gadgets, encompassing the likes of earphones, headphones, portable speakers, smartwatches and power banks. Distribution in this case will focus mainly on travel retail that Barbieri sees more fitting to this product category, which is expected to launch in stores by the end of the year.
Tech gadgets will come with the Elite Model Look branding, but the CEO sees potential in the future development of items under the company’s other brands, too. Elite World Group controls the Elite network in Europe, The Society Management in the U.S., as well as Women Management and the Supreme agency globally.
“For example, Society is very strong in the U.S. and its branding and logo would fit greatly for this kind of operations,” said Barbieri.
Barbieri also sees margin of growth in further categories, especially related to the world of hospitality. “We have more than 5,000 models traveling around the world many times a year, so that field would also be coherent with what our talents use,” he said. “But such an expansion will depend on the success of these first launches. So our focus now is to support and develop these licenses,” added the CEO, highlighting the importance of having these deals enhanced by the company’s network.
To this end, the firm leveraged its own talents and art departments for the campaigns and aims to further boost the appeal of the products by encouraging their use in models’ off-duty moments.
Elite World Group can count on a wide network of talents across its divisions, which maintain a separate identity. “But as a group our presence on the market is impressive,” said Barbieri, mentioning that an average of 40 percent of models who walked the top 25 runways during the last fashion marathon hailed from Elite World Group. “We went from 32 percent in 2022 [when Barbieri took over the CEO role] to 40 percent now,” said the executive.
Vittoria Ceretti, Irina Shayk, Mariacarla Boscono, Kendall Jenner, Naomi Campbell, Adriana Lima, Pamela Anderson, Adut Akech, Mona Tougaard, Pleun Keijsers, Loli Bahia, Cameron Dallas, Damson Idris and Jaden Smith are among the talents represented by the agencies of the group. The number of new faces is growing as well, with 22 new talents presented under the Elite agency during Paris Fashion Week alone.
“There’s always a demand for new faces from companies,” said Barbieri, who also noticed differences between Europe and the U.S. While in the former there’s a return to classic beauty standards, in the latter models’ personalities and own background stories drive preferences. “To have a universal kind of talent that works both for Europe and the U.S. is more and more rare, there’s a sort of split. So to have a strong presence across all markets is essential,” said Barbieri.
The CEO is particularly enthused about the “very low turnover” among agents and models at the company. “I come from other industries, and for example the asset in private banking are bankers themselves, so in this case they are our agents and models,” he said, underscoring the hard, behind-the-scenes work of the group’s agencies in scouting and nurturing talents.
During his career, Barbieri held executive roles at Banca Akros, Pioneer Alternative Investments, MondoBiotech AG and Pacific Capital. He has also served as a director of several fashion companies, including La Perla and luxury footwear brand Giuseppe Zanotti.
He has developed strong relations with the Elite World Group over the years, first joining in 2013. As reported, when Haart was dismissed in 2022, he once again took on the CEO role, which he had passed on to Haart in 2019. Haart rose to the CEO position from that of chief creative officer.
