Designer Jil Sander is leaving her namesake brand for the third time for personal reasons, the house said Thursday. Her last collection was for spring-summer 2014. The fall-winter 2014 collection will be designed by the brand’s in-house team.
Sander returned to the house at the end of February 2012 after an eight-year absence, marking her third comeback with the label. Sander, who succeeded Raf Simons, the brand’s creative director since 2005, founded her namesake house in Hamburg, Germany, in 1968. She sold 75 percent of her company to Prada Group in 1999, and made a highly publicized exit a year later. She returned in May 2003 but left again shortly afterward.
The brand changed hands two more times during Simons’ tenure. Change Capital Parnters acquired the brand from Prada in February 2006 and sold it to Japan’s Onward Holdings two years later.
Jil Sander chief exectuive Alessandro Cremonesi said: "On behalf of the group I want to thank Jil Sander for her remarkable contribution to the brand over this period. Her outstanding design and creative leadership have been crucial in reinforcing the brand and positioning it to foster further prosperous growth”.