Blumarine parent Blufin to cease production; 20 employees to be placed on furlough

Rumours had been circulating in fashion circles for some time. Today brought confirmation, reported by the daily Il Resto del Carlino: Blufin, the joint-stock company behind the Blumarine brand, will cease production over the course of this year.

An extraordinary furlough scheme has already been planned for the 20 remaining employees, following voluntary redundancies on an individual basis that began in spring 2025. For the time being, both the company and the trade unions are maintaining the utmost confidentiality.

The Blufin group was officially founded in 1988, but its story began eleven years earlier, in 1977, when Anna Molinari and her husband, Gianpaolo Tarabini Castellani, founded Blumarine. The name evokes an open blue horizon: the sea, a symbol of endless journeys and possibilities.

The group was acquired in November 2019 by Eccellenze Italiane Holding (owner of the Liu Jo brand), since renamed Exelite, under its president Marco Marchi, with a plan to expand and assert itself on the global market, thereby sealing the union between the two fashion powerhouses from Carpi (MO).

Today, however, this development has been announced, following closely on the heels of the transfer of the business unit comprising Blufin’s stores and outlet stores to Marchi’s holding company, Exelite S.p.A. According to the Bologna-based daily, the transfer has been effective since January 1 and has resulted in all Blumarine store employees joining Exelite’s workforce.

The transaction was described by Marchi as a “strategic choice” aimed at “the development and protection of the Blumarine brand.”

All this in a market context described as “extremely complex, due to the concurrence of various factors.” For Marchi, “the sale is part of a broader logic of group synergy,” Il Resto del Carlino further reported.