10 Richest People In The Fashion Industry Today
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When we talk about fashion, we immediately think about high-end fashion brands like Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry and many more, but we also have to consider the most popular retailers, such as Inditex, H&M, Nike or Uniqlo. We are dealing with a 2.5 trillion fashion industry, and you have to wonder – how much are the people behind these giants worth?
Whether they are founders, designers, CEOs or heirs, the richest people in the fashion industry own most of the brands we crave for.
And even though 2020 has been a rough year for the entire fashion world, with all the lockdowns in place for months and stores closing almost everywhere in the world, the fortunes of the richest people in fashion actually went up a lot in these last couple of months.
The numbers you see in this list are according to Forbes and Bloomberg, as of January 2021. We’ll update it as time goes by.
Now let’s see who are the richest people in the fashion world in 2021!
List of top 10 richest people in the fashion industry in 2021
10. Heinrich Otto Deichmann – $10.5 billion
9. Anders Holch Povlsen – $11.9 billion
8. Stefan Persson – $20.2 billion
7. Leonardo Del Vecchio – $24.6 billion
6. Gerard & Alain Wertheimer – $24.6 billion (each)
5. Tadashi Yanai – $44.5 billion
4. François Pinault – $47.6 billion
3. Phil Knight – $52.9 billion
2. Amancio Ortega – $74.2 billion
1. Bernard Arnault – $150.9 billion
Detailed information on top 10 richest people in the fashion industry in 2021
10. Heinrich Otto Deichmann – $10.5 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Heinrich Otto Deichmann (born 30 November 1962) is a German entrepreneur. He leads the family business Heinrich Deichmann-Schuhe GmbH founded by his father Heinz-Horst Deichmann, who was a medical doctor and entrepreneur in Essen, Germany. The company goes back until 1913 when the ancestors of the Deichmann family opened a shoe store named Deichmann-Schuhe GmbH in Essen. Heinrich Deichmann is one of the richest Germans with an estimated Net Worth as of March 2015 with US$4.7 billion.
After finishing high school in 1982, Heinrich Otto studied business administration, historical sciences, philosophy and theology at the University of Cologne from 1984. As of 1989 to 1999 he started as a Managing Director in the family company and became Chairman of the Board when he took over in 1999 from his father, who died in October 2014. The company is now Europe's leading shoe retailer. It operates some 3,600 stores in 24 countries, including the Rack Room Shoes and Off Broadway chains in the U.S..
Heinrich Otto Deichmann is married and father of two children. He likes to go to museums and classical music concerts.
9. Anders Holch Povlsen – $11.9 billion
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| Photo: FINANS |
Anders Holch Povlsen (born 4 November 1972) is a Danish billionaire, CEO and sole owner of the international retail clothing chain Bestseller, which includes Vero Moda and Jack&Jones, a company founded by his parents. He is the largest shareholder in the British internet fashion retailer ASOS, and second-largest in German internet clothing retailer Zalando. He is also the largest individual private landowner in the UK.
In 2018, Povlsen was listed as the richest Dane according to Forbes.
In 2013, Povlsen bought a 10% stake in the German internet clothing retailer Zalando, becoming its third largest shareholder. Povlsen already had a 27% stake in ASOS.com, the largest UK internet-only fashion retailer.
In October 2019, Povlsen's net worth was estimated as US$8.0 billion, making him the wealthiest person in Scotland.
8. Stefan Persson – $20.2 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Carl Stefan Erling Persson ( born 4 October 1947) is a Swedish billionaire businessman. In March 2013, Forbes reported Persson's net worth as $28 billion making him the richest of Sweden's 12 billionaires and the 17th richest person in the world; he has since dropped to number 50. Persson was the chairman of fashion company H&M until May 2020, when he was succeeded by his son. He remains the company's largest shareholder, owning a 36% stake. The company was founded by his father Erling Persson in 1947.
Persson took over the company from his father in 1982 and served as its manager until 1998. Persson also owns a substantial stake in the Swedish technology company Hexagon AB. Through his privately held real estate company Ramsbury Invest, Persson owns a large number of properties in London, Paris and Stockholm.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Persson had a net worth of US$25.5 billion in May 2021, making him the 67th richest person in the world at the time.
7. Leonardo Del Vecchio – $24.6 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Ranking 71st on the Forbes global fortune list, Leonardo Del Vecchio is the second wealthiest man in Italy. He is the president and founder of the world’s leading company in the development, production marketing and distribution of glasses. The company is none other than Luxottica. They make their own glasses and are world leaders in the eye glasses industry. The self made successful business man, Leonardo Del Vecchio boasts a net worth of $11 billion.
Leonardo was born to a poor Milanese family in 1935. Leading a fatherless childhood, he was forced to live in an orphanage at the age of 7 under the care of nuns and at the age of 14, circumstances required him to work in order to support his impoverished family. His first job was in Milan working as a novice with a tool manufacturer. He joined evening classes studying industrial engineering at the age of 19, continuing working during the day all along.
With time Leonardo became fascinated and much passionate about glasses and frame and this drove him into moving to a small village in Venice known as Agordo, where one can find all the players of the eye glass industry offering a lot to learn about the trade from design to marketing.
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6. Gerard & Alain Wertheimer – $24.6 billion (each)
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Gérard Paul Philippe Wertheimer (born 17 April 1951) is a French billionaire businessman based in New York City and Geneva, who owns Chanel in partnership with his brother, Alain.
Wertheimer was born to a Jewish family, the son of Jacques Wertheimer and Eliane Fischer. His grandfather, Pierre, co-founded the Chanel with Coco Chanel. The company is run by Alain Wertheimer who has presided over the acquisition of several non-Chanel brands, including Eres Lingerie, Tanner Krolle saddles and leather goods, and Holland & Holland, a British gunsmith. Based in France, the Wertheimer brothers own French vineyards including Château Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux and Château Canon in Saint-Emilion, both of which have won rave reviews from oenophiles. Both brothers are enthusiastic equestrians who also inherited and operate an important thoroughbred horse racing stable they call La Presle Farm and/or Wertheimer farm for racing in the United States and in France as Wertheimer et Frère partnership.
Gérard's wife Valérie is active in child protection charities.
Alain Wertheimer (born 28 September 1948) is a French billionaire businessman, based in New York City. He owns a controlling interest in Chanel, with his brother Gérard.
Wertheimer is the co-owner and chairman of Chanel.
The privately held company is run by Alain who has presided over the acquisition of several non-Chanel brands, including Eres Lingerie and beachwear, Tanner Krolle saddles and leather goods, and Holland & Holland, a British gunmaker.
Based in France, the Wertheimer brothers own French vineyards including Château Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux, and Château Canon in Saint-Émilion, both of which have won rave reviews from oenophiles.
Both brothers are enthusiastic equestrians who also inherited and operate an important Thoroughbred horse racing stable they call La Presle Farm or Wertheimer farm for racing in the United States and is known as Wertheimer et Frère partnership in France.
5. Tadashi Yanai – $44.5 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Tadashi Yanai (柳井 正, Yanai Tadashi, born 7 February 1949) is a Japanese billionaire businessman, the founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo ("unique clothing"). As of April 2021, he was the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$42.0 billion & 34th wealthiest person in the World according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 1971, Yanai started in business by selling kitchenware and men's clothing at a JUSCO supermarket. After a year at JUSCO, he quit and joined his father’s roadside tailor shop. Yanai opened his first Uniqlo store in Hiroshima in 1984, and changed the name of his father’s company Ogori Shoji to Fast Retailing in 1991. He has stated: "I might look successful but I've made many mistakes. People take their failures too seriously. You have to be positive and believe you will find success next time."
In 2019 Yanai stepped down from the board of Softbank after 18 years as an independent director at the Japanese technology conglomerate.
4. François Pinault – $47.6 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment company Artémis.
Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in 1988, the company invested in specialized retail business and changed its name to PPR. By the end of 1999, PPR shifted towards luxury and fashion. In 2003, he passed on the management of his companies to his elder son François-Henri to follow his passion for contemporary art.
Pinault is a major contemporary art collector.
3. Phil Knight – $52.9 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938), is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of July 23, 2020, Knight was ranked by Forbes as the 24th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$50.7 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He ran track under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, with whom he would co-found Nike.
Knight has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to each of his alma maters, as well as Oregon Health & Science University. He has donated over $2 billion to the three institutions.
2. Amancio Ortega – $74.2 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Amancio Ortega Gaona (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈmanθjo oɾˈteɣa ɣaˈona]; born 28 March 1936) is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories shops. As of April 2021, Ortega had a net worth of $71 billion, making him the second-wealthiest person in Europe after Bernard Arnault, and the thirteen-wealthiest in the world. For a brief period of time in 2015, he was the richest man in the world, surpassing Bill Gates when his net worth peaked to $80 billion as Zara's parent company, Inditex's, stock peaked.
He is the head of the Ortega family and the second wealthiest retailer in the world.
Although Ortega enjoyed tremendous international success in an industry that fed on public images and publicity, he himself shunned the press and lived a strictly private life. On the day of Inditex’s public offering in 2001, Ortega reportedly worked a regular schedule and ate lunch in the company’s cafeteria—despite the fact that his net worth had risen by $6 billion. In 2008 Inditex emerged as the world’s largest fashion retailer, controlling some 4,000 stores in 70 countries. Ortega, meanwhile, had become one of the world’s top billionaires. In 2011 he stepped down as chairman of Inditex, though he remained involved with the company and retained his majority stake.
1. Bernard Arnault – $150.9 billion
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Bernard Arnault is a French business magnate and investor, currently the richest person in France and one of the richest in the world. He has been serving as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Company since 1989, and is also the main shareholder in the company. Born as the son of a businessman, Arnault was blessed with sharp business acumen from a young age. After completing high school he enrolled at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique and received a degree in engineering. Upon his graduation the young man joined his father’s civil engineering business as an engineer and also started planning for the company’s growth and expansion. He convinced his father to change the focus of their business to the booming real estate sector, and found significant success in the field. He eventually started acquiring other companies and became the owner of the prestigious Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché department store. When LVMH was created as a result of a merger between two companies, Arnault invested millions in the shares of the new company and became LVMH's first shareholder. Eventually he was selected chairman of the executive management board and in this position he led an extensive expansion plan and transformed the company into one of the largest luxury groups in the world.
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