AZ Academy: AZ Factory to become training centre for fashion school alumni

Fashion brand AZ Factory, founded by the late designer Alber Elbaz, is ceasing all commercial activities as a fashion brand and will instead continue as an academy for fashion alumni, in collaboration with Italian fashion school Accademia Costume & Moda (ACM). The brand reported the news exclusively to US industry news platform WWD on Wednesday.

AZ Factory started several years ago as a new brand for designer Alber Elbaz. After Elbaz passed away in 2021, the brand was changed to a format with several guest designers at its helm. Now the company is undergoing another change: it will stop functioning as a fashion brand and continue as an academy to support fashion talent called AZ Academy.

AZ Academy is born out of a partnership between Swiss multinational Richemont, the parent company of AZ Factory, and more specifically its Creative Academy, and Italian fashion school Accademia Costume & Moda.

With the new programme, entitled 'AZ Academy: Business for Designers' in full, the two partners want to encourage young designers across the globe who have graduated from fashion schools to launch their own brands.

Richemont Creative Academy and Accademia Costume & Moda team up, AZ Factory becomes AZ Academy

In addition to fashion alumni who graduated from international fashion schools, the programme is also aimed at independent designers that are already active in the industry. For instance, those that have some experience in the industry already but are at a turning point in their career.

Graduates and alumni from fashion programmes around the world will be invited to apply in May this year. In September, ten to twenty designers will be selected. AZ Academy's programme is due to start in January 2025.

Creators who are selected will pay 2,500 euros to participate in the programme.The remaining costs will be covered by AZ Factory parent company Richemont.

“At AZ Academy, we will bridge the gap between designers and investors, transforming creative visions into viable business plans that attract investors. There is no better way to honour Alber Elbaz's legacy,” Mauro Grimaldi, advisor to the CEO of Richemont's fashion division, told WWD.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit from Dutch into English by Veerle Versteeg.

This article was edited after publication and updated with the latest information shared with FashionUnited.