Surviving 27 years in the competitive and fast-changing world of fashion is an accomplishment many brands only dream of. Raf Simons weathered the 2007-08 financial crisis, Brexit and the COVID pandemic with his eponymous label, but in November he announced that the SS23 line would be its last.

“Everything changes, both in our ideas and in the material world. Some changes happen gradually, but often the most important changes are not gradual but discontinuous or jerky.” So says Marxian theory (as articulated by sociologists Peter Knapp and Alan Spector) and, clearly, so says Raf Simons, who has timed the closure of his self-titled label perfectly.

Now the co-creative director of Prada, Simons has shut down his own label at just the right time to preserve his brand’s undeniable mark on the industry while also enabling him to expand his name and vision at a bigger house.

The timing couldn’t be better. In November, brand consultancy Interbrands rated Prada as one of the fastest growing and “best global brands 2022”, and valued it at USD$6.548 billion.

As an expert in fashion marketing, I believe that Simons’s decision reflects the reality of the industry. Many designers start out as owners of their own brands in order to expand their portfolio, but as their careers progress and they become…