Italian designer Roberto Cavalli to open hotel in Dubai

The announcement of a branded property comes as the fashion house branches into interior design in a deal with DAMAC Properties

The new Roberto Cavalli-designed hotel is expected to open in Dubai Marina in 2023. 

Roberto Cavalli, whose Cavalli Club Dubai opened in 2009 and is known for animal prints on leather and textiles, is the latest in a series of Italian fashion designers to launch hotels in the city.

Following the example of names such as Armani, Bulgari and Versace in opening Dubai outposts, the Florence-based label will work in partnership with Dubai property developer DAMAC's new hotel brand Aykon Hotels. The Roberto Cavalli Group will design the interiors for at leave five luxury hotels, with the first one being a 220-room tower in Dubai Marina. Building is expected to start next year with completion in 2023.

The move follows a separate collaboration with DAMAC on Cavalli-branded villas, and is part of the company's bid to expand the luxury and fashion brand into lifestyle categories and find new sources of revenue for the Florentine label, which was founded in the 1970s and became famous for its animal prints and sand-blasted jeans.

In recent years the label has sought to position itself back in the upscale group of global fashion brands. The announcement of the hotel project, which co-incided with the real estate exhibition Cityscape Dubai, was made by Roberto Cavalli's chief executive Gian Giacomo Ferraris, who added that the company was on track to break even this year and turn a net profit by 2019.

Some 90 percent of Roberto Cavalli was purchased by Italian private equity group Clessidra in 2015. "The company is making big improvements, but to remain competitive, it needs to invest," Ferraris said, adding Clessidra was fully supporting the company's growth.

"The important thing is to ensure that the growth happens in an organic manner and quickly."

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