After Giorgio Armani Passed at 91, Who Owns the Fashion Empire?

When it comes to fashion, few names are as iconic and as instantly recognizable as Armani. The brand extends into an endless number of merchandise options, including luggage, jewelry, shoes, clothing, and more. And it was all dreamed into being by Giorgio Armani.

Giorgio passed away in September 2025 at the age of 91, leaving behind an enormous fashion empire that spans the globe. But who owns the company, now that he's gone? Here's what we know about the future of the Armani empire.

Unlike the Gucci empire, which is perhaps too rife with heirs, the Armani empire has a completely different set-up. For one: Giorgio never married, and he doesn't have any children as far as the public is aware. He does have a sister, Roseanna; two nieces, Silvana and Roberta; and a nephew, Andrea Camerana.

All of his nieces and nephew have positions high in the company. However, it does not seem that they will directly inherit.

In the years prior to his passing, Giorgio, as the company's sole majority stakeholder, wanted to make plans for the company's continuity in the eventuality of his death. He created a foundation in his name in 2016, according to Reuters, as questions of succession began to swirl and he needed to make plans for the company's future.

While he did not name a direct heir, it would seem that the foundation and those who run it will enact a series of bylaws that he wrote for the company in the event of his passing. These will guide the company through the next stage, Reuters reports. So, for now, it would seem that the stakeholders still own the company, and the foundation will fill in for Giorgio himself until his will is unsealed and the next phase revealed.

But there's one question that lingers about Giorgio's company: how exactly did he create it? He was, after all, a man of humble roots. Britannica writes that he was the son of a shipping manager.

He originally pursued a career as a doctor, but left school to pursue a dream career in fashion. He got his first major job in the industry in 1957, where he worked as a buyer for a Milan department store called La Rinascente. He became interested in fashion design, and trained in the atelier of Nino Cerruti.

Then in 1975, he and his friend and business partner Sergio Galeotti launched their own fashion brand, focused on a ready-to-wear line for both men and women. Which is what we know today as Armani, the brand.

Armani's vision and forward-thinking process allowed him to expand the brand into countless other fashion-adjacent areas, making Armani not just a name in clothing but a household name in various other merchandise genres.

It would seem that his forward-thinking extended to making plans for the company in the wake of his passing, and the world is waiting to see exactly who will hold the company when the dust settles.