When Heron Preston announced earlier this month that he had reacquired full ownership of his namesake brand from New Guards Group (NGG), it underscored a broader shift in the fashion industry’s relationship with hype. His decision to walk away from a platform built to industrialise streetwear cool marks a growing disillusionment with the mechanisms that once powered fashion’s fastest-growing category.
Preston isn’t alone. In recent months, Ambush founders Yoon Ahn and Verbal, along with Alanui’s Carlotta and Nicolò Oddi, have also regained control of their brands from NGG. Their departure is the latest in a string of exits from the Milan-based holding group, acquired by Farfetch in 2019, which built its reputation on incubating zeitgeist-defining labels like Off-White, Palm Angels and Ambush (all brands involved declined to comment).
