Group

OTB Group

4 brands · founded 2002 · Italy

OTB Group is an Italian multinational holding company for luxury fashion, founded in 2002 by the entrepreneur Renzo Rosso [3]. Its name is an acronym for "Only The Brave", and it is headquartered in Breganze, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. The group operates as the parent of Diesel and a portfolio of acquired fashion houses, and it remains privately held as an S.p.A. controlled by its founder [3].

For a beauty encyclopedia, OTB matters chiefly as an owner rather than a manufacturer. The fashion houses it controls — among them Maison Margiela, Viktor&Rolf and Diesel — anchor some of the wider fragrance market's better-known lines, but those perfumes are produced under license by third parties rather than by OTB itself. The group's role in beauty is therefore structural: it owns the brand names, while separate licensees develop and sell the scents that carry them.

History & milestones

The group traces its origins to Diesel, the denim and casualwear label founded in 1978. According to the company's own history, Rosso took full control of Diesel in 1985 and later built a holding structure around it [2]. In 2002 that structure was formalised as OTB, conceived as a parent company for Diesel and for the acquisitions that would follow [2][3].

Over the next two decades OTB expanded from a single-brand business into a multi-house group. It added a manufacturing and distribution arm, moved into avant-garde and heritage fashion labels, and extended into childrenswear, assembling the collection of houses it holds today.

Portfolio & brands

OTB's portfolio centres on Diesel and a set of designer fashion houses: Maison Margiela, Marni, Jil Sander and Viktor&Rolf, alongside the Los Angeles label Amiri [3]. The group also owns Staff International, a manufacturing and distribution platform, and Brave Kid, which handles childrenswear.

Several of these houses are the source of fragrances sold across the beauty market, though the perfumes are made by outside licensees rather than by OTB. Maison Margiela's "Replica" line and Viktor&Rolf scents such as Flowerbomb, Spicebomb and Bonbon are produced under license by L'Oréal Luxe, and Diesel fragrances have likewise been licensed out [6]. This licensing model — common among fashion groups — means the beauty products bearing OTB brand names are developed and distributed by fragrance specialists under agreement with the group.

Acquisitions & strategy

OTB's growth has come largely through acquisition and majority investment. In 2000 the group acquired Staff International, giving it an in-house manufacturing and distribution platform [2]. In 2002, the year the holding was formalised, Rosso became majority shareholder of Maison Margiela [2].

The pace of dealmaking continued through the 2000s and 2010s. OTB acquired a majority stake in the Dutch design house Viktor&Rolf in 2008 [2], and founded the childrenswear company Brave Kid in 2011. It invested in the Italian label Marni in 2013 and obtained full control of the house in 2015 [2]. In 2019 the group took a minority stake in Amiri, the Los Angeles brand founded by designer Mike Amiri [5]. Two years later, in 2021, OTB completed its acquisition of the German house Jil Sander [2].

The group has also worked to secure its existing partnerships. OTB and Viktor&Rolf extended their strategic alliance for a further five years, according to trade reporting on the arrangement [7].

Ownership

OTB is a privately held company, structured as an Italian S.p.A. and controlled by its founder and president, Renzo Rosso [3]. It is not listed on a public stock exchange. Rosso has retained control of the group since its formation, and the beauty and fragrance lines associated with its houses are operated by external licensees rather than owned outright by the group.

Brands in the group