Theft of Hermès samples: Milan designer given suspended prison sentence

On Thursday in Lyon, France, Milan designer Massimo Piombo was sentenced on appeal to a three-months suspended prison sentence and a fine of €15,000 for the 2014 theft of samples from the luxury group's textile archives, a court source has stated.

He was also sentenced to pay €5,000 in damages and interest to the prosecution. In the first instance, the designer had been condemned to pay a €10,000 fine.

Piombo was questioned by the police in February 2014 at Lyon's airport, and found with eight ancient fabric samples hidden in his socks and in a jacket pocket. He was just back from consulting the huge textile archives of a company that is part of the Hermès group, the Holding Textile Hermès, in Pierre-Bénite, close to Lyon, as luxury labels the world over regularly do.

Massimo Piombo's suspicious behaviour attracted the attention of the company's employees, who realised after the Italian designer's departure that some ancient samples had disappeared.

At the hearing on 25th February, before the 4th criminal chamber of the Lyon Court of Appeals, the designer pleaded ill-considered behaviour.

The Italian designer's jackets are available online for between €500 and €1,000.