Adolfo Domínguez names new creative director

Spanish designer business Adolfo Domínguez has named Tiziana Domínguez González as creative director. The appointment was approved unanimously by the group’s board of directors, and will see Domínguez join the management team in the newly created role. She will report directly to CEO Adriana Domínguez.

The designer is formally taking up the role at the luxury business after spending a year and a half reorganising all creative teams within Adolfo Domínguez with the aim of unifying its brands. This process has involved the implementation of a “new design system” where teams collaborate to create women’s, men’s and accessories collections under a single concept, the company announced in a statement.

With a fashion degree from Parsons School of Design in New York and a BA from Middlebury College, Tiziana Dominguez has forged her career by overseeing various design projects at Adolfo Domínguez, where she has served as creative director of the U line since 2014. As the creative lead of the whole group, she will assume responsibility for all creative efforts including design, merchandising and stores. Her remit will extend across all divisions including menswear, womenswear and accessories.

Last year, she led an initiative to manufacture two limited-edition collections in small artisan studios in Ourense, Spain, a location that is highly regarded as part of Adolfo Domínguez’s DNA. The historic town centre also became the home of the brand’s Autumn Winter 2019 runway show last month.

Her work has been viewed “very positively” by the board of directors, the company said in the press release. Her first collection, titled ‘Galicia’ has resulted in “a strong boost to traditional sales as well as a return to our origins” in the nine months after its launch.

Adolfo Domínguez has also strengthened its subsidiary in Mexico with two key appointments. Jorge Rivero, formerly at Pronovias and Textil Lonia, has become general manager in Mexico; while Monika Klein, formerly at Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, is the new commercial manager of the firm in the country. The two hires reflect the importance of the Mexican subsidiary, which has become the biggest arm of the group with 127 stores and a 14.6% increase in like-for-like sales in the first half of the current year.

Founded in Trives, Ourense in 1950, Adolfo Domínguez is a public company with family roots. After opening the first store in Ourense in 1976, the brand rose to prominence in the 80s with fashion shows in Paris and Madrid, and momentum continued into the 90s when it expanded across the world to have a presence in three continents. Puig is the second largest shareholder in the business after the brand’s founder, holding a 14.8% stake.

In May last year, Adriana Domínguez was promoted to the role of chief executive officer to oversee the restructuring of the business. Since then, Adolfo Domínguez has closed more than a hundred stores and cut about 115 of its 1,325 jobs. The measures have borne fruit, with the company managing to stem a flow of losses that had been mounting since 2012. In the first half of the year, losses narrowed by 36% to 1.8 million euros, while sales grew 0.9% to 52.5 million euros.

Today, the Spanish company retains its family character whilst driving its international ambitions. With 386 stores in 22 countries, international locations now account for 52% of its global store estate. The business continues to be led by Adolfo Domínguez as its chairman, while his three daughters are injecting a breath of fresh air in their own ways. Whilst Valeria Domínguez sits on the board as a proprietary director, Adriana Domínguez has been leading the company’s management team for the past three years. Meanwhile, the latest appointment puts Tiziana Domínguez in charge of the creative heritage of the family business.

Adolfo Domínguez names new creative director

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