Prince Charles has hired a fashion mogul to work for him.
Prince Charles
The 72-year-old royal has brought on board Federico Marchetti - who created online giant Yoox, which became the world's biggest e-commence fashion company after buying Net-a-Porter in 2015 - as director of A.G. Carrick, which sells items from cuddly corgi toys and cushions via Charles' Highgrove shops and websites, in order to boost the firm's sales.
A source told the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column: "Federico's guidance will be invaluable. His record speaks for itself and he will help increase revenue at the company and make it more professional."
A.G. Carrick, which is named after the pseudonym Charles uses to sign his paintings, had a turnover of £4.6 million last year.
Charles previously worked with the Yoox Net-a-Porter group on a high-end, sustainable fashion collection last year.
The prince co-founded the The Modern Artisan project last year with students from the UK and Italy and the online retailer, and was "enormously impressed" by their efforts to come up with pieces that aren’t wasteful.
He previously said: “I’ve been enormously impressed by the efforts, the ideas and the vision shown by the artisans from the UK and Italy. Hopefully they will take away a great deal of skill and understanding of sustainable approaches to design and manufacturing that they can apply to their own businesses or future careers. The key for me is to rediscover the importance that nature plays, understand where natural materials come from and how they can be used in exciting and innovative ways. After all, nature is the source of everything."
When it comes to his own clothes, Charles recently admitted he can’t repair and maintain as much as he used to because of his changing shape.
He said: “I’d rather have them maintained, even patched if necessary, than to abandon them.
“The difficulty is, as you get older, you tend to change shape, and it’s not so easy to fit into the clothes.”
Tagged in Prince Charles