- Category:
- Richest Business › Designers
- Net Worth:
- $300 Million
- Birthdate:
- Feb 16, 1978 (46 years old)
- Birthplace:
- Munich, West Germany
- Nationality:
- German
What is Philipp Plein's Net Worth?
Philipp Plein is a German fashion designer who has a net worth of $300 million. Perhaps not surprisingly, he is the founder of the fashion brand Philipp Plein. He started designing furniture while he was studying law and founded his company in 1998. Plein made bags and accessories from exotic leathers, and now his brand has dozens of stores worldwide that sell luxury clothing, accessories, shoes, and furniture. Celebrities and models such as Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Iggy Azalea, Rita Ora, and Naomi Campbell have been featured posing for Philipp Plein. Plein won the 2007 GQ Awards National Brand of the Year and the 2008 New Faces Award. He also won the 2014 International Fashion Brand Award. He won the 2016 GQ Germany Man of the Year fashion award. Today, the company makes luxury clothing, accessories, shoes, and even furniture.
Early Life
Plein was born on February 16, 1978, in Munich, West Germany. Both of his parents were doctors. They sent Plein to Schule Schloss Salem, an elite Swiss boarding School. During this time, Plein got heavily involved in the party scene and started regularly going to nightclubs and hanging out with models. However, because he was interested in entrepreneurship, he decided he needed to be serious about his studies.
After finishing high school, Plein began studying law. He attended the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. However, before completing his law studies, he decided he was more interested in beginning his career immediately. He got a loan from his grandmother and went into the business of producing luxury dog beds, selling each for almost $900.
Career
Plein founded the Philipp Plein International Group in Munich, Germany, in 1998 when he was 20 years old. He started selling his dog beds through this group and was quite successful doing so. By the time he was 23 years old, he had already made his first $1 million. He soon began making other types of furniture and home goods, and his business became more and more successful.
His decision to enter the world of fashion was somewhat of an accident. While at a trade show in Paris, the famous Maison et Objet, he realized he wanted to incorporate some clothing into the design of his trade show booth. He purchased a number of old army surplus coats and began to cover them with Swarovski crystals. He was already known for using crystals in his home designs, so it was a natural transition to incorporate them into fashion as well. He then was able to sell the jackets, which he had purchased for about $10 a piece, for almost $180 each.
By 2006, he began producing a line of accessories in addition to his, at the time, modest collection of clothing. He was the recipient of the National Brand of the Year Award presented by the GQ Awards in 2007. By 2008, he launched a Couture collection and also won the New Faces Award. With the opening of his first boutique in Monte Carlo, Plein was able to get his designs into the hands of more and more people. He soon afterward opened a showroom in Milan. This was followed by opening stores in Vienna, Moscow, St. Tropez, Cannes, and Kitzbuhel, all in 2010.
His first major fashion show was also staged in 2010. The show went against all convention in the fashion industry, as he hired a DJ and spent an outrageous amount of money on vodka in order to create a party atmosphere at the show. The show was a success, however, and led to many more fashion shows at Milan Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and New York Fashion Week. He also opened ten new boutiques in 2012 and a showroom in Hong Kong.
In 2012, he also signed a deal with AS Roma, the soccer team, and agreed to dress the players for the 2012-2013 season. He continued doing so for the four next consecutive seasons. In 2016, he launched the Sport collection and opened a number of boutiques specifically dedicated to that line of clothing. Over the next couple of years, Plein oversaw the opening of even more stores and boutiques all around the world. He was designated the Winner of the GQ Germany Man of the Year Award in Fashion in 2016. In 2018, he won the GQ British Man of the Year award.
He celebrated the 20th anniversary of his brand in 2019 and held a number of special fashion shows around the world to commemorate the occasion. One factor that has been instrumental in the success of Plein's brand over the years is the support he has received from many different celebrities. His designs have been worn by celebrities like Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Rita Ora, Naomi Campbell, Iggy Azalea, Grace Jones, Fergie, Chris Brown, Paris Hilton, and Floyd Mayweather, among others.
Personal Life
Plein was in a relationship with Fernanda Rigon. The two had a son together in 2013. Following their breakup, Rigon took the boy to her home country of Brazil, where Plein was not very involved in the early years of his first son's life. He reportedly was not able to see him for four years. However, since then, he has been able to see his son regularly and develop a relationship with him.
After his relationship with Rigon, he was connected to women like Justyna Gradek, an Instagram model, Andreea Susu, a model, and Osman, who appeared on the Oxygen channel's "Bad Girls Club" reality show.
Plein is now in a relationship with girlfriend Lucia Bartoli. The two have been dating since 2019 and announced they were expecting their first child together in 2021. Plein owns a townhouse in New York City and also has an estate in Cannes, France, and property in Bel Air. He is known for his extravagant lifestyle and has multiple luxury cars, including a Lamborghini, a Range Rover, a Bentley, and two Rolls Royce's.