Face of Flanders: Christian Cigrang
The latest role for the prominent Fleming is as the angel investor behind two Antwerp designers
Fashion industry has been waiting for the news
It’s the news the fashion industry has been waiting for since the beginning of the year, when CLdN Finance, a company owned by the Cigrang family, advertised for an acquisitions manager to handle takeovers in “the creative industries”.
Cigrang, at 44 is the eldest of four brothers. The family made its fortune in shipping, through its main vehicle Cobelfret, but Cigrang has for some years been a director of Blixa, the company behind AF Vandevorst. This week the company said it had a new financial partner without giving details, but detective work by financial daily De Tijd revealed that Cigrang has built up a 66% stake in Blixa through buying out a French minority shareholder and through a capital injection of €750,000.
AF Vandevorst is the label set up by designer pair An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx, who met in 1987 on the first day of fashion school and have been in business for more than 15 years. Cigrang has also pumped €1 million into Ben, the company behind designer Christian Wijnants, giving the family a holding of 50%.
No stranger to fashion
A decade ago, Cigrang helped set up ModeNatie, the building in Antwerp that now houses the Fashion Museum, the Flemish Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Fine Arts Academy. Wijnants graduated from the academy in 2000 and worked as assistant to Dries Van Noten before setting up his own label in 2003, where he has become particularly known for knitwear, winning the Woolmark Prize in 2012.
There are other deals in the pipeline, mainly abroad
Cigrang was not available for comment, De Tijd said, other than to let it be known this move into fashion is just the beginning. “There are other deals in the pipeline,” he said. “Mainly abroad.”
Photo: Kurt Desplenter / BELGA
