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Designer Marc Jacobs reportedly bagging Louis Vuitton

PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 02: Fashion Designer of Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs walks the runway at the end of the Louis Vuitton show as part of the Paris ...
Designer Marc Jacobs walks the runway at the end of the Louis Vuitton show at the Paris Fashion Week on October 2, 2013. Sources say he is leaving Louis Vuitton to focus on floating his own label.Petroff/Dufour / Getty Images Contributor

Marc Jacobs, the star American designer who turned Louis Vuitton from a staid luggage-maker into one of the world's biggest luxury brands, is leaving to focus on floating his own label, a source close to the French company's parent LVMH said on Wednesday. 

The move follows a series of leadership changes at Louis Vuitton, LVMH's biggest profit- and revenue-contributor, aimed at helping the brand regain some of its lost prestige after a decline in sales growth over the past year. 

"Marc Jacobs is leaving Vuitton and will focus on his own brand," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

LVMH and Marc Jacobs declined to comment, but the designer once said in an interview on the Louis Vuitton website, for which he wore a dark kilt and two ear studs: "Change is a great and horrible thing. People love it and hate it at the same time. Without change you just don't move." 

The source said Jacobs aims to float his business - which is estimated to generate sales of around 500 million euros - in an initial public offering. 

"There is an IPO project for the MJ brand," the source said. 

Some industry observers have suggested Jacobs has been encouraged by the success of Michael Kors, the U.S. brand whose shares and sales have been enjoying stellar growth since its IPO late last year. 

LVMH owns nearly all of Marc Jacobs International, the operating company, while the trademark ownership is split equally between LVMH, Jacobs and Jacobs' partner Robert Duffy. 

"Marc Jacobs' departure is not a big surprise," said analyst Antoine Belge at HSBC. "But if the IPO is confirmed, LVMH will lose one of its fastest growing brands." 

Jacobs' departure after 16 years with the company comes a month after LVMH founder and chief executive Bernard Arnault appointed his daughter Delphine as deputy head of Louis Vuitton and replaced longstanding chief Yves Carcelle with group veteran Michael Burke. 

Louis Vuitton, which built its name and profitability on its LV-embossed canvas bags, has been suffering from cooling demand in Asia and consumers' growing preference for no-logo products. Over the past year, the brand has put brakes on its expansion to preserve its exclusivity in response to fears it was becoming too ubiquitous, which contributed to its sales growth halving to around 5 percent. 

Last month, it hired accessories designer Darren Spaziani, formerly with Proenza Schouler, to strengthen its high-end offering of leather bags. 

Nicolas Ghesquiere, a darling of fashion editors, who left Balenciaga last year after having successfully revamped the Kering fashion brand, is seen as a front-runner to replace Jacobs. 

Jacobs, whose theatrical fashion shows contributed to heightening the brand's profile, introduced collaborations with artists such as Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami and Stephen Sprouse and recently rapper Kanye West to help make the brand more appealing. 

Jacobs, 50, presented his last collection for Louis Vuitton on Wednesday, an all-black swan song that incorporated elements from his past shows such as the train station he once created and the slow-turning white carousel carrying models, including Kate Moss, of two years ago. 

Today, the Marc Jacobs brand and particularly its more accessible line Marc by Marc Jacobs, are among the most profitable fashion subsidiaries within LVMH, enjoying strong demand in the United States and Japan. 

Marc Jacobs also launched a cosmetics line in August in the United States, with distribution handled by Sephora, LVMH's beauty products retail chain. 

At the age of 24, Jacobs was the youngest designer to receive the New Fashion Talent award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. After graduating from the Parsons New School of Design, he worked for Perry Ellis and created his own label in 1984 with Duffy.