Patricio Campillo Makes New York Fashion Week Debut, Championing Mexican Tradition

The Manhattan skyline is seen at sunset from Louis Armstrong Stadium during the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on September 2, 2024. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
The Manhattan skyline is seen at sunset from Louis Armstrong Stadium during the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on September 2, 2024. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
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Patricio Campillo Makes New York Fashion Week Debut, Championing Mexican Tradition

The Manhattan skyline is seen at sunset from Louis Armstrong Stadium during the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on September 2, 2024. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
The Manhattan skyline is seen at sunset from Louis Armstrong Stadium during the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on September 2, 2024. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

New York Fashion Week kicks off on Friday, with designers showcasing their spring/summer collections - both legacy brands like Tommy Hilfiger, and new kids on the block, such as Mexican designer Patricio Campillo.

Campillo will be making his NYFW debut on Saturday at the Public Hotel with a men's line that he says was inspired by Mexican volcanoes and how they can "modify a space."

"The brand's patterns are based on a suit that my grandfather gave my dad when my dad turned 18, and this suit was given to me a few years ago," said Campillo in an interview, according to Reuters.

Negotiating his career as a self-taught designer had been difficult without the benefit of another Mexican designer who had previously broken through, he said, adding that he hoped his success could help those coming up.

"Mexico is a place full of talent, full of people willing to work and I believe that nobody grows alone," said Campillo.

Campillo has already attracted plaudits and celebrity customers, and fashion and beauty writer Asia Milia Ware at New York Magazine's The Cut predicted he will walk away with even more attention following his NYFW appearance.

"The right eyes can land you into a retailer, which is a big goal for a lot of these designers," she said. "Or the right eyes from an editor can land you press, whether that's landing you on a cover, landing you a feature which can really just be dynamic and really life-changing for these designers. So, it's a big moment."
This season there are roughly 60 designers on the official calendar, plus many more off-calendar.
Ware said the most anticipated shows were Alaia and Off-White. "They normally show in Paris, but this year they're showing in New York, and they're like the two hottest tickets to get in the city this season," she said.
Bold reds and power shoulders would be central themes of collections, she predicted.



Zara Founder Ortega triples investment in energy assets

Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Zara Founder Ortega triples investment in energy assets

Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Zara founder Amancio Ortega's investment firm Pontegadea almost tripled its investments in renewable energy projects last year, building on its push to diversify the Spanish billionaire's fortune beyond his fashion empire and real estate.

According to 2023 financial statements filed with the Mercantile Register and seen by Reuters, the family office of the main owner of Zara mother company Inditex poured 693 million euros ($766.87 million) into wind, solar and other energy assets in Spain and France, up from 273 million in 2022.

The bet on renewable energy comes at a time when Inditex itself has set new targets to reduce its environmental impact by 2030 and respond to regulatory pressures.

Pontegadea said it will not provide additional information about its annual reports.

For years, Ortega's family firm has favoured real estate to invest the hefty returns of its core fashion business, buying logistics centres used by large global companies, such as Fedex and Amazon, luxury buildings in the United States and Europe, as well as offices and stores.

Ortega controls 59.29% of Inditex capital trough Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler Participaciones, and his family office received 2.2 billion euros worth of Inditex dividends in 2023.

Ortega's investment vehicle bought logistics centres and buildings in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 2023, continuing to build a property portfolio that exceeded 13 billion euros, according to the filings.

Pontegadea also invests in real estate assets worldwide through other firms and received at least 548 million euros from rents in 2023, 17% more than a year earlier.

It reported a list of minority stakes in 13 energy assets at the end of 2023, most of them in Spain after signing several deals with energy firm Repsol to buy stakes in wind and solar farms.

It also has minority holdings in three French wind energy parks in the Montagne d'Ardéche, Taillades Sud and Champagne Picarde areas.

In 2022, Pontegadea bought a 5% stake in Spanish gas grid operator Enagas and its hydrogen and renewables unit Enagas Renovable.