LONGARONE, Italy— The new joint venture between LVMH and Marcolin Group has a new name, Thelios. Yesterday, Marcolin Group announced that Giovanni Zoppas has been nominated to be the new CEO of the joint venture, which was originally announced in January 2017.

The first collection from Thelios, the LVMH-Marcolin joint venture, will be Celine, which will be shipped starting in January 2018. There is a new facility here, in Longarone, which will be the manufacturing center for Thelios.

In an interview at Silmo earlier this month, prior to the official announcement yesterday of his new role and the new JV’s name, Zoppas told VM, “There is one common background between LVMH Group and Marcolin and that is the particular focus on quality. We will bring quality in design, in manufacturing, in distributing, in selectiveness and also in the processes. What we will do is going to be based on ‘savoir faire,’ on human capabilities, to do things that are separate from ‘standards.’ It will be a unique approach. It’s a 360-degree process when everything is consistent.”

He added, “The joint venture will be designed and produced in a new facility, in Longarone, a facility which will be separate from Marcolin. This is not a typical licensor/licensee relationship but a true joint venture, one done in a way where we can respect the different businesses.”

Marcolin also announced yesterday that Zoppas would be taking on a new executive chairman role at the Marcolin Group. Massimo Renon, most recently commercial director of the group, would be assuming the Marcolin Group CEO role, effective yesterday, as VMail reported.