Pierre Cardin to sell his fashion house for 1 billion EUR

Pierre Cardin is set to sell his eponymous business - and hopes to achieve up to €1 billion for it.

The 88-year-old designer wishes that the business should continue long after he dies and feels that selling now, when the acquisition market is at its most optimistic in a decade thanks to LVMH's purchase of Bulgari, is his best opportunity to ensure that, according to Vogue.com.

Given that Cardin is a private company that "reports limited financial information," it makes it even trickier to value the actual worth of the company. And last but not least, if someone does wind up forking over the £1 billion, "Mr Cardin told the WSJ that a condition of any sale would be that he remained as creative director," mediabistro.com reports.

A native of Venice, Mr. Cardin moved to Paris and designed for Christian Dior before launching his own couture house in 1950. In the 1960s, when fashion was shedding the heavy skirts and dresses of the post-war years, Mr. Cardin made a futuristic statement with linear dresses and pants in stiff wool and plastic.

Like other fashion companies such as Dior and Gucci, he expanded his empire with licensed products removed from fashion. But he went much farther, starting from a first license for porcelain crockery in 1968. There are now Cardin toilets, strollers and heating units, FashionUnited.co.uk informs.