New number 1 in top 200 wealthiest fashion profession​als

Bernard Arnault, CEO of fashion empire LVMH, has been toppled from his throne. In 2012 the man behind Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Céline still occupied the top slot as the richest man in the list of 200 wealthiest individuals in fashion, but he has

had to pass the baton to Inditex CEO Amancio Ortega.

The owner of Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear and Uterqüe enjoyed an increase in his fortune last year of almost 20 billion dollars. This brings his capital to a total of 57 billion dollars, with Orgeta on the fast track to becoming the world's richest man. Telecom magnate Carlos Slim and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are the only ones still in the lead, but their companies experienced a less successful 2012 than Ortega's Inditex.

Although Arnault's LVMH also did well the past year, the top executive dropped to the third spot this year after reconfiguration of his net capital left him with a 'mere' total of 29 billion dollars. The second position is occupied by the Brenninkmeijers, the Dutch family behind fashion chain C&A. Last year, they came in third, but this year they moved up a slot with a net capital of 34.6 billion dollars.

A total of 23 American fashion entrepreneurs are included in the top 200 list. Phil Knight of Nike tops the US list at number 8 with 14.4 billion dollars. Leonard Lauder of Estee Lauder and Ralph Lauren come in second and third at number 14 and 18 respectively. Jin Sook, together with her husband Do Won Chang, of Forever 21 is the highest ranking American female on the list at number 27 with 4.5 billion dollars.

A newcomer to the top 50 is jeans magnate Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and owner of the labels Viktor & Rolf and Maison Martin Margiela. He occupies the 36th slot with a net capital of 2.3 billion euros.

The highest ranking female on the list is also Italian and the same as last year: Miuccia Prada of Prada and Miu Miu, conquering 11th place with a net capital of 9.6 billion euros.

The Top 200 reveals that fashion has been growing faster than ever, despite the recession. The total value of the Fashion Top 200 List of wealthiest fashion executives now amounts to 420 billion euro, an increase of 11.6 percent compared with last year.

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The Fashion Top 200 Richlist by FashionUnited is a summary of richest people in fashion collected from various sources, varying from Forbes, Sunday Times, Quote magazine, Therichest.org and many more. Should you be on this list or do you know anyone who should be on this list? Please send the name to tip@fashionunited.com