Philipp Patrick Hannes Plein (born 16 February 1978) is a German

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

, entrepreneur, and the founder of the Philipp Plein International Group, which includes the Philipp Plein, Plein Sport, and Billionaire brands. He is the founder and CEO of the Plein Group and of Plein Holding headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, which specializes in the creation, manufacture and distribution of luxury goods. He is also the head designer of the brands Philipp Plein, Billionaire, Plein Sport and Plein Golf. Plein has an estimated net worth of Euro 800 million as of May 2023, according to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

magazine. Plein has been consistently listed as one of the 300 richest individuals in Switzerland in the annual reports published by

Bilanz ''Bilanz'' (, ''Balance'') is a biweekly business magazine published in Zürich, Switzerland, which has been in circulation since 1977. The magazine started its edition in Germany in 2014. History and profile ''Bilanz'' was established in 1977 ...

. In 1998, Plein registered the trademark Philipp Plein and founded his enterprise specializing in luxury goods.

Early life

Philipp Patrick Hannes Plein was born on 16 February 1978 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Bavaria Germany. His mother Hanne Plein–Dieth is a housewife, and his father Gunter Plein was a doctor. Gunter Plein had an alcohol addiction and left the family. Hanne Plein-Dieth filed for divorce when Philipp was three years old. After his parents divorced, his mother married another doctor, Klaus Michael-Dieth. His sister Gloria Epstein Plein was born 7 October 1987. In 1998, Plein graduated from college at boarding school

Schule Schloss Salem Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: ''School of Salem Castle'') is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It offers the German Abitur and the International Baccalaureate (IB). With se ...

in Germany and started to study law at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen Germany.

Career

Plein enrolled in law studies at the

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

before designing luxury dog beds, but did not complete his degree. He then shifted his career focus, eventually founding Philipp Plein International Group in

, Germany, in 1998. Plein is listed as one of the 300 richest individuals in Switzerland in 2022 by

in their annual report.

Brand

Plein's first collections were vintage military jackets which he embroidered with Swarovski skulls and sold at the

Maison et Objet Maison et Objet is a major French trade fair for interior design. Held bi-annually in Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, it has been described as "among the 3 most important European events for interior design ... a huge collection of innova ...

in Paris. 2008: the "Couture" collection was launched. 2009: the first store was opened in Monte Carlo, and the first commercial showroom was open in Milan. 2010: Plein boutiques opened in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Moscow, St. Tropez, Cannes, and Kitzbuhel in addition to the opening of a showroom in Düsseldorf. 2011: the Hong Kong showroom was inaugurated. 2012: ten boutiques were opened, in Marbella, Moscow Crocus, Baku, Milan, Dubai, St. Petersburg, Seoul, Macau, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Plein signed an agreement with the soccer team

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

to dress the team players starting with the 2012/13 season and continued to do so for four seasons. 2013: the opening of stores in Porto Cervo, Moscow, Paris, Miami, Casablanca, Courchevel, Kyiv, Hangzhou, Seoul, and New York. 2014: store openings include Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Ibiza, Bodrum, Doha, London, and the first Plein duty free at the Vienna airport. 2019: the 20th anniversary of the Philipp Plein brand, with multiple special fashion shows. 2020: show was presented at Social Music City in Milan in June 2019, inspired by Mad Max Fury Road. 2025: All U.S. rights to the Philipp Plein brand were acquired by Legends Law Group, PLLC through a court-ordered sale based on a default judgment for failure to pay legal fees to its U.S. counsel.

The Plein Group

The Plein Group is a Swiss-based luxury goods company. It owns the brands Philipp Plein, Billionaire, Plein Sport and Plein Golf. The brand Philipp Plein was founded in 1998 in Germany, Plein Sport in 2016. Billionaire was acquired in 2016. Plein Golf was launched in 2021.

Collaborations

Celebrities that have worked with Plein include

Mischa Barton Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's '' Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's '' Twelve Dreams'' at ...

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, singer, producer, and businesswoman. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at age three. She appeared as a regular on the soap opera ' ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

Iggy Azalea Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea ( ), is an Australian rapper. Born in Sydney, Azalea moved to the United States at the age of 16 in order to pursue a career in music. She earned public recognition ...

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

Theophilus London Theophilus Musa London (born February 23, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. He is best known for his guest appearance alongside Allan Kingdom and Paul McCartney on Kanye West's 2015 single " All Day", which peaked at num ...

, Fergie,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

, Jeremy Meeks,

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...

Mauro Icardi Mauro Emanuel Icardi Rivero (born 19 February 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for Turkish Süper Lig club Galatasaray, whom he captains. Icardi began his footballing career at the youth teams of Vecindario ...

, Alec Monopoly, and

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, I ...

. In 2022, he released a shoe collaboration with

called Philipp Plein X Snoop Dogg. Plein told

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides i ...

about the sneaker collaboration with Snoop Dogg: “There are a lot of brands who collaborate with people just for money. It's nice to have a relationship with people who really like what you’re doing. And the other way around.…That is what it’s all about."

Cryptocurrency

Philipp Plein became the first major fashion brand to accept

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

as payment in July 2021.

NFT collection and Metaverse

Plein made his entrance into the

Web3 Web3 (also known as Web 3.0) is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. This is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's concept of th ...

space in collaboration with Portion, a

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

auction house, as well as 3D visual artist, Antoni Tudisco. The Plein Group has purchased a plot of land in the

Decentraland ''Decentraland'' is a 3D virtual world browser-based platform. Users may buy virtual plots of land in the platform as NFTs via the MANA cryptocurrency, which uses the Ethereum blockchain.

metaverse, a 3D virtual reality platform. The Group bought the virtual estate for a price of US$1.4 million. Plein participated in Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week in 2022, showcasing a collection of

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

wearables created in partnership with Antoni Tudisco.

Real Estate

Plein has several homes in his real estate portfolio, including a $13 million dollar townhouse in New York City and a villa in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, France that Plein has called "La Jungle du Roi" which was designed in collaboration with the Milan studio AquiliAlberg. In 2024, Plein opened a namesake hotel in Milan called The Plein Hotel, which has 20 hotel rooms and four restaurants (one restaurant is vegan).

CHÂTEAU FALCONVIEW

Plein is building a $200 million home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. Plein is building Chateau Falcon View on the 3.6 acres of land he purchased in 2014. The land was originally owned by American business magnate,

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

and is expected to be completed in 2025.

Awards

* 2007 Winner of the GQ Awards National Brand of the Year * 2008 Winner of the

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: ...

Award in the category Fashion * 2014 Winner of the International Fashion Brand award at Esquire Middle East Man at his Best Fashion Awards * 2016 Winner of GQ Germany Man of the Year Award in Fashion *2018 Winner of the GQ British Man of the Year - Brand of the year at the TATE modern museum in London

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plein, Philipp Living people German fashion designers Businesspeople from Munich High fashion brands 1978 births People from Munich