Affordable luxury leathergoods brand Furla has inked a three-year licensing deal with Italian silk maker Ratti. Between them they’ll produce a range of branded Furla textile accessories for women and men.

Now that may not sound like the most exciting news. But think about it. Until now, Furla has been all about leather – women’s handbags and purses and, more recently, a move into shoes and men’s. But throughout an expansion process that saw it doubling sales in the last five years (to an expected €300m this year), the description “leathergoods brand” held true. Even its small jewellery offer has a leathergoods connection with items such as bracelets made of leather and fastened by bag-style metal hardware. You get the picture.

But with this first move into textiles, we’re seeing the start of a new expansion phase that we’ve seen before with other leather accessories brands (such as Coach, which also operates in the affordable luxury space).

Where will it end? Will Furla, like Coach, be creating RTW collections at any point? After all, CEO Eraldo Poletto has already said his aim is to be a €500m company in the near future. So, today scarves, tomorrow dresses? The prospect is an exciting one.

We’ll have to wait and see on that question. For now though, the company is focused on working with Marzotto-owned Ratti due to its global reputation in textiles and its strength in prints. The scarves and stoles in silk twill, chiffon, cashmere blends and viscose, come decorated with collages of Furla bags printed on them or quirky, whimsical cartoon-like drawings. The men’s accessories will feature geometrics, colour-blocks and camo prints.