ROME: Giorgio Armani, the founder of the eponymous Italian fashion brand, said in an interview published on Sunday that he plans to retire within the next two or three years.

Armani is 90 years old and has so far been tight-lipped about the succession plans for the company he founded in 1975 and still firmly controls.

"I can still give myself two or three years as head of the company. Not more, it would be negative," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Armani said he has restless nights in which he dreams of a future in which "I no longer have to be the one who says 'Yes' or 'No'."

He added he has received "slightly more insistent" approaches from potential outside investors in his company, "but for the moment I do not see any openings".

With no children to pass it on to, there has been speculation about the long-term future of Armani's empire and whether, in an industry dominated by luxury conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering, it will be able to maintain the independence he treasures.

In the interview with Corriere della Sera, Armani said he had "built a kind of structure, a project, a protocol" to govern his succession, without elaborating.

Last year, Reuters reported on a document held by a notary in Milan which sets out the future governing principles for those who will inherit the group, and on another that details issues including protecting jobs at the firm.

Armani's heirs are expected to include his sister, three other family members working in the company, long-term collaborator and partner Pantaleo Dell'Orco and a charitable foundation. (Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Hugh Lawson)