BoF - The Business of Fashion » Milan

CEO Talk | Matteo Marzotto, Chairman, Vionnet

Imran Amed, Editor — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:30:14 +0000

Matteo Marzotto in his Milan offices | Source: The Business of Fashion

MILAN, Italy — When Matteo Marzotto, stylish scion of the Italian fashion dynasty announced in February 2009 that he was acquiring the storied House of Vionnet, owned at the time by Arnaud de Lummen who had already had a go at reviving the sleeping beauty himself, the response from the fashion industry was simultaneously one of intrigue and distaste. On the one hand, a swarm of journalists and buyers packed into Marzotto’s Milan apartment for the initial press conference. On the other, many fashion observers could not fathom how a legendary French fashion house could be moved to Milan, run by an Italian, and designed by Rodolfo Paglialunga, an Italian designer who had worked for most of his career in Italy.

Fast forward two years and it seems Mr. Marzotto has taken the first small but successful steps in rebuilding the Vionnet business, if not in quite the same aesthetic or spirit as that of its namesake designer, then undoubtedly far more successful in generating revenues and editorial coverage than the previous attempt to bring Vionnet back to life. Indeed, Vionnet’s gowns and party dresses now regularly show up on red carpets on both sides of the Atlantic where starlets such as Carey Mulligan, Marion Cotillard and Rachel McAdams have taken to the Vionnet cause, giving the brand a new lease on life. The brand chalked up over 5m euros in sales in its first year, from a standing start.

After years of hands-on experience turning around the Valentino business (and then selling it for a tidy sum), Mr. Marzotto is banking on turning Vionnet into his next fashion success story, leveraging his extensive global fashion network, his undeniable charm, and the fashion DNA that runs in his family. For many Italian fashion insiders, this is not a man to bet against.

With the imposing (and inspirational) photo of his grandfather looking over his shoulder, Marzotto spoke to BoF about the early results of his work on the Vionnet brand and his plans for its future.

BoF: Let’s talk about the House of Vionnet. With your experience and connections in the Italian fashion industry you had many other opportunities post-Valentino, but instead you decided to attempt to relaunch this brand. Why?

Matteo Marzotto: The word is passion. Even before my time at Valentino I thought there was the capacity and potential to grow another brand, or try to relaunch a brand, something with a beautiful history, but no recent past. Then one day I went to this consultant to speak about a completely different matter and in front of him there was a brochure on Vionnet. I asked about the brochure, and he said ‘it’s a small thing, it’s not for you.’

It was the final business plan for Vionnet.

BoF: What does the Marzotto organisation bring to the table to help with your strategy for Vionnet?

MM: Ten years ago, Marzotto was managing licenses. It was your typical Italian industrial organisation for fashion, the kind of organisation that made Italian fashion big at the end of the 1970s.

I grew up in that organisation, and for a long time I thought it would be interesting in terms of value creation to work directly on a brand. Then [the Valentino opportunity] came and we worked like horses for five years to build it up. In five years we doubled the business from 128m euros in sales and a net loss of 40m euros in 2002, to 260m euros in sales and a net profit of 27m in 2007.

Our management style was very much from the culture of Northern Italy, in Veneto, checking the financials twice, sometimes three times a day, while also learning how to work and survive with image issues, style issues and drama queens. In those 5 years I dreamed of taking something small and making it big by applying the principles of a large organisation to a small one.

BoF: So you will use the same approach at Vionnet as you did at Valentino?

Not completely. In my opinion there is a risk in fashion of constantly re-using the same people coming from the same backgrounds. People are always growing up with the same procedures in fashion, then changing companies and exporting those old ways of doing things to other companies. For this reason, it’s nice to have new blood as well and do new things. In a big company you cannot do certain things, you have to plan it and protect it.

BoF: What will be different with Vionnet then?

MM: We have to show a little bit more of our personality, the human side of fashion. Overall, there is too much focus on how people look; a kind of gaudy feeling. I like the idea of being very small and trying to relaunch a very beautiful brand through Facebook, Twitter, the web, whatever. I’d like to show a small part of our day to day life.

BoF: What do you mean exactly?

MM: We did a little test in Paris which I liked very much. It was quite traditional, a little bit of backstage plus a little bit of testimonials during the presentation of the collection. From now on we would like to fix this, to catch some of the daily life of the company.

BoF: At the most recent IHT conference, you said that it was ‘a nightmare for an Italian to relaunch a historic French brand.’ How do you respect the history of a French brand even though it’s based in Italy?

MM: Unfortunately when I said that, it was because French people were reacting to the acquisition very badly. French customers, especially in Paris, felt betrayed. The Vionnet brand had been there for 70 years.

Overall, my respect towards the brand comes from its history, and from our side there is the highest respect. Madame Vionnet foresaw the future, like a visionary.

She was so ahead, and made the body free by throwing away the bustier. The organisation of the company was genius, it was probably 40 years ahead. She was the very first to make a [branded] perfume, and use advertising and marketing for publicity.

She was a genius in everything; my admiration for her is so deep. There is no reason whatsoever for me to try and make it a fast fashion company, because I come from a family business, because I grew up with a respect towards history.

I cannot explain it; I can only speak through the quality of product.

BoF: What are your plans for the future?

MM: I am working with the same energy, concentration and focus as I was at Valentino. What I want to leave you with is the idea that there are people very much in love with fashion and this project. There are some brands which have no stamina, feeling or connection, but Vionnet is different.

Vionnet presents its Autumn/Winter 2011 collection during Paris Fashion Week on Friday

CEO Talk is an ongoing series of discussions with fashion entrepreneurs and business leaders. Previous interviews are listed below:

The Fashion Trail | In Italy, Digital Strategies are only Screen Deep

Imran Amed, Editor — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:18:52 +0000

Hogan A/W 2011 Presentation | Source: The Business of Fashion

MILAN, Italy — In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, luxury fashion brands found themselves scrambling to develop strategies for the so-called “new normal.” Logos and conspicuous consumption were out, it was said. Customers were now looking for understated luxury, value and discretion.

And so, in uncanny lock-step syncopation, brands from Louis Vuitton to Gucci to Dolce & Gabbana began a strategic march to the same heritage tune, showcasing their age-old manufacturing techniques in carefully constructed advertising campaigns designed to appeal to notions of timelessness and quality and designing entire collections dedicated to their “iconic heritage.”

But, if the menswear collections just concluded in Milan are any indication, for many fashion brands, the focus on heritage was just another passing trend, in one season and gone the next. The industry has now embraced digital, “the next big thing,” in the same superficial and fleeting way. But generally speaking, if you scratch the surface, their real understanding of digital opportunities and risks is only screen deep.

Yes, Italian fashion has caught the digital bug that has swept across much of the fashion industry over the past 24 months. There are digital screens everywhere you look — alongside the runways at fashions shows, inside the store windows, and even within glass boxes with artfully projected holographic images, as at the A/W 2011 Hogan presentation.

Several brands successfully incorporated digital media into the fabric of their fashion shows. At the beginning of the Ermenegildo Zegna presentation for A/W 2011, we were welcomed to the brand’s “digital world,” which included the use of green screen technology to project the models’ images onto iconic Chinese backdrops like the Great Wall of China, just before the real models came out onto the runway. (In case we didn’t grasp that the images were just projections, the show concluded with a real green screen to hammer home the point that this was all brought to us by the magic of technology.)

Other brands began their fashion shows with film presentations, sometimes with no apparent link to the collections that followed. When quizzed on the puzzling fit between the fun, light-hearted film by Walter Pfeiffer — which drew both catcalls and groans from the gathered fashion masses — and the serious, rugged collection of delectable knitwear conceived by creative director Claire Waight-Keller that followed, Pringle could only cryptically say that it wanted to give artists the freedom to “express their views on Pringle collections and the brand…clarifying our positioning through a multitude of individual viewpoints.”

Fine, but why try to show the two things together if the mood and creative direction of the film and the show were so different? Both the film and the collection were enjoyable enough, but there was no need to force them together just to be on digital trend if they had so little in common. Rather than clarify the brand’s positioning, it created a dissonant experience and left more than a few editors scratching their heads as they walked out of the venue into the crisp Milan evening.

The most successful digital presentations during the Italian menswear season took place at Pitti Uomo, where Gareth Pugh’s tour de force film, projected like a digital fashion fresco on the ceiling of the 800 year old Orsanmichele church, was a powerful combination of Italian cultural history and fashion’s digital future. Who’s On Next winner Andrea Incontri, also showing at Pitti, began his fashion show with a compelling narrative film which artfully showcased his sumptuous accessories, while not coming off as crassly commercial, integrating thematically and logically with the fashion show that followed. The filmmaker and designer had clearly worked together to create one seamless creative presentation, with a consistent message.

While at Pitti, I also had the pleasure of meeting several local Italian bloggers, who reported that many Italian brands — including those that are supposedly amongst the most digitally sophisticated — don’t know how to manage relationships with bloggers. “They’re only interested in inviting the famous foreign bloggers to their shows because it gets them publicity,” I was told by one local blogger. “But still, they send us their press releases and images afterwards, and then wonder why we don’t post them on our blogs,” he continued.

Notably, it was often the brands who weren’t caught up in the digital hysteria, who made the most impact. Even though I spent a scant 10 minutes scanning the goods on offer at Marni’s small but immaculately conceived A/W 2011 presentation, the excellent product has stuck in my head, because I got to touch it and feel it. Umit Benan’s presentation was another breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale Milan Fashion Week. Though the clothes themselves may not have been exceptionally different from what was on offer elsewhere, fused together with the unique narrative challenging the homogeneity of the investment banker set, the collection spoke to me in ways that many others simply did not.

Lest I be too negative, Italian executives I spoke to insisted that they understood that digital was an important consideration for their businesses going forward. Many of them are genuinely curious about how to approach digital and some brands like Dolce & Gabbana — boasting a team of 23 people working on digital projects alone — have invested heavily in digital talent.

But all of this is of little use if brands are simply embracing digital communication as a superficial trend and a way of obscuring a lack of focus on the product and their seemingly limited understanding of how to strategically integrate digital initiatives into a fashion business.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

The Fashion Trail | A Jil Sander Sorbet and Burberry’s Acoustic Treats

Imran Amed, Editor — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:50:04 +0000

Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2010 | Source: Pitti Immagine

MILAN, Italy — This season, BoF dipped its toes a bit deeper into the waters of the Italian men’s fashion scene, starting with Pitti Uomo and moving on to fashion week in Milan. And, as the fashion circus moves on to Paris tomorrow, my fashion fantasies are still lingering on the outstanding presentation by Raf Simons for Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2011 at the stunning Villa Gamberaia just outside Florence. It might not have been particularly wearable, but it certainly left a lasting impression.

Editors and bloggers were out in full force to see Mr. Simons’ pops of colour, which Tommy Ton aptly described—in the words of Michael Roberts, he was careful to point out—as a bit of sorbet to “cleanse the palate” before the start of the season. Tim Blanks called it “a synthetic sundae.” And afterwards, Susie Bubble was practically reeling from the sensory overload created by the combination of fluorescent colour-blocking, the setting sun, a looming rainstorm and those sweet flashes of colour below the classic shoes.

Describing the collection, Raf Simons told BoF that it was “A celebration of colour; a tribute to the vibrancy of extreme tropical nature, with colours that were brighter than ever before, renewing the summer wardrobe and subverting the codes of formal tailoring.” Indeed, it was a refreshing and promising start for the men’s season which had just begun.

There was little subversion in Milan, however, where the mega brands were out in force, doing their commercial thing with the expected dose of Italian swagger. Gucci, D&G, and Ermenegildo Zegna were among the brands who showed their wares in large scale fashion shows dotted throughout the city’s golden triangle.

While of impressive scale, there was little in these events to leave a lasting emotional impact, though there was plenty to add to my personal wish list for next Spring. Unfortunately, it will be at least 6 months before I can buy any of it.

Luckily, Burberry’s outerwear—and not just the trench, this season saw Christopher Bailey’s homage to the biker jacket—was available for sale online immediately, with deliveries in a six to eight week timeframe. But the amazing Burberry gladiator sandals and delicate military shirts will have to wait until the Spring/Summer 2011 merchandise hits the shop floor sometime around December, conveniently in the middle of winter. When we will sort out these fashion seasons for once and for all? I want to buy now.

More exciting than the click-to-buy clothes was Burberry’s clever link-up with young British musicians, a refreshing and authentic step forward after last season’s PR-heavy push to keep livestream and 3D viewers entertained as real-life guests took their seats. This time, online viewers could preview videos of acoustic tracks by some truly talented young musicians, as curated by Christopher Bailey. It risked coming across as gimmicky, but instead felt perfectly in tune with the brand’s British DNA.

“Burberry is an iconic British brand and Britishness is so much about music,” Bailey told me in a mob of international media backstage after the show, saying that he discovered the young talents in lots of different ways. “It’s never very strategic…when something really hits me, I love it.”

As for the Burberry Acoustic concept, Bailey said that it came directly as a result of feedback from the brand’s Facebook fans. “Whenever we’ve done things with music at shows or events, it’s always been incredibly well received. We’ve got a lot of Facebook fans and we’ve had a lot of feedback that they love the music, so this was kind of an organic project,” he explained.

Rumour has it that Life in Film, one of the bands featured in Burberry Acoustic, is being heavily pursued by an international music label. So, the young musicians may get more than just great exposure from the Burberry collaboration, there are music contracts to be had as well.

Speaking of new talent, there were some interesting newbies on Milan’s men’s runways too. Unlike the womenswear season which is pretty much devoid of new talent, young men’s designers in Milan are making a serious mark. The pre-show buzz about Umit Benan was virtually deafening, and Albino showed his first men’s collection in a quiet but confident debut. Tomasso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi showed an elegant and relaxed collection for Gianfranco Ferré, even if it seemed out of step with the brand’s heritage and indeed, its more structured womenswear, designed by the same duo.

All in all, after spending an enjoyable few days in the heart of Italy’s fashion community —and surrounded by some of the best dressed best men anywhere—it looks like the Italian menswear circuit may become part of the BoF roster in seasons to come.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion, an official media partner of Pitti Immagine

BoF Live | Burberry Prorsum Menswear S/S 2011 from Milan

Imran Amed, Editor — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:13:12 +0000

MILAN, Italy — On Saturday, 19 June at 3pm Milan time, 2pm London time and 9am New York time, The Business of Fashion is pleased to bring you the livestream of the Burberry S/S 2011 menswear collection. BoF is one of the selected sites from around the world — and one of only a few sites based in the UK — to stream the show, which this season sees the launch of Burberry Acoustic, a new ongoing initiative with emerging British music talent, curated by Christopher Bailey.

“We felt that with the great interaction that we have experienced with our social media website artofthetrench that we could collaborate with musicians and artists to put together an incredible group of ongoing acoustic sessions from some of the finest talent coming out of the UK and bring them to the broad global Burberry audience,” says Bailey of the new cutting-edge fashion-music-film initiative.

Burberry Acoustic - Life in Film | Source: Burberry

The first song to be released under the Burberry Acoustic banner is Alleyway, a catchy acoustic set by Life in Film, whose “dark pop, Kings of Leon style melodies are downcast, morose flirts with Nick Cave which invoke the feeling of being in the centre of a glitter war,” according to London’s Independent newspaper. “They’re the lustrous recession musicians taking British pop away from disco tunes and towards dusty barroom dancefloors, circa Tamla Motown.”

Perhaps in a sign of marketing integration for which Burberry has become known, I wonder if some of these musicians may also make it into Burberry’s ad campaign for the season. Real people making real music showing real clothes from the world’s first truly digital luxury brand. Quite a concept indeed.

After the show, BoF will also have an exclusive interview with Christopher Bailey to ask more about this new initiative, so stay tuned for more news about Burberry Acoustic from The Business of Fashion from Milan.

Fashion 2.0| Fashion Film Flourishes in Italy

Imran Amed, Editor — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:49:10 +0000

VICENZA, Italy — Whereas Italy may have initially been slow on its uptake of Fashion 2.0, momentum appears to be building there to embrace digital media in all its forms, but especially fashion film. Indeed, two high profile events focused on moving image in fashion will take place in the month of May alone, bringing a much needed digital awareness to the country’s conservative fashion mainstream.

Tomorrow, in Vicenza, is the launch of OPPURE II, La moda in movimento verso i nuovi media, an exhibition curated by Federico Sarica, director of the Italian edition of VICE magazine and professor of fashion and new media at the European Institute of Design ModaLab in Milan. OPPURE II will showcase moving image in fashion and discuss its impact on the future of the industry. And, later this month, Diane Pernet will bring ASVOFF, her pioneering peripatetic fashion film festival, to Milan in collaboration with Vogue Italia.

Earlier this year, we featured the stunning short film for Fred Butler by Elisha Smith-Leverock which debuts at Pernet’s event in Milan, and today we bring you one of the featured films for OPPURE by Luca Merli. More OPPURE films can be viewed on the BoF YouTube page.

The Business of Fashion is an official media partner for OPPURE II which runs from 14 May 2010 – 27 June 2010 at Spazio Monotono run by Cristiano Seganfreddo in Vicenza, Italy

The Spotlight | Roberta Furlanetto

Imran Amed, Editor — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:14:51 +0000

Roberta Furlanetto collage by Susie Bubble | Source: Style Bubble

MILAN, Italy — The words “Made in Italy” have long been the pride of the Italian fashion system. But, in recent years, controversy has erupted as the Italian fashion industry has faced a crisis of confidence.

In late 2007, a Rai3 documentary called Slaves of Luxury “revealed a slimy world of underpaid immigrant labour, huge price mark-ups, and what was portrayed to be undue influence from American heavyweights like Anna Wintour,” as reported by BoF at the time.

Indeed, speaking to Il Giornale newspaper about the demise of his business after 50 years, longtime Italian manufacturer Giancarlo De Bortoli of Confezioni Herry’s lambasted the Italian fashion brands for their lack of ethics, slowly “strangling” businesses like his over the years. The financial crisis was the final blow, bringing the Italian fashion industry to its knees and sending companies like Confezioni Herry’s and Mariella Burani into administration.

Thankfully, the news from Italy isn’t all bad. In his interview with Il Giornale, Mr. Bertoli also singled out small companies like Roberta Furlanetto and Luisa Beccaria that are still making the best of Italian craftsmanship.

Roberta Furlanetto cut her fashion teeth by collaborating with Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior and Azzedine Alaïa. Her 3 year old eponymous company designs all of its embroidery in-house and everything is ethically Made in Italy, working only with the best Italian artisans using biologically sustainable materials whenever possible, an approach highlighted by the brand’s participation in Cittadellarte Fashion BEST (Bio, Ethical, Sustainable, Trend) with Franca Sozzani and Michelangelo Pistoletto, and featured by friends of BoF at the EVER Manifesto.

Roberta Furlanetto for BoF

But ethics aside, success in fashion always comes down to the product, and here Ms. Furlanetto also shines, having quietly won over some of the best stockists in the world, including Dover Street Market in London, L’Eclaireur in Paris, Gio Moretti in Milan, and famed boutique Linda Dresner in Michigan. Susie Bubble also recently raved about Furlanetto’s “articulated finery and precious gowns.”

We at the BoF agree and wish Roberta the best of luck in achieving her unique vision for the future of Italian fashion as we put her signature embroidery into the BoF Spotlight.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.

The Fashion Trail | Postcript on Pitti

Imran Amed, Editor — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:38:21 +0000

Giles Deacon At Pitti | Source: The Business of Fashion

FLORENCE, Italy — In the world of menswear, January is a full-on month of trade fairs and fashion shows. The super-charged schedule of activities begins with Pitti Uomo, continues on to Milan where mega Italian brands like Gucci, Prada and Armani unveil their collections, and concludes with a bang in Paris, where established Parisian fashion houses like Lanvin and Dior Homme show alongside a cornucopia of international designers from Korea, Belgium, Britain and the United States.

This season, the kind folks at Pitti Immagine invited me to Florence for my first-ever look at what Mesh Chhibber, Managing Partner of Relative|MO, refers to as “the chicest tradeshow on earth.” Indeed, rather than a series of boring stalls, filled with ‘me-too’ product, Pitti Uomo offers an impressive menswear mix of urban and classic, formal and casual, and high-fashion and high-street. There is literally something for everyone in the maze of pavillions on the site of the Fortezza da Basso.

Though the mood was somewhat subdued, the total number of visitors at Pitti Uomo was up 3 percent, with over 30,000 visitors attending. And, some brands — including Bill Amberg, the British designer known for his sumptuous leather goods, and Engineered Garments, the New York based brand with casually elegant, unstructured clothes — were swarmed with international buyers writing orders when I popped in to have a look.

But ironically, my Pitti Uomo highlight was actually served up by a womenswear designer. Each season, Francesca Tacconi and Lapo Cianchi of Pitti Immagine invite a guest designer to showcase high-fashion creativity within the context of the Pitti Uomo schedule. This season’s special guest was friend-of-BoF Giles Deacon, who was interviewed last year in our Inside the Studio video series.

Following on the heels of previous guest designers like Thom Browne and Proenza Schouler, Giles presented his pre-collection for Autumn in the almost three hundred year-old Richard Ginori factory. Giles said that he chose the location to showcase Florence’s enviable “industrial heritage” and the tradition of hand-made crafts that to this day form a big part of the Tuscan economy.

Despite the long haul from the city centre, fashion watchers flocked to the factory on the outskirts of Florence. On my way in, both Suzy Menkes and Susie Bubble commented to me on the inventiveness of Giles’ presentation — incorporating suspended porcelain, oversized paperclips and even a conveyor belt which transported dishes and ended with a celebratory smash — and the impact he had achieved by holding a fashion event in a decidedly non-fashion venue.

You know you have excited a blogger when she says: “I can’t wait to get back home and blog about this!”

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

CEO Talk | Federico Marchetti, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YOOX Group

Imran Amed, Editor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Federico Marchetti Founder and CEO of YOOX Group, Photo:Luca Cottinelli

MILAN, Italy — Federico Marchetti is one of fashion’s online pioneers. In 2000, when Marchetti established Yoox.com, online fashion retail was still in its infancy. in 2008, the Yoox Group, which includes the original YOOX site, as well as white-label sites for 18 fashion brands, including Emporio Armani, Marni and Pucci, and thecorner.com, shipped more than 1.7 million products to over 53 countries around the world, with €101 million in revenues, a 48 percent increase over the previous year.

Always looking to stay on the online fashion frontier, Marchetti’s latest move is to partner with another online visionary, Nick Knight, and Ruth Hogben (recently featured on BoF), to launch an online film, marking the launch of womenswear on thecorner.com. The film, which debuts today, features brands including Maison Martin Margiela, Haider Ackermann, Ann Demeulemeester, Viktor & Rolf, Proenza Schouler, Rick Owens, Hussein Chalayan, Raf Simons, Kris Van Assche and Sophia Kokosalaki.

2009 is also shaping up to be a big year for the YOOX Group in financing terms. Up until now, YOOX has been funded by a series of venture capital firms, including Benchmark Capital, and private investors. But later this year, YOOX is expected to conduct an initial public offering of its shares on the Milan Bourse.

Federico recently spoke to me about his new creative and business initiatives, which continue to set the pace for online fashion retail.

BoF: Back in 2000, when you first entered the online fashion space with Yoox.com, luxury e-commerce was still very much in question by the industry. Today, it is one of the fastest growing segments and many brands are finally paying attention to the online opportunity. What has changed the most since then and how do you see online retail changing in the years to come?

Compared to 2000 when Yoox.com was established, the Internet has completely changed, thanks to the fact that there are now more brands online and also a huge improvement in terms of technology and use of broadband. Nowadays, the Internet offers more quality in terms of offer and also in terms of service. In addition, consumers are more used to the web and consequently also more able to shop online.

In the future, the combination of products with multimedia content will become more and more important to create a real online experience for customers. A brand’s online store will be like a “digital mirror” where it may express itself.

BoF: In spite of the financial crisis, you recently signed up Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca to take Yoox public later this year. How are your plans for this shaping up and why go public now?

Yes, we are planning to seek a public listing in the coming months. Despite the crisis, our business model has been very successful. We continue to grow both geographically and in terms of new openings of Online Stores. We currently do business in over 50 countries worldwide. We think that such strong results will be attractive to a new potential shareholder base.

BoF: Apart from the main Yoox.com site and your white label services for brands like Marni, Bally and Moschino, you have recently launched thecorner.com. Tell us the thinking behind this new business and what it offers to the online space that is not already on offer elsewhere?

Launched in 2008, thecorner.com is the virtual space showcasing a selection of artisans and cutting-edge brands for men and women through dedicated “mini-stores”. On thecorner.com each brand can customize its own “mini-store” where the value of its image and its DNA is heightened through its collections, editorials and exclusive video content. For example, Martin Margiela decided to present its mini-store with a video-lookbook.

BoF: A short film collaboration with legendary photographer Nick Knight is part of the launch of womenswear on thecorner.com. What inspired you to take this route?

The exclusive film directed by Nick Knight, launches today on thecorner.com to introduce the launch of women’s collections. The resulting film, Portent, is a sensual, delicate and poetic exploration of romantic Classicism through the male and female form, accentuated by exquisite clothing from a raft of the world’s finest designers – a portent, indeed, of the season’s fashion to come.

It is the first time that a fashion film has been created for an online retailer by a legendary photographer.

Nick Knight has realized this video giving his personal interpretation of thecorner.com’s brand selection and it’s very intriguing to watch the slow rhythm of the fashion film in opposition of the fast-moving world of web. It’s a really interesting oxymoron.

BoF: Do you believe there is a real return on investment in using online films to promote a new product or service?

Our project was not created with the aim of return on investment, but mainly our goal is to give our customers the possibility to experience thecorner.com’s women’s collections seen through the lens of a visionary.

BoF: Finally, what other plans for Yoox do you have to share with BoF readers?

Celebrating Made in Italy quality and craftsmanship, Yoox.com will dedicate a project to the Italian region Puglia and its artisans. A selection of three wedding gowns, completely sewn by hand, will be on sale on Yoox.com from next week, for a real wedding, Italian style!

Online Stores “Powered by YOOX Group”: the next online store to launch will be dsquared2.com on 09/09/09.

thecorner.com: Starting from mid October, thecorner.com will present ART CONVENIENCE STORE. Under the concept of souvenirs from Tokyo, thecorner.com will present a series of exclusive items under the categories of fashion, toys, apparel, accessories – all designed by Japanese fashion designers and which will be on sale also at Dover Street Market, Colette, Isetan and others.

Imran Amed is Editor of The Business of Fashion. CEO Talk is an ongoing series of discussions with fashion entrepreneurs and business leaders as they combat the economic downturn. Previous interviews are listed below:

Luxury Outlook | Gucci cuts back production capacity

Imran Amed, Editor — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:52:22 +0000

MILAN, Italy – Take a walk into a Gucci store these days and one cannot help but notice the preponderance of logos and icons on almost every Gucci product in sight, especially the brand’s leather goods, shoes and accessories. Horsebits, double G’s, and Gucci crests abound. But, it seems the conspicuous logos are failing to resonate with consumers in these recessionary times.

Rumours are circulating in Italy that Gucci has dramatically cut production orders to make up for waning demand for the Italian luxury brand’s core leather goods offering. If the reports are accurate, it speaks volumes about the worsening climate for luxury goods players in general, but particularly for brands like Gucci which have chosen to follow an explicit “accessible luxury” strategy.

According to sources, the bulk of Gucci’s production is concentrated in the hands of a group of close partners that account for about 75% of total production. In addition to these partners, Gucci has more than 80 other leather goods suppliers who provide the flexibility to increase and decrease production capacity (and output) as necessary. It is these secondary partners who appear to be suffering from the rumoured production cut. At one factory, production has been cut right down to zero beginning in February 2009.

Ironically, the new CEO of Gucci, Patrizio di Marco, comes from another Gucci Group brand with a much more discrete approach. Di Marco joined Gucci from ultra-luxe and wildly successful Bottega Veneta after Mark Lee abruptly resigned from his post as CEO of Gucci earlier this year.

Perhaps this is a sign that we’ll see a more discrete approach from Gucci in seasons to come?

Photo courtesy of Gucci.

Breaking News | 6267 is no more

Imran Amed, Editor — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:02:07 +0000

MILAN, Italy – It is sad when fashion lives up to its cliched stereotype as a world without loyalty and common sense. News is breaking that Tomasso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, the celebrated duo behind the upstart Italian label 6267, have ditched their manufacturing partner, Castor srl, to start up a new label, rumoured to be backed by ITC, a division of IT Holdings.

Earlier this year, the pair reached new heights in their fashion ascendancy when they were named Creative Directors of Gianfranco Ferre, which is also owned by IT Holdings. Shortly before the announcement, Castor and 6267 were featured in a highly complimentary article by Cathy Horyn of the New York Times, which touted the value and closeness of the unique designer-manufacturer collaboration as a key factor for thier success.

Given the closeness of the partnership, and its early success, the designers’ decision is puzzling and could prove to be one that they regret in the long run.

Rimondi and Aquilano started the 6267 label as a 50/50 partnership with the Picozzi family which has years of experience in high-quality Italian manufacturing. Once upon a time, it was this family that produced the first complex samples for Martin Margiela, who went on to become one of the most respected conceptual designers of our time.

It may not have dawned on the designers that a major reason for the success of 6267 was the quality, dedication and attentiveness of Castor srl in the sales and manufacturing process. To wit, one buyer quoted in the New York Times article said he “was more impressed with Angela and her factory than the designers.” Finding good production is perhaps the hardest part of launching a new fashion business today, with much of the capacity locked up by the major groups.

Perhaps the 6267 designers wanted all of the credit for themselves or perhaps they got greedy and wondered why they should share their success with the behind-the-scenes partners who had been with them since day one. Either way, this sudden move, which has shocked the Italian fashion industry, will certainly make others in the industry think twice about trusting the duo, which may now become more famous for its Machiavellian maneuvering than its design capabilities.

But, that said, it is IT Holdings that may have the last laugh. As the owners of Gianfranco Ferre and manufacturers for the new Rimondi-Aquilano label, IT Holdings now controls the designers’ fate. They may find that IT Holdings decides to focus their attention and resources on Ferre, thereby capping the potential growth of the new label and limiting the upside that the designers could have had if they hadn’t abandoned 6267 and Castor in the first place.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times.