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

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.

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:

• Natalie Massenet, Chairman and Founder, Net-a-Porter
• Camilla Skovgaard, Shoe designer and Entrepreneur
• Susan Lyne, Chief Executive Officer, Gilt Groupe
• Priya Kishore, Founder and Creative Director, Bombay Electric
• Alex Bolen, Chief Executive Officer, Oscar de la Renta
• Jeffrey Kapelman, Chief Executive Officer, Hilldun Corporation
• Bonnie Takhar, Chief Executive Officer and President, Halston
• Sara Ferrero, Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Group
• Paolo Fontanelli, Chief Executive Officer, Furla
• Stella Iishi, President and Founder, The News Inc.
• Greg Furman, Founder and Chairman, Luxury Marketing Council
• Sarah Curran, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, my-wardrobe.com
• Brian Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Aritzia
• José Neves, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, farfetch.com

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.

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.

MILAN, Italy – A few months back, I published an article about the Made in Italy label, following damaging findings aired in a provocative Italian documentary on the state of luxury manufacturing in Italy.

In the meantime, there has been growing interest in the concept of ethical luxury, but some of the biggest manufacturers continue to flout the rules and standards.

Just yesterday, a new reader of the BoF named Lauren, provided detailed commentary on our previous article Made in Italy | Time for accountablity regarding the egregious behaviour of major Luxury brands which she has observed first hand. Her observations merit further discussion and debate, and so I have included them here.

As for this debate [on Made in Italy production], I am late in the discussion, but after having worked in production in Italy I have seen firsthand some very interesting things.

1. Chinese workers eating in 15 minute shifts in a Chinese restaurant in the factory town of Scandicci. They literally don’t speak and just shovel food into their mouths, leave the table after 15 minutes only to be replaced by the next shift. This happened three times while I was having dinner at one of the more authentic Chinese eateries around Florence.

Shocking? Yes! Makes me wonder what their living conditions are like…

2. Prada decamped to China for the production of the hardware on their accessories, only to return with their tails between their legs because the quality was shoddy enough to be noticeable to the end user.

Consequently, they are back with a phenomenal factory in Florence (Scandicci) that just spent millions on environmentally friendly practices, uses amazing technology and employs Italians at wages that honor their level of craftsmanship. Somehow this company has managed to retain a market niche (quality, innovation and reasonably competitive price points) and as a result they serve the best brands.

3. The rules for labeling something “made in Italy” are lax enough that shoe uppers, half-completed handbags, and many other parts can be shipped in from India, China, Romania to Italy where they are finally assembled and stamped with the coveted mark of Italian luxury.

Bottom line?

Just because it SAYS made in Italy doesn’t mean it is.

FYI: Lambertson Truex, Rickard Shah, Jimmy Choo. Those guys are paying true Italian craftsman to do their work. As for the other biggie brands? I wouldn’t bet on it.

 

Lauren’s comments make us consider whether Made in Italy really means what it used to, and perhaps if Made in China means what it used to, as well.

Just today a well-placed industry contact told me a story of how Armani (like Prada, and many, many other Italian labels) have set up shop in China either by buying up existing Chinese factories or setting up new factories in China, run by Italians — and apparently Armani’shave been more successful than anyone else.

In our ongoing collaboration with JC Report, we recently contributed two articles about some promising emerging brands, and we wanted to make sure BoF readers could learn about these talented young designers too.

The first designer came to our attention when we spotted a friend sporting the coolest cardigan. When we asked who designed it we  expected to hear the names Ann Demeulemeester or Rick Owens — but  instead came a name we had never hear before: Rivy Ng.   

Our article for JC Report discusses Rivy’s international background and step-by-step approach to building his fashion label. This is definitely a label to watch for its discreet understated style and emphasis on quality. (Speaking of which, the New York Time has an interesting take on Bottega Veneta and discreet luxury, one of our favourite topics here on the Business of Fashion).

We also profiled London’s most promising young menswear designer,Jsen Wintle, someone who has graced the pages of the Business of Fashion in the past for his luxurious menswear, with a Savile Row touch.

Jsen also happens to be an interior designer with a unusually clear brand concept and vision, especially for someone so early in their career. If you’re in London and you’d like to experience a space with Jsen’s handwriting, check out the Silver Room at Hush in Mayfair.

Photos courtesy of WINTLE and Rivy Ng.

While London is often the spark of new ideas and New York is confidently commercial, the Milan shows usually sit somewhere in between. They may not be the pushing the limits of fashion in terms of new ideas, but they specialise in striking the right balance between commerce and creativity.

Many buyers and editors complained of an uncharacteristically inconsistent offering from Milan’s usually focused designers last week. But we think there was a lot to be impressed by in Milan, especially from the some of the heavyweight brands who show there.

Take Burberry, for example. Christopher Bailey is on a clear winning streak, softening his approach this season with the perfect autumnal mood for the urban birds who walked down his catwalk of  "optimistic melancholy." (Theurban birds term was cleverly coined by Tim Blanks; Bailey loved it. We think its perfect).

A TIME Magazine article recently pointed out that while Frida Giannini of Gucci hasn’t managed to impress critics, her designs have continued to fuel a healthy sales growth. People seem to have given up on Gucci for new fashion ideas and have focused on the commercial viability of the collection instead. On this measure, the show was generally considered to be a knockout — especially those all important bags.

Another fast-growing Gucci Group brand is Bottega Veneta, where Tomas Maier used the catchphrase When your own initials are enough as the backdrop for his collection. He continues to be a most inspirational designer, whose clothes manage to be  both inventive and wearable at the same time. Combine this with luxurious artisanal detailing that evokes the core Bottega Veneta DNA, and you have another winner from Maier.

There was also an emerging powerhouse that had everyone buzzing this week. No less than 4 Vogue editors (and the most important ones at that) graced the front rows at 6267’s runway show on Tuesday evening.  Roberto Rimondi and Tomasso Aquilano’s beautifully made clothes have a true feel for luxury — in both design and fabrication. It’s no wonder that they have the fashion establishment firmly behind them.

Weak week in Milan? We think not. And we haven’t even got to Prada yet. That lace deserves a whole post unto itself.

David Beckham billboard in Milan, courtesy of Emporio Armani

MILAN, Italy - Every once in a while, we notice the media — all kinds of media from blogs to arty fashion mags to the mainstream press — talking about the same topic in a contemporaneous burst of discussion. In the past few days, the talk has been about men’s underwear. Or rather, the advertising campaigns behind this burgeoning business segment. Not since the 1980’s and Bruce Weber’s campaigns for Calvin Klein have we seen so much media interest in men’s underpants. 

Tim Blanks explores the subject at length in VMAN’s Fall/Winter 2007 issue in The History of the Male Supermodel. And, according to an article in today’s International Herald Tribune, men’s underwear is big business.

Two Italian fashion brands are trying to get in on Calvin Klein’s underwear action using sexually-charged photos to heighten awareness of their presence in the market.

Last week, the Giorgio Armani press office in Milan sent us photos of David Beckham’s new advertisement for Emporio Armani Underwear towering over the intersection of  via Cusani and via Broletto in Milan for Men’s Fashion Week (this might explain why everyone is talking about it). But Robin Givhan of the Washington Post debates whether the sexually charged images are objectifying men while  still other sites choose to debate the use of visual enhancements in the ads.

All the attention is good news. Mr Armani is expecting  a 30% surge in the underwear business as a result of the Beckham campaign, which is reported to run for 3 years and be worth £20 million. 

In an interesting reversal of roles, it’s almost like the underwear ads are defining the overall visual image of the Emporio Armani brand, including it’s face. Is Mr Armani saying that David Beckham is the ideal brand ambassador for Emporio Armani, or is it just a way to get increased attention on a small business by exploiting international celebrity?

Not to be outdone, Dolce & Gabbana are also getting in on the underwear action with a David of their own. Their underwear business has grown 12% over the past year and is bound to take another leap after the high-profile release of a D&G style sexed-up calendar featuring David Gandy, whom VMan is referring to as the new male supermodel.

The calendar has been distributed to Editors at Milan Fashion Week and Horacio Silva of The New York Times says everybody in Milan is talking about it while The Times of London’s Carol Midgley gushed unabashedly about it in her article, calling Gandy the Modern Renaissance Man. While some of the images are even a bit too saucy for the BoF, you can find them all here on the internet site the D&G have set up for your viewing pleasure. These guys know how to make a campaign work and work and work.

Given all this hoopla, perhaps its not a surprise that, according to Reuters, Burberry is also considering moving into underwear. Seems like Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s Creative Director, has been taking notes on the Italians’ latest PR coup.

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana.

The Made in Italy label is a source of pride for every Italian. You see, Italians have fashion in their blood and style in their DNA. It’s not surprising that more than 4 million of them tuned in to watch the RAI3 documentary Schiavi del Lusso, or Slaves of Luxury, on Sunday evening which 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.

This is not the first time that the industry has come under attack in recent months. The Dana Thomas book De-Luxe and the WWF Deeper Luxury  report have called into question the ethical and environmental practices of major luxury companies. While the first two have only seemed to generate a discussion within the luxury industry itself, RAI 3’s televised approach seems to have struck a real chord with end consumers. Since the television show was aired on Sunday, many Italians have been up in arms and have stormed the RAI 3 website with comments of indignation and Italian bloggers have been propagating the dicussion.

The most damning of the revelations in the documentary had to do with Italian manufacturing by major brands such as Prada, Ferragamo, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Versace. Behind these huge names are thousands of people who work as subcontractors in small manufacturing facilities dotted around the country. (In the same way that parts of Italy are known for certain types of food, other parts are also known for specialised cottage industries in various luxury manufacturing disciplines. San Maoro Pascoli, Riviera del Brenta, and Fermo/Macerata are known for shoes, Prato is known for knits, etc.)

With increasing pressure to compete with Asia on cost, some of these independents have been cutting corners, buckling under the pressure of the major brands who want to be able to keep some of their specialised manufacturing at home, but only at the right price. In response, some of the small companies started importing illegal Chinese labour in order to reduce costs.

Most of the named brands refused to respond to RAI 3’s questions, except Prada, which deserves some credit for joining the debate, but which still needs to help solve the problem as opposed to making excuses. Prada’s Tomaso Galli told Rai:

We have two different kinds of inspectors, those who check quality and those who control the working conditions of the suppliers. But we’re not the police and our inspectors do not have an unlimited access to all areas and documents. Regrettably, situations like the one described in the show, which we agree are unacceptable, may occasionally occur notwithstanding our controls, but they are odd and the show did not bother to mention what the overwhelming reality is.

Fair enough. The tele-journalist could have told a more balanced story, but if Prada and others agree that these situations are unacceptable, then they must take responsibility for them and ensure that they don’t happen. If they are going to put their name on the product, they must be able to stand by it.

While some companies like Brunello Cuccinelli have had success with self-imposed ethical codes, others like Prada have clearly failed. The best response instead would be to define clear and enforcable industry standards, to which all the major players sign up and which are transparent to consumers. An external organisation made up of representatives from these companies could then take responsibility for policing the codes and upholding every company and manufacturing facility, large or small, to the same standards. This should be as much a part of saving Made in Italy as many of the other initiatives being undertaken by Italian Institute for Foreign Trade.

Ever since Roberto Rimondi and Tommaso Aquilano of 6267 sent their S/S 2008 collection down the runway in Milan last week, everyone has been talking about that dress.

In her glowing review, Suzy Menkes said the big surprise of the show came "when the models turned to show a wide dress morph into a sinuous shape at the back. It sounds tricky, but the idea worked, offering one of the most intriguing contrasts of the season." Of the show’s standout piece, Nicole Phelps of Style.com said that "Rimondi and Aquilano have an untapped avant-garde streak: Coming, the dress looked like a sculptural, full-blown trapeze; going, it revealed itself to be a body-skimming, provocative sheath." (Note: Unfortunately, no photo of that dress, but another one with similarly constrasting construction is pictured to the left)

Lucky for me, though I missed the show in Milan, I was invited to tea at Place du Marché St Honoré in Paris yesterday evening to take a closer look at the collection. I dragged Jason Campbell of the JC Report along with me — and we were not disappointed and not alone.

The design duo welcomed a steady stream of buyers, many of whom had already placed their orders in Milan, but still came by just to say hello. The biggest contingent came from New York, with buyers from Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Edit, a new boutique shortly to open on the Upper East Side, all in attendance.

There is no doubt that this was one of the best collections of the entire fashion week season, with an impeccable polish and luxury finishing that belies 6267’s short history. When so many young fashion brands struggle with production, how do Rimondo and Aquilano do it?

Their secret is a close partnership with Castor srl, the Italian production house run by the Picozzi family, who have worked with the designers from the start and who bring years of experience in Italian luxury production and product development. With Castor’s in-house atelier and connections to some of the finest luxury RTW production labs in Italy, the designers are able to stretch the boundaries of their imagination with exclusive fabrics, digital prints and one-of-a-kind construction that have even the toughest critics singing their praises.

It’s no wonder people at Prada and Dolce & Gabbana are paying attention. This is definitely a label to watch.