Latest / The Future of Luxury Podcast with Dr Daniel Langer / #3 - Niccolò Ricci: CEO of Stefano Ricci on Merging Luxury and Sustainability

Transcript

#3 - Niccolò Ricci: CEO of Stefano Ricci on Merging Luxury and Sustainability · The Future of Luxury Podcast with Dr Daniel Langer

0:07
So welcome to another edition of the Future of Luxury podcast.
0:12
And today, it's my great pleasure to introduce Niccolo
0:16
Ritchie, to us.
0:18
And as you can see, we are not in the studio today,
0:22
but we are in a wonderful location.
0:24
It's the Ta Prohm Temple in Cabondia, where,
0:30
the Stefano Ricci team is producing,
0:34
the campaign and the kind of look for the latest collection.
0:38
So, Niccolo, welcome to Thank you.
0:40
It's great to have you with us on this amazing trip. Yeah.
0:43
Thank you.
0:43
Thank you.
0:44
And Nikola, tell us a little bit about about yourself.
0:48
So I am, based in Florence.
0:50
I'm forty seven years old, and I'm the CEO of,
0:53
Stefano Ricci company, which is my family brand.
0:57
It was started by my parents in nineteen seventy two.
0:59
They were very young.
1:01
My mom, she was eighteen, my father was nineteen, and they,
1:05
you know, they came along, through the world,
1:07
opening stores through the years,
1:09
presenting their collection,
1:10
which just started with simple ties and then they'll be adding
1:14
categories like silk shirts, cotton shirts, leather goods.
1:18
And it's been a journey.
1:20
Me and my brother, we are very proud to,
1:22
still with them because I'm present,
1:24
to like to continue with our mission.
1:25
Let's say this is our mission today.
1:27
Yeah. Wonderful.
1:28
So and then tell us, a little bit about,
1:31
the Stefano Ricci brand.
1:32
So what is the philosophy of the brand,
1:34
and how would you describe the brand?
1:36
The philosophy I think my father had the vision in the seventies,
1:39
trying to provide to the consumer the best quality of
1:43
raw materials combined with the best design.
1:46
And I think he has been loyal to that for all his career,
1:50
in a sense that every time we added the category,
1:53
we put the same attention to details like we did with our
1:57
core business, which were Ties.
1:59
So, we did not just add categories to just increase volume,
2:02
but we add categories in order to provide something
2:06
special to our final consumer.
2:08
Mhmm.
2:08
And this has been very rewarding because our clientele
2:11
has been very loyal for many years,
2:12
and they always give us the chance to provide them with something new.
2:17
And, so here we are in in Cambodia,
2:20
and it is part of the Explora Project of Stefano Ricci,
2:25
and I'm I'm really fascinated by that.
2:26
So tell tell us a little bit about the, you know,
2:29
how how the Explora project came to life.
2:32
Well, this is is the fifth chapter Mhmm.
2:34
Of a journey that brought us from Luxor in Egypt to the
2:37
north land of Iceland, down to Galapagos,
2:41
back north to Mongolia, and now here finally in Cambodia.
2:45
We believe that today the most precious things and valuable
2:50
things that we have is time And time to explore the world is
2:54
what is really we are suggesting and we are sharing
2:57
most of our friends and clients.
2:59
Being able to visit these sites with a different eye,
3:04
So the eyes of exploring, yeah,
3:06
I think most of our clientele can afford any kind of accommodation,
3:10
but the fact that you go to the remote places of the world
3:14
where you can really enjoy nature combining with beautiful
3:18
time for yourself,
3:19
I think today is the best achievement you can have.
3:23
Of course, during these journeys we are showing through models our
3:27
collection, which are not primary in the communication.
3:30
It goes beyond what is the message of
3:34
supporting wildlife like we are doing here in Galapagos with
3:37
Charles Darwin Foundation, protecting the giant turtles,
3:40
or the Royal Eagles in Mongolia.
3:42
Yeah.
3:42
So wherever we go, we try to give our leaders support on,
3:47
you know, when we talk about sustainability, of course,
3:49
it becomes primary in every single company.
3:52
Yeah.
3:53
And I I remember yesterday when I was talking,
3:56
with your brother a little bit, he said,
3:58
that also your clients are explorers, and therefore,
4:02
this idea of of the explorer really is like a connection
4:05
between the clients and the brand.
4:07
It's really bonding because as we of course,
4:10
it has been our vision, it's their vision as well.
4:13
So you can also see today's luxury.
4:17
Lots of people are moving their budgets into traveling and
4:21
winning the experience in remote places.
4:24
And I think it's a great trend because it's support.
4:27
It's helping our clients, their families,
4:30
their kids to move abroad and try to leave these places which
4:33
are not the usual subject.
4:35
As you say, it's not the famous capital of the world,
4:38
but remote areas where you can really enjoy your time with nature.
4:42
And I have to say now, this is the, for me today,
4:46
the third day here in,
4:51
in Cambodia, and, you know,
4:53
the the temples that we have seen and the places that we
4:56
have seen and the connection with, you know, history,
4:58
but also with with nature left a deep impression on me.
5:02
So, maybe tell us a little bit how how did you find this place and
5:06
what were, like, criteria to to decide that
5:10
Cambogia is the place to show you a new collection?
5:14
I think,
5:16
you know, coming in places like this are breathtaking.
5:20
Taking a look at these,
5:22
temples is the first time for me as well.
5:25
You know, we're exploring through the web,
5:26
we're exploring through our connection with the
5:28
photographer that we're using,
5:30
National Geographic photographer.
5:31
We exchange ideas Yeah.
5:32
And also through the friend Terry Garcia.
5:35
We try to do to go in those places that can really leave an impact to you.
5:40
Mhmm.
5:41
And honestly, what I saw in Galapagos,
5:43
the experience we did with the eagle hunters Mhmm.
5:47
And in Mongolia, the Altai, the Gobi,
5:50
and especially being there the first light in the morning and
5:53
the last light at night,
5:55
while mainly most of the tourists are not even out,
5:58
waking up four o'clock, three thirty,
5:59
four o'clock and try to be inside at the first light,
6:02
it's also magical because it lets you have the place all for yourself.
6:06
So this is always what I enjoy, for example,
6:09
living in Florence,
6:10
I've been blessed because I grew up in one of the most
6:13
beautiful cities in the world, but still what I really enjoy,
6:15
if I really one day by chance have to really wake up very, very early,
6:19
walking in the squares of Florence and being the first
6:22
one of being alone in a square, that's a real luxury.
6:25
All you can enjoy is a special place just with one side.
6:27
Wonderful.
6:28
This brings me to to another question, because, for example,
6:31
for me also, you know, advising a lot of brands,
6:34
travel is super critical and super important.
6:36
And, you know, every time I travel, even if it's just,
6:39
you know, sometimes being in a city for a day,
6:41
you always observe things, you see how people are dressed, and so on.
6:45
How important is travel for you and for the brand,
6:47
and also maybe for the creative role?
6:49
Fundamental.
6:51
I
6:53
really highly recommend also to the creative team that helps my
6:56
father and my brother to travel,
6:58
so I support some of the trips to the capital of Asia and the
7:02
capital of States or Middle East just to understand.
7:06
You have to leave a little bit.
7:08
Go to those shopping malls, go to those restaurants,
7:10
go to those museums, and try to understand how
7:14
fashion is changing.
7:16
Of course, we always have to put our DNA in everything we design,
7:20
but trends, you catch them when you leave them.
7:24
So it's always very important to travel and try to catch them ahead of time.
7:29
Wonderful. And this brings me to to another question.
7:32
You know, when we when we were discussing a little bit earlier this
7:35
morning, you mentioned that also, you know,
7:37
for your collections there is different tastes in different
7:39
places in in the world.
7:41
So maybe tell us a little bit about about that and how this
7:44
impacts the bill of prices.
7:45
Today, we have eighty, mono brand stiffer rigid boutiques.
7:49
Mhmm.
7:50
And they spread from the states to Middle East, Europe,
7:53
Southeast Asia, of course Yeah. And to China.
7:58
Every country,
8:00
of course, they they follow trends,
8:02
but they also have their DNA.
8:04
Yeah.
8:05
And we need to be in the middle because in some countries,
8:09
people love silk shirts with big prints.
8:11
Other countries they don't.
8:13
So, of course, according to the store,
8:15
we have to make a selection.
8:17
One, of course, that is technically present in
8:20
every stores,
8:21
but then we let the managers of every every country
8:25
try to have their specific selection in order to meet the local taste.
8:30
Yeah. Super.
8:32
And
8:34
maybe let's let's it's not that switching the the topic,
8:37
but something that I would be curious to understand is,
8:41
and it's a question that I ask everyone that comes on this podcast.
8:43
What what does luxury mean for you?
8:45
What how would you define the term?
8:47
Because, you know, this is a term that many people
8:51
The term has been abused.
8:53
Yeah.
8:54
So we try to or sometimes, let's say,
8:57
we try to step out of the world of luxury.
8:59
Yeah. And for us, we've been using for years the excellency.
9:04
Excellency, which is a step further because
9:07
I think when we talk aspirational luxury,
9:09
then you get the concept of quality with the branding, gets confused.
9:14
I would say, first of all,
9:15
luxury or excellency
9:18
is quality.
9:19
So let's start from there.
9:20
You position quality as the most important things in your
9:23
collection and then you create everything around it.
9:26
I would say also that the places where you can buy
9:29
quality is extremely important.
9:31
Yeah.
9:31
If you see some of our boutiques in the world,
9:33
they're done with the finest briar wood,
9:36
we have beautiful either travertine or limestone floor,
9:39
so also the environment where you want to do the shopping
9:42
experience should meet the quality standards.
9:46
Mhmm.
9:47
And, of course, a super service on behalf of our team. Mhmm.
9:50
That is for our for our excellency concept,
9:53
the luxury that we were talking is like as an amazing
9:56
environment with a great service and, of course,
9:59
unique beautiful products that are made of the finest fabrics
10:03
or materials in the world.
10:05
Yeah.
10:05
I love the word, excellence, because to me it really,
10:09
you know, means that,
10:10
you have to go completely out of the ordinary and and aim for
10:15
aim for the extraordinary in everything that you do.
10:17
You know, our our father me me and my brother have been the the main
10:21
lesson that our father taught us is that, guys,
10:25
start where everybody else stops.
10:29
So you get what is the best in the market at the moment,
10:32
and from there you find a way to provide something better
10:36
because at the end, our clients,
10:37
they do have everything.
10:39
They don't need another blazer. Yeah.
10:41
They don't need another shirt, but they need emotions.
10:43
So you get to find those fibers, those designs,
10:47
those materials that maybe have not been presented yet.
10:51
And that those clients, those people,
10:53
they're extremely successful people.
10:56
They really need to
10:58
have once they see it, you price them,
11:00
give them an emotion, so this is the basic of our business.
11:03
Yeah.
11:04
I love also this idea,
11:05
and I just want to reemphasize this of a surprise.
11:08
I remember, you know, many years ago when,
11:11
when I for for my first book when I tried to define luxury,
11:15
I one of the terms that came to my mind was luxury is almost a
11:19
business of permanent surprise.
11:20
You have to always kind of reinvent things and surprise
11:23
the customers again.
11:24
This is why
11:26
fashion industry, especially at our level, is extremely,
11:30
first of all, the competition is super high,
11:34
but then it's extremely difficult because you have to
11:35
reinvent yourself every six months.
11:37
And being a family owned business by my parents, myself, and my brother,
11:43
we have to compete with the strongest brands that today are on the market.
11:47
Of course, I refer to the big French conglomerates
11:51
or old companies that make over a billion.
11:53
And of course to compete against these
11:57
huge houses is extremely challenging for us,
12:00
but this also gives us the energy to come up also with
12:03
something more and more exclusive and something more
12:05
and more appealing to our customers.
12:07
Yeah, And I also assume that this allows you also, you know,
12:11
being a smaller brand in in a way.
12:13
To me, also one of the strengths is probably the the strong
12:16
connections that you have with your clients and with your top clients.
12:19
We I have to be honest.
12:20
I call them clients.
12:22
Many of them I'm proud to say that are friends today because
12:26
we had the chance to spend time with them and it's always very
12:29
inspiring because I would say the majority of them are all self made,
12:33
today millionaire or say multimillionaires or
12:37
billionaires, that
12:40
there is always something to learn about these people.
12:42
Yeah.
12:43
Because honestly most of them start from nothing and today
12:46
they create an empire.
12:47
It's always inspiring to hear their story
12:50
and share a vision, a wide vision and our vision with them
12:54
because they always tell you and give you those hints,
12:57
those tips that can help you to improve in your collection,
13:00
sometimes even in life because they can give you lots of
13:03
financial advice.
13:04
You never know because those our clients being self made
13:08
people are always very
13:11
successful, and it's, I like to spend time with them,
13:14
and I can say I'm proud to be friends with good numbers of them.
13:18
Yeah, oh, wonderful,
13:19
and so we discussed now about luxury being,
13:22
let's say about the the extraordinary, about surprises,
13:25
and maybe even about, you know,
13:27
when I think about you just used the name, France,
13:31
it's it's basically also this human connection at the human,
13:35
the human interface that that is that is there.
13:38
So, if you think about, for example,
13:42
the emotions that you want your clients to feel,
13:45
so when they wear Stefano Ricci suits or a tie or shirts,
13:50
what are kind of emotions that that you want them to,
13:54
to to experience?
13:56
The most important thing when when they wear things,
13:59
they must feel good.
14:00
I can imagine them in the morning wearing one of our shirts.
14:03
Yeah. Wearing one of our suits.
14:06
It feels so good. Yeah.
14:07
This is our our mission is to make them happy,
14:12
at least, on the way they look, but also on the way they feel.
14:17
Yeah.
14:17
Because when you touch some of our suit with our exclusive
14:21
fabric, it makes you feel really special.
14:23
Yeah.
14:23
This is why you say, it's like not that I made it, but, like,
14:27
I can afford and I can have in my closet something so unique.
14:32
Mhmm.
14:32
And, of course, if it's a made to measure suit to make them feel hundred percent Yeah.
14:37
Proud of what they bought and what and the choice that they
14:39
had in words of the collection.
14:41
Yeah. Yeah.
14:42
And for example, I yesterday evening when, you know,
14:46
one of the models was wearing this unbelievably beautiful
14:49
blue, name Name it.
14:51
Yes.
14:51
I said, oh, shit. This is this is a suit. I need to have that.
14:55
So and it's it's I thought I was so, impressed because,
14:58
you know, even from a distance, the the way how the cut was,
15:02
the way how the cut even the the the hue of of blue that was
15:07
there, and, you know, I if you look at my suit collection,
15:10
it's seventy percent navy blues,
15:13
but I've never seen any collection.
15:14
Taylor blue is the Stefano Richel blue,
15:16
as we as we like to to call it.
15:20
For us, tailoring is
15:23
a very important part of the business.
15:26
We do have one hundred and forty tailors Yeah.
15:29
Working for us.
15:30
And the combination of their art and this
15:35
uniqueness of our excluded fabrics that are made
15:39
on our design and the quality that we request
15:43
makes them really, really special.
15:46
The tailoring, I think, is the most difficult,
15:48
one of the most difficult art in clothing,
15:52
in dressing in men's wardrobe.
15:54
And we are very proud that we have some of the most talented
15:59
tailors in the world.
16:01
Some of them have been working for us for over twenty years
16:04
and know, that is, it's an art.
16:07
It can be geometry, you need to not just,
16:09
but you need to understand the client,
16:12
how they want to look.
16:14
Because everybody wants, who's want to be a little bit,
16:16
you know, they're a little bit tighter,
16:17
who wants a little bit loose.
16:18
So, you have to read when you measure them also the
16:21
psychology of the person that you have in front,
16:24
they want something special.
16:26
And honestly, once you find the key of what they want,
16:31
you have them for life.
16:34
And this is our mission today to get more and more clients
16:38
that are willing to buy screws of fabrics and to
16:42
refrack their wardrobe with the Stefano tree.
16:45
Yeah. Yeah.
16:46
Or the one that we have,
16:48
they constantly repeat every season ordering made to measure
16:51
suits or jacket and pants, including shirts.
16:54
Yeah.
16:55
Then, sustainability, I think,
16:57
is also from from our conversations one of the things that are very,
17:01
very close to to your heart and also to have been always with
17:04
with your family.
17:05
So, tell me about a little bit sustainability and, you know,
17:08
some some things that you're doing on You know,
17:10
sustainability is something been very
17:13
it is one of the,
17:14
it's extremely crucial in the luxury industry and the fashion
17:18
business, as far as we could do in our
17:22
production site, where we keep all our,
17:25
where we produce our shirts, our suits, our leather goods,
17:27
because as an energy impact, we put solar panels,
17:32
we remove all the plastic bottles,
17:35
we change all the lights with LED.
17:37
So, we try in whatever is like our ten thousand square meter
17:40
to being able to have the minimum energy impact.
17:44
And the most important is our supply chain.
17:48
So, from who's dyeing the leathers,
17:50
from who's dyeing
17:53
the fabrics and finishing the fabric for us,
17:55
we request a certified
17:58
supply chain from everybody to be one of our supplier.
18:01
We have inspectors that check
18:05
who's providing us with the raw materials.
18:08
And as much as we can, we try to support,
18:14
to give you support to the industry.
18:17
But from my perspective,
18:19
what is one of the most important parts of
18:21
sustainability is to
18:24
create and
18:27
provide to the future generation the heritage of our know how.
18:30
So, we do an internal schools.
18:33
They're either tailors, shirt makers, either jewelry
18:38
maker like diamond setters.
18:40
We do have a lot of young people entering within the company.
18:45
And of course, it takes, let's say, one and a half,
18:47
two years before they're ready to create what we need.
18:51
So, it's an investment from our side because I think we have a
18:55
responsibility towards the future Mhmm.
18:58
To continue the Florentine heritage of tailoring,
19:01
of shirt making, tie making, leather goods, of course,
19:04
is very important.
19:05
Yeah.
19:05
And we also have in house a silverware production on
19:10
Chiselle and engravings that,
19:13
we are now about to look for another trainee Yeah.
19:17
Because, have this gentleman been doing this for forty years,
19:20
and it's time to provide to the new generation how to continue
19:25
this business because otherwise within ten, fifteen years,
19:27
all this know how will disappear.
19:29
Yeah. That's wonderful.
19:31
And this brings me to almost connected to this as you just say, you know,
19:34
it's very important also to keep the heritage and take it
19:37
to the next generation.
19:39
And also in terms of your clients,
19:41
if we think about, you know, the your youngest clients,
19:45
Generation Z, we have also new generation, coming coming in.
19:49
So are there, let's say or where do you perceive the differences
19:53
between the previous generations and the new generations?
19:57
Are they different in terms of the expectations?
19:59
Are they different in terms of their taste?
20:01
So we see the future go.
20:03
When I entered the business
20:06
in two thousand and one for the family, of course,
20:09
we have a current customer base, which was older,
20:12
I would say fifty, fifty five up.
20:16
Today, it's changed a lot.
20:18
We have a lot of people between thirty and forty,
20:21
especially in countries like Southeast Asia, in China, in India.
20:26
Yeah.
20:27
And it's nice to see how many of them are the sons Mhmm.
20:31
Of our clients Yeah.
20:33
Which were looking at the father's wardrobe trying to
20:36
steal now and then a shirt or a tie or a suit,
20:38
and the father said, no.
20:39
This is the Faricci.
20:41
You can't touch it. This is my collection.
20:44
And now they can afford it. Yeah.
20:46
And, and there is also a big, I think,
20:49
change in the world.
20:52
While in the, when I started in the beginning
20:55
of two thousand, a
20:58
lot of CEOs, normally people over sixty, sixty five,
21:02
today the world has changed.
21:03
In the new economy,
21:05
you can see a lot of CEOs being in their thirty fives, forties,
21:09
and that's also helped them to have a higher budget to afford the most,
21:14
unique product, and this is how I think today we do have more people in a younger age.
21:19
Yeah. Wonderful.
21:20
And if maybe in this kind of new world where you have maybe
21:25
younger customers, what what does,
21:28
kind of success look like,
21:29
or what are success factors now
21:32
for a brand that that has a more and more young young, clientele?
21:37
Did you observe any changes from, let's say,
21:40
twenty years ago to to now?
21:42
From our side, we decided
21:46
well, first of all, luxury changed a lot.
21:48
So the high end production and high end collection,
21:51
they changed a lot.
21:52
While twenty years ago, logos
21:57
and a little more flashy were supposed to be the collection
22:00
the last seven, eight years.
22:01
We've seen a lot of trend changes into,
22:04
everybody's talking about this quiet luxury.
22:07
I would say it's luxury with the basic colors,
22:12
with a very small logo because people still would like to show
22:17
what is the brand they're wearing.
22:18
Yeah. And this is getting into the mind.
22:21
I think it's like phases, maybe where you want to show. Yeah.
22:24
Phases where you want to show less. Yeah.
22:25
I think one day we're gonna get back.
22:27
Like, you know, it's like double breasted, two bottoms,
22:29
three bottoms, that are weights.
22:30
Yeah.
22:31
And for example, now we are living in a moment where people want to wear
22:34
suits, made to wear suits, and
22:37
very comfortable, maybe deconstructed,
22:40
the shoulders should not be as strong as Yeah.
22:42
Obstructed as before,
22:43
but being able to go outside in an elegant way
22:49
with super materials that you know because you touch,
22:52
but people can tell, but they cannot tell if they don't touch.
22:56
And this I think is the key now to show yourself out wearing
23:00
exclusive garments but not showing off.
23:02
This is what changed in the last twenty years, I would say, today.
23:05
So we can say maybe even the would it be right to say that in this aspect,
23:10
probably customer expectations are increasing and going going
23:14
up with the newer generation?
23:15
Customers today, they also want to hear a story.
23:18
Yeah.
23:19
It's not just about the it is, of course,
23:21
the main driver is the collection,
23:23
but they want to know the story about your brand.
23:26
Yeah.
23:27
They love and we experienced this in the last,
23:30
I would say, six, seven years because we show the beauty of
23:35
Italy.
23:36
Yeah.
23:36
Our campaign was shot throughout Italy,
23:38
like this timeless journey around secret places
23:42
of Italy and with Explorer.
23:44
So, I think with our communication through the
23:46
world, to what we're doing about the natural environment,
23:50
lots of younger people have been approaching us because
23:53
they got the message.
23:54
Yeah.
23:55
So, there should be a message, an experience, and the product.
23:57
Yeah.
23:57
If you combine these things,
24:00
I think today you can be successful. Yeah.
24:02
Of course, it took us also fifty years to be where we are.
24:04
Yeah.
24:05
So to start today a brand and entering
24:09
in the mind of these people, which are very demanding, Yeah.
24:13
Is not easy.
24:14
Yeah. Is it is it a field path?
24:15
Yeah.
24:16
I really love what you just said because I see, you know,
24:19
when I'm advising brands in all different
24:22
categories, typically I, sometimes I have to convince, you know,
24:27
the leadership team about the importance of the storytelling,
24:29
and I love that, you know, for Stefano Ricci,
24:31
this is already something that you have for many years deeply ingrained,
24:35
and I also believe that this is something that is getting more
24:39
and more important in in our world that is more and more
24:41
connected, maybe also more digital,
24:44
and because it's more digital,
24:45
I think we crave for for really knowing, you know,
24:48
what what is real and what is not real,
24:50
and what is authentic and what is what is not authentic.
24:53
So I think also authenticity is is super important for for You
24:57
know, for us, we we put our face Yeah.
24:59
On a front row.
25:00
So either me and my brother, we meet people, we go inside,
25:04
and we do the shooting.
25:06
Yeah.
25:06
We are in place, I'm in production,
25:09
we are visiting the stores, we meet client.
25:12
Yeah.
25:12
We show that this is not just a brand name invented,
25:14
it's just a family brand,
25:16
with the family that continues to commit that we have a team
25:20
that has been with us.
25:21
Some of the guys you see there are today fifty,
25:24
but have been with us already fifty years.
25:26
So they enter
25:28
in the sales team or they enter in the marketing team,
25:31
but like whatever you look around, people, like,
25:34
been many, many years,
25:35
so the commitment of the family and the commitment on the field
25:38
is of the the commitment of the team is real.
25:41
Yeah. You can really feel it.
25:42
Yeah. No.
25:42
And I can also even say, you know, in this in this last,
25:46
three days when I met your team,
25:47
they're all like it feels like family,
25:49
and also it feels very welcoming to be to me bang all of you.
25:53
So thank you also for So, you know, beside that,
25:56
I would say that,
25:59
we are a normal family.
26:01
We like normal things, you know, on the weekends,
26:03
in the countryside, we like good food,
26:05
we like to sit at the table with the family and friends,
26:09
we like a nice glass of wine,
26:12
we like to spend time walking in the countryside,
26:15
So there is no superstars. Mhmm.
26:17
There is no,
26:20
let's say, prima donna that must have all the glory around it.
26:24
It's like a family and a team. They like to do what they do.
26:27
We like to spend time with our clients, friends,
26:31
have great exchange of ideas,
26:33
and try always to come up with new ideas,
26:35
trying to be exciting for whoever reads about us.
26:39
Yeah.
26:40
Then, coming a bit to the end of our
26:43
of our podcast today, is there anything you want to also share
26:48
still that I didn't ask about the brand?
26:50
Maybe something that that we have not touched on,
26:52
about maybe the customer experience or so?
26:54
So anything that that you feel is important?
26:57
We've been challenged by our clients to always do something
27:01
new and different.
27:02
And for the last ten years, we entered the world of, interiors.
27:06
Yeah.
27:06
And, recently, we've done a beautiful apartment in,
27:10
Florence.
27:11
We've done a beautiful suite,
27:12
The Depenation of Vivo Mont Hotel in Guerrero.
27:15
We are about to unveil another beautiful suite in Tuscany again.
27:21
We are about to make another big project in Middle East.
27:25
I'm still under NDA, so I cannot communicate yet. Yeah.
27:29
But we are really entering the world of
27:33
interiors, real estate,
27:34
creating project for our clients because, as I say,
27:37
they always give us the chance to provide them with something
27:40
unique and being able today to
27:45
have one of their homes designed by us
27:49
with our furniture, with our accessories,
27:53
I think is really, really unique. We've done few.
27:55
They were very successful.
27:57
So we have now a number of requests by your by our
28:00
clients, and one after the other,
28:03
we are entered into this world.
28:04
Oh, wonderful.
28:05
So it's it means also that the brand is and and you said this
28:09
in the beginning that it started with ties and then
28:12
basically gradually went to to more things in the body.
28:15
Oh, really.
28:16
So now it becomes really like an essential lifestyle.
28:19
It's a lifestyle.
28:20
We produce, we do have,
28:22
our wine, over ten years, our champagne, and, you know,
28:26
then we enter the jewelry business and we do it in house.
28:30
Yeah.
28:31
Our watches, and we've been producing for the last two
28:34
years, which was very successful, super high end.
28:37
So, I think there is a world of opportunities for us because
28:41
our client, they like to give us the chance.
28:43
Yeah.
28:43
Because they believe in what we do, how committed we are,
28:47
and they're always ready to hear and to have something new from us.
28:50
Yeah. Wonderful.
28:51
So my very last question is,
28:54
where do you see in the next ten years,
28:58
fifteen years, twenty years,
29:00
maybe the the kind of the future of luxury,
29:02
the future of lifestyle, the future of fashion going?
29:05
When you see, like, you know, we have,
29:07
new technologies coming,
29:09
everyone now speaks about artificial intelligence,
29:11
and and so on.
29:12
So where do you what where do you see kind of the industry
29:16
heading in in the future?
29:17
So, of course, technology today is giving you some
29:22
really serious advantages.
29:24
I would say AI in a matter of, like,
29:27
special marketing,
29:29
trying to help us to propose through pictures with our CRM,
29:34
trying to get to the client and providing what looking at his
29:38
history, what is willing to buy next.
29:41
At the moment, every manager knows,
29:43
so we do more manually because we handpicked our selection,
29:47
we send pictures to them.
29:48
AI, I'm sure will help us to better improve.
29:51
AI is also can help you to predict the buying.
29:55
So also make forecast for the fabrics you will need.
29:58
So, of course, it's very important to always be aware of time and not
30:03
close within your world and not be open to understand what there is.
30:07
Some things I had been approached,
30:09
but it could work if you have over five hundred stores.
30:12
Yeah. And the numbers should be much bigger.
30:14
Still we have eighty stores. Yeah.
30:17
The company it's a mid size company and,
30:22
we are looking at it.
30:23
For sure they're gonna help us to improve,
30:26
but what I'm the most concerned today and where we are focusing
30:30
this year and I'm sure next year, it's acquiring,
30:36
minorities or majorities of our supply chain because I think in
30:40
the future, it's gonna be a lack.
30:41
Yeah.
30:42
As we said before,
30:42
when we talk about sustainability is to keep on
30:47
continuing the heritage of the work or the workforce and the
30:50
craftsmanship that we have.
30:52
So priority it is to secure the
30:55
supply chain, have it within your world Mhmm.
30:59
And be sure that these people are gonna be loyal to you and
31:02
can help you to deliver to the market those amazing product
31:05
that they are able to do.
31:06
Yeah. Wonderful. Super.
31:08
And, Nicolo, thank you so much for having me.
31:11
Thank you. Great.
31:12
Great to spend this hour this this time with you.
31:14
Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you.