Rewoven
So many companies, so few brands
While this was my first time documenting Pitti for you all, I’ve been in Florence for it for many years and attended plenty of dinners and events over the years. Yet when we move all the grammable content and superficial commentary aside, it continues to strike me how few brands are in attendance. There are a lot of businesses that exhibit at Pitti, but so few brands. There is a (false) belief that when your product is great, customers will come. Many small and medium-sized companies fall victim to this fallacy because they get initial traction; many even have continued success because they are not selling directly to customers but to retailers. Those retailers are often experts because they have to know what they are buying and if the consumer will purchase it. This is partially the reason why I started highlighting so many brands that produce above-average and top-tier products because they epically fail at conveying any sort of value proposition. While I might be biased as a trained and academically accomplished marketer, the accidental tactification of marketing in this space creates so many unnecessary issues where all brands can rely on are their retailers and a pricing that tells the consumer “this must be good”. Now, does every brand have to engage in world-building or problem-solving? No. Should every brand stand for something that is clear to their target consumers ? 100%, yes.
It is understandable that many belittle marketing when we have just gone through a decade of ZIRP DTC brands that just paid the Meta/Google tax to CAC their way into existence. Or the continued tactification with nonsense like digital marketing strategy or community building, because first, one or more channels can never be a strategy because every channel is a tactical component to executing the strategy - and you start with proper strategy work (segmentation, targeting, positioning) before you are landing on tactics. Community building is nice, but again, it’s a tactic, not a strategy. All it will do is create a small pool of loyal followers that will, at best, promote your brand without creative oversight - and it’s never free because you invested in building that community, but more importantly, community rarely scales, and if scale and light buyers are core to the survival of your business, those 1000 loyal fans won’t do square for your bottom line.
So why are there so few brands in the realm of well-made fashion products ? Because they all rest on their laurels and craftsmanship instead of actively defining their target customer segment and communicating why they offer the best solution in their product category. This means that if more brands would spend an ounce of their creative resources on defining their positioning, I would not be able to do what I do online and offline. :)
Consumption
The H580 slip-on sneaker is on sale - in varying countries
Curated summer sale items for men and women via ShopMy as well as linen pieces
Aroma 30
The Roman brand was founded by Michaela Fasanella, who teaches at the Academia Costume e Moda and focuses on turning deadstock fabric into long-lasting garments - mostly dresses. All garments are made in small ateliers in Rome, which feeds into the slow fashion concept. This concept leads to an incredibly attractive value proposition and business model, where every item is essentially made to order, while bust, waist and hip measurements can be taken into account, and yet, you will end up with a black silk dress for €186, an orange cotton dress for €169 or a cotton lace top for €140. The brand does use all fibers, meaning that if you strictly shop for natural fibers, you will have to read the product description because some dresses are made from man-made fiber deadstock fabrics.
Shop here - Follow on Instagram
Leather backpacks
The humble high school carry-on. Leather bagpacks have seen a renaissance of sorts in years. Whether this was driven by tech bros being tired of employer/conference merch or people’s desire for a simpler, more youthful period in their lives when a bagpack contained all they needed will have to be studied. Either way, here is a selection of expertly crafted book bowls, chemistré carry-ons, and school sacs.
Read the article - Watch the video
Aurélien
The Dutch brand is probably best known for its standout suede shoes. However, the brand also produces a “total look” wardrobe for men and shoes for women. Most yarns and fabrics come from reputable sources, which underlines the brand’s positioning as “good value for $$$” brand, or as it likes to call it “smart luxury” - which is counterintuitive because luxury is about excess, but here we are.
Read the article - Shop here - Watch the video
HQ brands - Césaire Paris
The conglomerate to self-actualized entrepreneur pipeline - meet Stephanie Césaire. She founded her namesake label in 2007, and despite all the minimum requirements that brands have to fulfill to get mentioned here, like being Made in France or using great leather from reputable tanneries, her brand features aspects that are rare to find. One is design, there is a sense of originality to all of her bags. Second, texture, almost all leather has been shrunken to great that pebbled texture many of us love so much. The bags are all made in small quantities by three ateliers throughout France, so you may have to wait a little bit until your bag arrives, but you will receive a thoughtfully designed piece that has been made from durable leather by artisans in France.
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