At Milan Fashion Week, headlines go to splashy names, over-the-top fashions and celebrities posing by catwalks.
But behind the scenes, Italy's smaller and medium-sized brands, the often family-owned lifeblood of the industry, are doggedly defending their craft, striving to keep alive long traditions of excellence.
One of them, Agnona, began in 1953 as a wool mill in Italy's northern Piedmont region, producing luxurious textiles in natural fabrics like cashmere, lambswool and angora that supplied top haute couture houses in Paris, from Christian Dior to Givenchy to Yves Saint Laurent.
Acquired in 1999 by the Ermengildo Zegna Group, Agnona switched from textiles to apparel and was sold in 2020 to Zegna family members Stefano Aimone, the chief executive and creative director, and his father Roberto.
Agnona, which is opening its first flagship store in Milan next month, envisions a global network of owned and franchised stores in future.
Stefano Aimone sat down with AFP to explain the challenges facing smaller names amid competition from the big fashion conglomerates, changes in consumer habits and the race towards retail.
- 'Overwhelmed by demand' -
"If you want to aim for quality and certain types of craftsmanship you have to stay here in our Italian boot. But many companies have closed. Many closed because of Covid, post-Covid they were absorbed into larger groups because costs went up, prices fluctuated, they had periods of no sales -- no work at all -- followed by excess work. Financially they didn't have the reserves.
"The businesses that remain are now extremely overwhelmed by demand from the big French groups and the Italian brands.
"The problem isn't just cut-and-sew, it's also the production of materials, because everything cascades down... the dye houses that are still around are clogged up, which creates delays, and delays weaken the quality of the entire industrial process."
- 'Made in Italy' -
"I'd say 'Made in Italy' is becoming relatively less important to them (customers); the customer now identifies more with the brand itself, with its values, with what the brand represents...
"Made in Türkiye, Made in Italy, Made in France -- it can be important, but it's definitely not as important as it once was, because brands have been very active in communicating many other values they embody, which provide justification beyond geography.
"And in a way that's right, because a brand isn't just its product -- it's also what it stands for and what it does beyond the product itself."
- 'Sowing seeds' -
"We're just under 15 million euros in revenue but we expect to reach 20 million and beyond within three years.
"We still have many markets that we haven't even started talking to, for example, all of China, the entire Middle East, all of Latin America, the whole APAC region including Australia.
"Since we took over the brand, there have been years of rebuilding: not only rebuilding our premises -- the industrial site and the headquarters -- but working on the collection.
"We introduced menswear, so we focused heavily on internal work, and we didn't necessarily want to push revenue right away. Because if you go out to market without a solid product, you risk ruining everything you're trying to achieve -- it can be counterproductive.
"So those were years of sowing seeds, and now that we're ready, we're beginning to address the global market."
