Alberto Racca

This article present a compelling perspective on the limitations of celebrity-driven marketing within the luxury sector. We are indeed witnessing a notable shift toward “quiet luxury,” where exclusivity, privacy, and refined experiences are increasingly valued over the transient excitement generated by high-profile endorsements. The effectiveness of relying on celebrities has diminished, especially when considering their impact on conversion rates. While such endorsements may create initial buzz, they often do not translate into lasting sales. True luxury consumers, who have the means to invest in high-end products, prioritize authentic experiences and appreciate understated elegance rather than overt displays of wealth. Brands that emphasize their heritage and core values resonate more profoundly with discerning buyers. These consumers seek craftsmanship and personalization, fostering a deeper connection with the brand that transcends mere celebrity associations. As the luxury market continues to evolve, it is essential for brands to adapt their strategies to focus on quality, exclusivity, and tailored experiences. This thoughtful approach will cultivate stronger, more sustainable relationships with clients, steering away from the fleeting allure of celebrity culture.

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The EU needs a huge joint effort to stop the deceleration spiral that has very structural long-term reasons beyond the economic cycle. Mario Draghi's "competitiveness strategy" issued in early September nails this down very well. The below chart highlights in a very simple manner, why the EU needs to work on closing the innovation gap including rising dynamism, reducing bureaucracy, increasing productivity and improving the ability to tap private market funding. For more details and many more charts and facts, read here: EU competitiveness: https://lnkd.in/ejc7mRPv. #eu #economics #innovation

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Could Autry become the next Golden Goose in affordable luxury sneakers? 👟✨ STYLE CAPITAL SGR S.p.A., the renowned Italian private equity group, known for its major success with Golden Goose, has acquired a 50.2% stake Autry International, the brand behind the iconic #Autry  sneakers. This strategic partnership is set to propel Autry into a powerful new chapter of growth and innovation. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: • 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵: Autry’s revenue skyrocketed from €𝟯 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 €𝟭𝟭𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 📈 • 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: 20+ Autry stores are planned to open in luxury shopping destinations across Italy and internationally 🏬🌍 • 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: A renewed focus on building Autry’s online presence and expanding its e-commerce capabilities 💻✨ • I𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Strengthening global distribution for greater reach 🌐 With its unique positioning between classic sportswear and luxury (price point: €200-300), Autry is poised to become a leading player in the premium sneaker segment. Under Style Capital’s guidance—and their proven track record with brands like Golden Goose - Autry aims to build a compelling brand story, expand awareness, and drive continuous product innovation. What’s next? Autry targets €𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰, with ambitions to surpass €𝟯𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. As a brand enthusiast and business strategist, I’m excited to see how this journey unfolds. #FashionIndustry #SneakerCulture #PrivateEquity #BrandGrowth #Sneakers #Luxury  

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Time is more relevant than money. Mentioned Andrea Di Camillo, Founding Partner at P101. Building a leading tech company involves many moving parts: 👉 developing products 👉 adapting to markets 👉 scaling internationally 👉 establishing governance This doesn’t happen overnight. Italy might not be the next Silicon Valley just yet. BUT, with the right direction and time, the future looks bright. Tune in for the full story on EUVC & your favorite streaming platforms. 🎧 https://lnkd.in/dXSsg2fd #EUVCpodcast #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Unsold goods worth over €4.7B, with brands unable to considerably mark down stock. This can result in decreasing their brand value in the long term‼️ It’s very clear how the luxury sector is changing and how the luxury shopper is choosing to spend their money. Whether they are turning to renting their designer treasures or buying from the tons of preloved websites now available. Something has changed their MINDSET. This to me could be any or all of the below factors: ✔️ THE quality of preloved items is much better, especially RTW ✔️FEELING the exclusivity of a unique fashion archive piece, with a low risk that someone else has it ✔️ THEY are buying/renting designer pieces up to 70% off, that in most cases look nearly new ✔️ BUYING/RENTING preloved pieces cuts global gas emissions ✔️ THEIR taste/weight changes therefore always flipping their wardrobe. If your wardrobe is full of luxury items that no longer serve you, making getting ready and finding specific items a hassle.. I CAN HELP & MAKE YOU MONEY! Whilst also becoming your preloved stylist ♻️ DM me to get started…

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#KKR #ENI Alternative asset and private equity investor KKR announced the acquisition of a 25% stake in Enilive, the mobility transformation and biofuels-focused business of Italian energy company Eni, for €2.94 billion (USD$3.2 billion), valuing the unit at $12.8 billion. Eni launched the Enilive brand in 2023, with the goal of offering integrated services and products that are progressively decarbonized by 2050, converging the company’s mobility activities, including its biorefining and biomethane assets, and smart mobility solutions, as well as the distribution of mobility energy carriers through its more than 5,000 Enilive Stations in Europe. Eni has announced plans for Enilive to more than double its biorefining capacity from 2023 to 2026 to more than 3 million tons, and to reach more than 5 million tons per year by 2030. https://lnkd.in/dhE37shh

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Did you hear the news? About how luxury fashion houses are exploiting and manipulating the "Made in Italy" reputation? It's down right deceitful. It's time for consumers and companies to make more conscious decisions in their buying decisions. #esg #csr #eventplanning #corporategifting

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𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗴𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗣𝗢 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱! 🐣 When Francesco Pascalizi, Partner at Permira, who has built a solid track record in the Consumer space (La Piadineria, eDreams ODIGEO, Valentino, etc...) decides to kill the IPO of Golden Goose, one of Europe's hottest IPO prospects for 2024, 2 days before its listing, a clear message is sent to the market. The French political environment has delayed the prospect of a healthy European IPO market by at least 12 months (if not more) and the upcoming US elections will also have market watchers waiting to see what happens in November. Let's wait and see.... Very insightful article by Ivan of the Financial Times #privateequity #ipo #europe #market

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Very clear analysis on the potential of the VC in creating the new large companies and creating value

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Promising signs for Italy's tech scene as Desia raise $3.3m. Desia is an AI-led intelligence platform for investment professionals! 🚀 Great report by Tom Matsuda on Sifted below: 'One of the cofounders of Italy’s first unicorn Scalapay has raised $3.3m for his new startup Desia, an AI-led intelligence platform for investment professionals. The round was led by Dig Ventures and featured participation from 2100 Ventures, Exor Ventures, and Octopus Ventures. Raffaele Terrone, formerly the CFO at buy now, pay later company Scalapay, founded Desia alongside Alessandro Amaro and Mehmet Öner Y., former employees of private equity giant Advent International.' A question to my network - what role do you think AI-led platforms will play in shaping the future of the Italian market? See the article in the comments below 😄 #ai #fundraise #investments

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#LVMH kicked off the quarterly results season, more companies will follow in the coming days. I had the pleasure to comment the first results with Adolfo Valente on Class CNBC #LVMH reported a 2% decline, both overall and for the Fashion & Leather Goods business group, hence below the already low growth expectations for 2024 (low single digit). The Asia-Pacific region recorded the strongest decline, with the exception of Japan. China’s domestic economy is facing some near-term challenges along with a wave of national pride known as #Guochao, which can be seen in consumers’ preference for products that proudly incorporate Chinese colors, symbols and other elements of Chinese culture. These trends have shifted consumption patterns in China. On the other hand, India’s economy and consumer confidence are growing fast, paving the ground for interesting growth opportunities for luxury brands. Interpreting geographical trends is as important as engaging different age groups: by 2026, more than 75% of all luxury consumers will be #Millennial and #GenZ shoppers. For example, #Moncler invested a lot into growing its customer base and loyalty in new generations, thus laying the ground for structural growth, as confirmed by 2023 results (above market average). Regarding channels, while #ecommerce is stabilizing after the pandemic boom, brands are investing heavily into #retail as a tool to deliver experiences and customer engagement with the brand and its products. This is driving significant investments into real estate, like the recent example of #Kering in via Monte Napoleone, Milan. #fashion #moda #luxury #lusso

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Lorenzo Franzi and the Italian Founders Fund. Congratulations! <3 This week, Lorenzo and his team launched the Italian Founders Fund. They brought together over 100 founders and entrepreneurs, pooling €50M to support the next generation. It’s a big deal for Italian entrepreneurship. He has watched the Italian market with Global Founders Capital for three years. He has seen tremendous progress, met many talented people, and met ambitious new founders. Now, they're building the next wave of tech companies and putting Italy on the venture capital map. The pay-it-forward model—where experienced founders help the new generation—has worked in many places. Lorenzo and his team are making it happen in Italy with the Italian Founders Fund. They’re looking to work with angels and local investors. They're also excited about the growing interest from international investors. Their goal? Support Italian founders abroad and welcome foreign ventures to Italy. #ItalianFoundersFund #VC #Tech #Entrepreneurship #Italy #Innovation

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In recent days many esteemed peers reached me out to ask for some multimedia content that could better explain the latest innovation layer we’re building in PINKO. I have had the amazing opportunity to share some features during several occasions: from IKN Italy “Future Lab Leader Summit” to Pitti Immagine #ePSummit and finally Dagorà LifeStyle Innovation Hub #innovationday Yes we truly believe in GenAI opportunity and we’re building applications that may change forever the way we approach to data. Mixing my tech soul with a glimpse of marketeers approach we named ‘Pinko Brain 🧠’ a unique ensemble of approaches in AI panorama we envisioned, putting together solutions crafted with machine learning with advanced decision support systems and conversational-generative models. Among different concreta applications we have fostered the conversational approach to data creating a ‘company copilot’ capable of achieving complex tasks from analysis to segmentation to multimodal generative activations. In this video we see a bad English dialogue - made to see if the engine was capable of understanding anyway - starting from Q/A on performances in retail and landing to a real marketing campaign sendout. Work that requires usually hours - if not days - and multiple people involved can be achieved in few simple progressive steps that any retail-trained mind knows how to do. It’s truly exciting to think about how many incredible opportunities we’re offering to our users alla round the world. Data Life Srl is the partner that made all of that possibile in a very short time, thanks to their excellence in building state of the art AI platform. It’a a magical moment for tech! #AI #GenAI #LLM #RAG #MachineLearning #Retail #Fashion #Luxury #multimodal #operational #marketing #tech #future

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Italian handbags, footwear and leather goods maker Furla SpA has entered formal debt restructuring talks with its creditors after years of losses, trying to stabilize the capital structure and restart the business. The decision follows the budget for 2021 and 2022 closing at a loss. According to Bloomberg, at the end of 2022 the company, led by the Furlanetto family, had debt to banks in the amount of 154 million euros. Furla is reportedly working on a plan to present to creditors. There are no official data yet for 2023. Furla CEO Giorgio Presca told MF Fashion that in 2023 the company had “a positive first half of the year but a difficult second half.” The company defined market conditions for the first half of 2024 as “extremely volatile.” Sales of the Bolognese brand are affected by the Chinese market, which in recent months has not been encouraging with increased demand for luxury goods. “To support the ongoing process of transformation and transition,” the owners have committed to refinancing the company by paying €25 million. #furla

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When your Branding and Positioning are Linked to Strategy the results are powerful. How Milan #Italy based Prada Group are defying the downturn. Business of Fashion notes "the Milanese group reported 9 month net revenues up 18 percent year-on-year, powered by eye-popping growth at Miu Miu which recorded a 105 % jump in sales! In general the #luxury sector has faced a significant global slowdown particularly exacerbated by the slump in China and flat sales in the USA. The biggest luxury group in the world, LVMH shares have fallen more than 15% this year. Kering shares are down more than 40% this year and the company has warned that profits would be have this year due to very poor performance at GUCCI. Back at Prada however it appears the brand is firing on all cylinders, and their Miu Miu brand is being worn by everyone from young Asian pop starts to Nicole Kidman. “We are operating in a challenging environment for the entire luxury value chain,” said Prada group chair Patrizio Bertelli. “Nonetheless we continue to see opportunities for our brands and we remain committed to our investment plan in retail, technology and industrial capabilities.” Prada SpA which lists on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (ticker: HKG:1913) shares are up 35.19% YTD and 133.07% over the past five years as at 31OCT. In terms of #Strategy what I think is most interesting to consider is how carefully both the PRADA and MIU MIU brands have targeted their segments and ensured the positioning and customer experience align so closely with the Strategic intent and client expectations. Even as the fashion and especially luxury segment face a downturn, the group are able to buck the trend and deliver significant results (note: as have Milano based Moncler Group with both their eponymous brand and the newer acquisition of high performer Stone Island.) So many iconic brands are based in Italy, a few of which are included in this picture below- which ones jump out at you and create that powerful emotional connection? Why or Why not? Have you, your funds, or your companies ever invested in Italy? So many rich opportunities for global platforms and world class innovation. Strategy is Mastery.

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Via The Business of Fashion. Confirming my previous post! Luxury brands raising their prices higher than inflation rate WITHOUT the backup of true newness in products, combined with formulaic consumer engagement, and questionable quality proposition is a sure recipe for gloom and doom! Hermes, Cucinelli, Moncler are buckling the trends, but what works for them may not work for your brand. Find your own voice! Among the underpeforming brands, I still hold hope for a rare few. For them, this quote from Bemjamin Disraeli comes to mind: "The secret of success, is constancy of Purpose." To these brands, I say: listen to your consumers, learn, adjust, focus, and trust your teams!!! ... and don't waste a good crisis!

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The global luxury market recorded remarkable growth of 8% to 10% in 2023 despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, with the Chinese market playing a key role. According to the 22nd edition of the annual Luxury Study by Bain & Company and Fondazione Altagamma, the market reached a record volume of €1.5 trillion. Particularly notable is the growth in personal luxury goods, the „core“ of the luxury segment, which is expected to reach €362 billion, an increase of 4% compared to 2022. However, the dynamics of the luxury market showed a slowdown, especially in the US and Europe, while the Chinese market regained momentum. This development underlines the importance of a customised strategy for the Chinese luxury goods market. China set the pace for growth in 2023, benefiting from strong domestic demand and a renewed influx of Chinese tourists across the region. Despite a strong performance following the reopening in the first quarter, growth in China slowed over the course of the year due to new macroeconomic concerns. Europe, on the other hand, benefited from the ongoing recovery in tourism, while the Americas region experienced a slowdown over the course of the year. In this context, it is crucial for luxury brands to understand the unique needs and preferences of Chinese consumers and develop a targeted strategy for this lucrative market. The study also highlights the growing importance of in-store experiences combined with digital elements, as well as the importance of adapting to multi-generational complexities. By 2030, Gen Z and millennials are expected to account for 75% to 85% of luxury market purchases, emphasising the need for a differentiated brand strategy. Moderate growth in the low to mid-single digits is expected for 2024. With slowing growth and increasing performance polarisation, it is crucial that luxury brands adapt their strategies and focus on creativity, innovation and a clear market focus. Strategy on branding plays a key role in helping luxury brands to differentiate themselves in the market and achieve sustainable growth.

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Discover How Cloov is Transforming Fashion and Sustainability Everyone thinks fast fashion is here to stay. However, Cloov is proving that sustainable fashion is not only possible but profitable. Here's how this Milanese fashion-tech startup is changing the game. Cloov recently secured €400k in pre-seed funding led by Axxelera, marking a significant milestone in their journey. Founded by Chiara Airoldi and Olimpia Santella, Cloov offers a platform that extends the life of clothing and combats fast fashion through innovative online rental services. With backing from industry leaders like Giuseppe Stigliano of Spring Studios and the investment vehicle Innovando, Cloov is well-positioned to revolutionize the fashion industry. Why should you care? Cloov’s platform supports the Circular Economy Action Plan and the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, helping brands comply with stringent European regulations aimed at reducing waste and environmental impact. Cloov’s end-to-end service includes creating branded re-commerce sites for renting and second-hand sales, managing orders, and handling logistics like washing and repairs. This not only cuts down on waste but also preserves brand margins and customer engagement. Already partnering with luxury, ceremonial, sports, and kidswear brands, Cloov is making strides in the industry. Their clients include Atelier Emé and Sofia Provera, with more launches planned this year. By the end of 2024, Cloov aims to expand into Germany, Spain, and Northern Europe, enhancing its proprietary software and strengthening its market presence in Italy. Now go out there and make your mark—embrace the future of fashion with Cloov and be the change you wish to see in the world. What do you think about renting your wardrobe? Yes or No? Laura Puricelli Alessandro Franzese Daniele Calvo Pollino Marco Bisato Giulio Cesarelli Avel Lenttan Katia de Martino Francesco Basile https://lnkd.in/dNeTpEE3 #Cloov #FashionTech #SustainableFashion #CircularEconomy #FastFashion #EcoFriendly #MondayFunding

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