Guest post by Grant Harris

Gianni Cerutti is a passionate Italian craftsman using his talents to create handmade seven-fold ties in the heart of his home country. Styleforum recently featured Sette Neckwear in our D.C. Shopping Guide, and after talking with them for the SF10 event, they are highly recommended. However, options are among man’s best friends. Enter Passaggio Cravatte. Grant Harris of Image Granted spoke with owner Mr. Gianni Cerutti. Mr. Cerutti uses ancient/vintage silks, cashmeres, and wools to create his masterpieces.

Grant Harris: Tell us about Passaggio Cravatte. What is the history and background of the company?

Gianni Cerutti: Passaggio Cravatte was established in 2010 because of dissatisfaction, and passion, of myself and Marta Passaggio.

Why dissatisfaction? In Italy we saw the same old ties. With the usual drawings, the usual models, and the usual quality. In fact, almost all now offer a commercial-grade product. Today 90% of the ties that exist in Italy are standardized, readymade, not to measure. We, however, we wanted to create a more exclusive product  according to Neapolitan tradition. In fact I think I can say that we are the only ones in Italy to do only custom neckties and accessories. We have nothing readymade. Our ties are cut and made one by one by seamstresses who worked in the most prestigious fashion houses of the city.

Why passion? The tie for us is life. Ties for us is not work but fun—a real passion. We put our heart in. We demand the best of ourselves to pass on to customers. And only with passion we can pamper our clients. In fact, ours is not a company but a family. Customers are our best relatives.

GH: What types of fabrics do you use and where do you source them?  Why these fabrics and not others?

GC: For us the fabrics are another distinctive feature. Our silks are 90% original vintage. Some have even 50 or 60 years their shoulders. They are really unique pieces. They are all hand printed. Then we also have modern fabrics, but always with vintage designs. For example, we have reproduced the lines of an English archive of 1930-1940. Another fabric that we use is the fancy silk gauze, cashmere, and wool from Biella, always vintage. We buy only the best fabrics on the market. Buy in Como and England. And we do not want to save on fabric. We only want the best for our customers.

GH: What are the hallmarks of a PC piece?  What makes them different from any other Italian seven-fold?

GC: What makes our ties are unique models. Four are the most exclusive. In addition to the traditional ties and four-folds, we do seven-folds—the old unlined, with or without lining all done by hand. This is a very particular model because it dates back to the early 1900s. Also, the classic in a single piece of silk, the four-folds in a single piece of silk, and the seven-folds in a single piece of silk.

These last three models, they  do not make them virtually at all anymore. Today all the world’s neckties are made from two or three pieces of silk while these are cut in a single piece of silk. They are the Ferrari of ties, the most prestigious. To make this model requires as a great technical ability and the suitable luxury fabrics. Because if one misses the cut, it just throws his tie. All our ties can be lined, or unlined.

The other feature is that we make everything by hand. And in fact, customers who choose the model, the internal measures, opening of the folds, color rear of the stitching and whether or not to embroider your initials or your family crest. In addition to the ties we make tailored bow ties, pocket squares, ascots, and cummerbunds.

GH: Where are your current points of distribution?  What are your plans for distribution in the future?

GC: Our home and studio is located in Robbio, near Milan and Malpensa airport, on a Dei Mille 10. Then we are often in Naples where we have our own atelier. Many customers will meet in Naples or Milan. We are not an industry so much as a family-run business.  We do not like to have a shop, because we see it as too commercial. We are real craftsmen. And we want to remain craftsmen. We go where the customers are.

To make an appointment just send an e-mail to info@passaggiocravatte.com. We will respond quickly and try to make an appointment in Italy. In addition, for those who want to but live far away, we can send an email with pictures of our fabrics in high definition. Then we will decide together how to make the tie. And within a month we send the tie.

We provide ties to all those who are lovers of quality. For example, we provide a service tailored to some very exclusive shops.

GH: Do you think there is too much emphasis on “Made in Italy”?  If so, why?  What percentage of your product is made in Italy?

GC: Our product is all done by hand and 100% in Naples. We are craftsmen and artisans and want to stay that way. We care about quality and not quantity. “Made in Italy” does not mean what it once did. Today they all say “Made in Italy” and then they do abroad. It’s just a label now. So when you go to buy a product should always be careful! My advice is to go beyond the brand and label. We must look at the quality.

GH: Who is your current customer?  What draws him to your product?

GC: Our client is passionate about the extent and quality. Our style is dandy. And those who turn to us do so because they cannot find what we have from anyone else. From the models, to the fabric, to the made-to-measure service. Today we have customers around the world. From pure dandies to politicians to industrialists.

GH: What knot do you recommend using for the maximum versatility and utmost style for your ties?

GC: The knot is a very personal choice. I prefer a classic single or double.

GH:  Is there anything else you’d like the Styleforum audience to know about PC?

GC: I want to congratulate Styleforum for 10 years of life. I think it’s the most important forum in the world of men’s style. Frequently, you can find obscure knowledge on Styleforum. It is an honor for us to do this interview.

Thanks Gianni!

Photo by Slim Aarons.

Bruce Pask gives the T Magazine endorsement to Orlebar Brown’s photo printed shorts. Wear Slim Aaron’s sun-drenched beachside photos while lounging poolside. META.

Uniqlo signs Novak Djokovic as brand ambassabor. Djok will debut his new duds at the French open–I assume Uniqlo Vintage Chinos and a +J parka.

Our Legacy releases image of their fall 2012 lookbook, shot by Takashi Homma. In: pajama suits, snow-covered leaves. Out: smiling.

Simon Crompton visits with Alan Flusser. Dressed in track pants and a suit jacket, Flusser touts a new age of Chinese manufacturing (0).

Michael Williams endorses the Nike/Cole Haan Lunargrand chukka. The designs almost compensate for previous Nike/CH models, which were  a hybrid Dr. Moreau would find grotesque.

Complex publishes a list of men’s style blogs you should be reading. I noted one oversight, at least…

WWD covers a goofball parade Beret Baguette Ride in Paris. It’s no Paris-Brest-Paris.

Barney’s presale started today, and other stores should be beginning to mark down spring/summer gear before long. Despite the fact the summer doesn’t even unofficially start until Monday.

Siki Im's fall 2012 collection continues his evolution of sharp tailoring worn with unusual shapes. A headband is just one of several basketball references.

When Siki Im moved to New York in 2001, he had no intention of designing clothes. After graduating with honors from England’s Oxford Brookes School of Architecture, Im took a position with a New York architecture firm, but over time realized the job wasn’t satisfying him. Since high school he had liked clothes, admiring  iconoclastic labels like Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons, and especially Helmut Lang before they were well-known beyond fashion circles. When Im got the opportunity to join Helmut Lang (in the post-Lang era), he took it. After several years working in the fashion industry, he decided it was time to start his own label, and in September 2009 he introduced his first solo collection. Inspired by William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, it was a hit, earning him the Ecco Domani Award for Best Men’s Wear.

Im’s collections since have taken their inspiration from a variety of sources—Native Americans, the immigrant experience, Michael Jordan—but each works with one consistent vision. Beautifully tailored blazers and coats, billowing pants, and elongated tops, all crafted from luxurious fabrics—often in black—form the foundations of that vision. Im also insists on adhering to traditional methods whenever possible. Most of his blazers are fully canvassed and hand-tailored at Martin Greenfield Clothiers in Brooklyn, and his denim, which he introduced in his spring-summer 2012 collection, is all selvage sourced from Cone Mills in North Carolina. Im’s fans may not know exactly what to expect with each collection, but they can always be certain it will be expertly made, modern, and smart.

Styleforum contributor Marc Bain sat down with Im at his Manhattan design studio to talk about Im’s work, his influences, and whether fashion has a brain.

A lapel-less blazer from Im's spring-summer 2012 show.

Marc Bain: Walk me through your design process. Where do you start when you’re coming up with a collection?

Siki Im: It’s not very linear. It starts always with something like an emotion or feeling, or even a proportion I’d really like to develop further, and then I test it out for a couple months—or not months, it depends—[to see] if I still like it. Sometimes you listen to great music, and maybe at first you hate it, but it’s stuck in your head and you start thinking about it more and more. Then you think maybe that’s something which is valid, you know? The initiation, sometimes it starts with a mood, like from a book, or once it was a New York Times article, once it was a movie. I try to keep it pretty open. At the beginning I started with books, but then people were asking “What will be the next book?” And if that already happens then it’s not really fresh.

I like to also surprise a little bit. The spring-summer ’12 collection was pretty heavy because it was about the Arab Spring in a way. Then last season I did the opposite more or less. It was a lot of Michael Jordan in the ’90s, because somewhere along when I was developing and designing the spring-summer collection it got very political, which I personally love but I don’t know if it was justified in fashion. I was a huge basketball fan in the ’90s and into all that stuff, so how can I make that into a non-streetwear, non-literal form, you know? So it’s definitely not linear.

MB: You’re known for doing a thesis for each collection. Where does that come in? Is the idea there from the start?

SI: My first collection, Lord of the Flies, it was really parallel. But sometimes it comes way before, sometimes in the middle, sometimes it’s later. If it does come later, usually the mood or the theme was already there; I just had to dig deeper and research more. For me, what I really like is researching more, so every season I can learn something. It keeps my mind going, which I need and appreciate. It’s just also fun. People can dis and say it’s not relevant or it’s too much, and that’s fine, but for my sake I like to learn and research and study.

MB: Do you have a particular person in mind as your customer?

SI: I’d like to say 25-35, male, sophisticated, but no. We do also have women wearing it, which I think is very beautiful. But it’s not for everyone, just because of the fit, the details, the price, the visibility. I think it will already in itself direct to a certain group.

MB: One thing I’ve noticed looking at your pieces is that you choose really beautiful, rich fabrics. How do your fabric choices play into your designs?

SI: Like with music, if you write a song, sometimes the melody comes before the lyrics, sometimes the other way, sometimes they go together. It’s the same thing. Sometimes with certain garments I design I already know what the fabric is, or sometimes I’ll see a fabric and I know what type of garment it should be. So it goes hand-in-hand.

MB: You studied architecture, so how did you end up designing clothes?

SI: It was pure accident. I just like designing. I never thought to become a fashion designer. Somewhere along, when I was working in an architecture office, I was just getting bored doing, like, renderings and drawings twelve hours a day, and buildings take so long to be built because of the scale. I just wanted to try something else in terms of designing. It could’ve been a car or anything else. New York City is so open and so horizontal in terms of how you can move around and meet people—it’s like a playground almost—and I’ve been very fortunate. It took me a really long time to call myself a fashion designer.

Im experiments with silhouettes more than most menswear designers.

MB: You’ve said that Helmut Lang was a big influence on you. What about his work attracted you?

SI: Since probably the end of high school I was really attracted to his aesthetic. I couldn’t tell you why. Then coming to New York I studied more of his stuff, just going to the stores. I liked everything he did. It was always modern, meaning timeless, and always pushed the boundaries of what fashion is. The advertising, store design, the details: it was amazing, and it’s still so valid. If you see his menswear by itself, it’s well-made clothes but very simple. But it’s about the context. Everything he tried to do, and he did, like thinking of new ways to think of menswear and also to think of fashion. He was one of the first advertising on a New York cab. He was one of the first streaming online, on dial-up. And he had a great team, like Melanie Ward, who I was fortunate enough to work with afterwards. They just pushed the boundary.

MB: Do you keep up with menswear blogs at all?

SI: I really wish, just to keep myself, I don’t know, relevant or contemporary. I try to, and there are some that I look at, but not as I used to when I was in the corporate world and had more time [laughs]. I do sometimes now to just get away from reality and see what’s up and what’s out there, but not as much as I should maybe, I don’t know. I’m trying to also be very controlled. I teach at Parsons and I see the students, they come with so much research material and so much research from blogs that it dilutes and clouds. It’s just too much.

MB: So it’s not good that they have so much material?

SI: All the social media is great, but you really have to control yourself so that it doesn’t control you. Especially in design. If you have too much information, when are you going to say stop and do your own thinking, rather than getting inspired and influenced by other things? It could be a very dangerous process.

MB: Your heritage is Korean; you were born in Germany; you went to university in England; now you live and work in New York. That’s a very global experience. Has that had any influence on your work?

SI: It’s very strong, that dichotomy. Even in university, all my theses were about identity, and about anthropology, and cultural context and dissonance. It’s the same thing, I think, with my collections. It’s all about different poles and juxtapositions which could be violent or beautiful. This is what I always love, the tension between, say, soft and hard fabrics, or Wall Street and religious influence [Im's fall-winter 2010 collection], or—I’m just referencing certain of my collections—immigrant culture and living in the Western Hemisphere [spring-summer 2011], or Middle East meets globalization meets America [spring-summer 2012], or Michael Jordan meets suiting [fall-winter 2012]. I’m always interested in that because I think that is reality and it is honest and imperfect, and this is what I like. It’s also how I’ve been living and experiencing, you know, messing around with identities.

MB: What are some examples of garments you’ve designed that you think demonstrate this juxtaposition you’re talking about?

SI: The tunic. I love tunics. The tunic is a garment which is very, in a way, ethnic. It could be seen as a primitive, vernacular garment worn in the Middle East, certain parts of Asia. But I just love it. I love the proportion. So we took the tunic and made it more modern: this is a silk-cotton fabric, and we made it slimmer and more modern with certain details. But this is like a simple metaphor.

MB: And you incorporate that into a more Western, tailored look?

SI: Yeah. For instance, you have this soft, drapey fabric, and I would put a harder, tailored, fully canvassed blazer on top of it, and that gets a look which people think, “Wow, it’s fresh.” But no, it’s not. In the Middle East, that’s what they do: huge tunics with a jacket or blazer. What I do is nothing new. It’s not that avant-garde, I think. It’s just what I like and what I’ve seen in other cultures, studying them. So that’s a simple example. Or that crazy hat from the Native-American collection [Silent Thunderbird Prayer, fall-winter 2011]. It’s actually from images of Native Americans, and they used to wear these crazy big hats. But ours is done in a rabbit felt and, hopefully, more modern. So using those references from those ethnic or vernacular languages and making them more modern with fabric, with proportions, and then clashing them with denim or a leather jacket or a handmade blazer, something like that.

Mixed influences: a Middle-East-inspired tunic; tailored, asymmetrical vest; and Native-American-style hat.

MB: When you think of someone actually wearing your clothes on the street, is there a particular image or fantasy that comes to mind?

SI: I hope it’s some cool kid who could be a skater, or someone who works in a gallery, or someone who goes to a party, or someone who picks up the trash, that would be fun. But since it’s luxurious fabrics and it’s all made here in America, in New York mostly, there are certain limits in terms of price point, so it will already specify a certain [person], unfortunately. But I’ve heard from a couple of customers who say when they wear my clothes they feel very confident and strong and protected. That’s a very nice compliment.

MB: That raises an interesting question about who has access to your clothes since I’ve read that you’re influenced by a lot of left-leaning thinkers. Is that accurate?

SI: I really enjoy postmodernists and poststructuralists from the ’60s and ’70s to the ’90s and now, like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, or like Martin Heidegger. They seem to be socialists/Marxists, but the reason why I like them is not because they are leftists or socialists but because of their critical thinking and critical questioning.

MB: Do you think fashion can be an intellectual pursuit? I guess by that I mean can clothing ask critical questions or make critical statements?

SI: Yeah, I totally think so, because fashion is cultural in itself and culture is usually a reflection of certain opinions or statements. Even like Michelle Obama wearing a lot of domestic designers, it [offers] an opinion. That’s the beautiful thing about fashion: it’s not just clothes, it’s something more than that, which is how design should be actually. It should have an opinion, I think, or no opinion is an opinion too.

MB: Do you have any favorite pieces from your last collection, or from any past collection?

SI: Yeah. We started denim, and I really like some of that stuff. From last collection, I really like the outerwear a lot. I thought it was quite successful. There’s stuff I don’t like as much, but definitely the outerwear I’m very happy about. I enjoy designing outerwear more anyway probably.

MB: Is there any general direction you see your designs heading, or is it just one season to the next?

SI: What’s really important—and some people see it, some people don’t—is that every season we have certain stories or themes, like Native American, or Michael Jordan, or Arab Spring, but if you take the themes out or the colors, then everything should have the same language. Some people think every season I’m so different, which I don’t think at all just because there are certain things that are alike and will continue. You will always see a tunic. You will always see a big, cropped pant. You will always see a black blazer. And it’s just about the styling or the story put on top of that. So for me it’s really important that I keep my language and keep improving my language. It’s important for me also to work on silhouettes, which I think menswear is not really doing so much.

On May 4 and May 5, we had a celebration for our 10 year anniversary, at the W San Francisco.  Over 400 people took part in the event, which included a screening of O’Mast, our vendor showcase, and a party.

We kicked it off Friday evening with cocktails and a sneak preview of the next installment of Put This On, a video series by Jesse Thorn about dressing like a grownup, followed by the featured screening of O’Mast, an acclaimed film about Neapolitan tailors and traditions from Gianluca Migliarotti, who traveled from Milan to be with us.  From there, we proceeded to dinner at Credo, in the private dining area, where translucent walls surrounded us with statements of belief from leaders around the world and throughout time. I had the scallops, and I know that they were delicious. The night concluded with port and espresso at The Wingtip, a private club owned by the proprietors of On The Fly, a San Francisco haberdashery which also participated in our vendor showcase the following day.

On Saturday, I was up at 8 a.m. to start setup for the vendor showcase, which started at noon, sharp.  I was nervous about the turnout, but we had a  steady stream of shoppers from the moment we opened the doors.  Fifteen vendors traveled from as far away as Hawaii and New York City.  The range of vendors reflected the diverse readership of Styleforum.  Goorin Brothers, hatmakers, a San Francisco institution whose goods are sold nationwide, brought a large sample of their heritage hats. Greg Walton of Louis Walton, a one man show, demonstrated how his hand makes the ties he sells.  Yuketen, shoemakers and leathermakers, brought their famous outdoor shoes, as well as bags (always sold out, everywhere,) and accessories, from Hermosa Beach.  On the Fly and A Suitable Wardrobe, Bay Area haberdashers who adhere to impeccable standards, brought fine ties, apparel, and gentlemen’s accoutrements; and A Suitable Wardrobe brought a shoeshiner to boot.  Jimmy Au’s for men 5’8″ and Under, from Beverly Hills, brought many suits, shirts,  and jackets to serve men from just below the national average to very much under the average.  Sette ties, from Washington, D.C. showed off substantial sevenfold ties.  Epaulet, from New York City, brought a full range of their own sportscoats, shirts, trousers, and accessories, made in the USA or in Italy, as well as Carmina shoes, for whom they are the sole stockist in North America.  The Brooklyn Circus also brought its brand of urban dandyism from New York City.  The Hanger Project, a business born of Styleforum, from Texas, came with shoe care products and accessories in addition to their signature hangers; local San Francisco retailers Taylor Stitch brought shirts, jeans, and belts; and Revolver, which proprietor Robert Patterson describes as “a little hippy,” featured a DIY scarf dying booth as well as goods from anyone from Yuketen to Reigning Champ to their own line of casual clothing.  Jack Knife Outfitters took measurements for custom jeans; and Joe Hemrajani of Mytailor.com took measurements for custom suits and shirts.  Leathersoul brought an extensive number of Aldens all the way from Honolulu, as well as examples of bespoke shoes from St. Crispin and George Cleverly, rarities anywhere.

As dusk settled, we settled into eating some snacks and having an immoderate number of drinks with a few hundred of our best friends.

• Ivy Style on the noreasterly direction of the costumes in Wes Anderson’s upcoming Moonrise Kingdom. Bound to be just precious.
• Bruce Pask sees a trend in rubberizing your shoes on the T Magazine blog. Will provide an excuse to make cheap “rubber” jokes in the office.
• A Continuous Lean revisits Brimfield, where vintage dreams are bought and sold, or at the very least photographed and reblogged.
• The inimitable Tyler Brule will host a pop-up Monocle shop at Unionmade in San Francisco May 17. You must have at least level 17 soft power to be admitted.
• From Hermes to Rick Owens and Paul Harnden, clothing is getting more distressed, says a piece the Financial Times.
• SW+D listing of the day: the soughtafter Raf Simons Astros in green.
• Men’s clothing listing of the day: lightweight gray Boglioli sportcoat in Loro Piana fabric.

The Wall Street Journal goes in on the watering down of the term “bespoke.” “Made to measure” crackers just doesn’t have the same ring though.

The Met Gala was last night (that’s right, the Met, you get second billing here). There’s some pictures of guys in tuxedos in here somewhere, but you can be forgiven for ignoring them in favor of Anja Rubik.

Permanent Style gets into summer shirting with chambray. Turns out it’s not just for workwear.

Kanye hates #menswear. #menswear sulks.

Tmag blog reviews the new Kitsune store. They bury the lede that Kitsune sells oxford shirts for $349.

Yoox code alert:  HEADSTART@YOOX for 10% off through May 10 (may be exclusions).

Sartoria Formosa has perhaps one of the best reputations in Naples. The tailoring house is tucked away in the same courtyard as E&G Cappelli, right on Via Cavallerizza, between Via Mille and Via Cavallerizza. It’s a small, woody courtyard–not a lot of foot traffic. However, the workmanship brings its own clientele, and people throughout Naples say the best double-breasted jackets are made here.

The original proprietor, Mario Formosa, passed away somewhat recently, and his son Gennaro now runs the shop. Gennaro is an incredibly warm and gracious gentleman. I came with Gianluca Migliarotti, the director of O’Mast, and he welcomed us both into the workshop by offering us some espresso (a cultural custom for Neapolitan tailors). While we chatted, I noticed three tailors fastidiously sewing away, one of whom was a particularly young man. A good sign for those of us who hope to see Neapolitan tailoring continue well into the future.

Gennaro showed me three garments. The first was one of the double breasted jackets that his father was known for. It was a 6 x 2 jacket (six buttons, two functioning) with peak lapels, extended front darts, and slightly puckered sleeves. The natural, soft shoulders (spalla scesa) and subtly sweeping lapel made it something to behold. The second was a navy single-breasted jacket with a few details that you commonly see in Naples—3/2 roll, soft shoulders, extended front darts, and slightly extended lapels to accentuate the chest. Instead of patch pockets, however, there were jetted ones, and in place of the double stitching, there were single seams that ran right up to the edge. These details gave it a nice, sober look. Finally, Gennaro pulled out a grey herringbone coat that his tailors were working on. It was slightly shaped in the waist, and had a beautiful curved roll towards the buttoning point.

Across from the laboratorio is another workspace, which functions partly as a showroom and partly as a working area for a custom denim line that Gennaro is developing. The jeans had a very continental feel, meaning the fabrics were slightly softer and the fit slightly slimmer. There were also some shirts on display, which made me think Formosa did custom shirts here as well. The collars were exactly the kind you see everywhere in Naples—somewhat high collar bands with soft, long points.

Later that evening, Gianluca and I were walking around Chiaia when we bumped into Gennaro again, who happened to be on his way driving home from work. “Come in,” Gennaro said. “I’ll show you the rest of Naples!” Ever the host, he took us through Bagnoli and Posillipo, two western seaside districts where Roman ruins run up right to the water’s edge. The region sits high above the city, and you can see Mount Vesuvius, the Bay of Pozzuoli, and much of Naples itself. The views were spectacular, and you could see the water and city sparkle below the cliffs. After he dropped me off at my hotel, I smiled on my day well spent.

Showroom and laboratorio
Via Cavallerizza a Chiaia, 37
80121 Naples
Tel. +39 081.41.45.92

Showroom
Via della Moscova, 30
20121 Milan
Tel. +39 02.89.45.34.90/91

One beautiful coat, three angles.

The standard Formosa 6x2 double breasted, Gianluca, and a glimpse of your humble author.

Peak.

A single-breasted jacket from Formosa. Note the lapel proportions, elegant roll, and jetted pockets.

Notch.

Formosa double breasted suit with tonal buttons.

Collar options, from Italian to really Italian.

Fabrics and some jeans Formosa's new denim line.

I hope that's a pinup calendar behind the jacket rack.

Today the discussion is between Nick and Sergio Barange, CEO of Tarrago Brands International, associated with Avel (led by Sergio’s brother-in-law, Marc Moura). Avel is the parent company of Saphir, whose shoe care products are among Styleforum’s most recommended.

Nick V.: Sergio, please tell us about your background.

Sergio Barange: I was born and studied in Barcelona, Spain. I got my degree in economics and business management at 23, after a year in the army. The university gave me my fundamental life/work basis, and the army gave me strength and order, and (as a reserve lieutenant) taught me how to manage 200 people.

I later studied for a 1-year Master in Financials, and then a2-year Master in Business and Administration. I worked for a bank in Barcelona, and for a European hotel group.

In my 20s and 30s I founded several businesses: laser printer recycling, Natura Organics™ cosmetics and body care, Doctor Clic computer assistance, and other smaller endeavors.  With Natura Organics I learned how to create and develop quality products, and Doctor Clic taught me to give good service to people (today this company has more than 150 employees).

I speak six languages, which is very useful when traveling.

Since my 30s, I spend my spare time (not much!) mainly with my three girls; I love skiing and golf, and when I can, I fly a Cessna, as I earned my license recently.

NV: What interested you in the shoe care business?

SB: I have always been a fan of nice shoes. Also my hobby has been the do-it-yourself home and decor activities. (The French company Avel does both lines: Saphir shoe care and Louis XIII DIY products).

Beginning in the 1990s the shoe care and DIY businesses were growing substantially and the opportunity for developing a subsidiary of Avel in Spain was a good challenge. Once I started working with Alexandre Moura, my father-in-law, who was a great business man—our family axis and a unique leader—I realized with no doubt that this was my professional life project.

NV: How did you get involved in the business?

SB: In 1992, my father in law proposed that I come into the Avel family business, by building and managing a subsidiary of the company in Spain. I began to grow the Avel business in several countries.

In 2008, the Tarrago Shoe Care Group, which belonged to the Tarrago family, appeared to be in a very poor financial situation and in general distress. After some conversations with the former family owners, Alexandre, his son Marc, and I, bought the whole group.

Tarrago was not only in financial distress, but had poor management. I have been, since then, improving the management, expanding export sales, reducing cost, improving formulations, modernizing machinery, and updating the whole production processes in our plants.

Today Tarrago Brands is a very healthy corporation with presence in more than 50 countries.

NV: What was the business like when you first started in it?

SB: In the late 80s and beginning 90s, the shoe care business was beginning to open to the Internet. I think this has been the most important fact in the last 25 years. Shoe repair shops and small distributors knew very little about the diversity of brands around the world, and the many opportunities to use different products. Local brands were leaders in their own countries and had little competition from abroad.

Also, the Asian products were coming into European and American markets, with the loss of margins and subsequently a decrease of quality for the domestically made products, because of the need to do price adjustments to be competitive.

Great corporations like Sara Lee or Reckitt & Colman were leading the world sales, and small regional business like Tarrago could not afford to globalize without spending great sums.

Despite this, the high-value-added products that Avel proposed at that time, gave Saphir a presence by the early 90s in more than 25 countries, always considering quality as the main factor to differentiate. The company obtained several prizes and Alexandre was honored with the French Legion d’Honneur Medal, the highest French honor, which the French President gave him.

Other brands, controlled by larger corporations, could not follow these “luxury” criteria, and came down to reduce colors, quality, and items, redirecting sales to big retailers. Progressively, these brands disappeared, or changed production to Asian countries for high volume / low quality, closing local plants. For example, Meltonian does not exist in Europe anymore, since the late 90s, and Kiwi is losing force substantially.

Very few brands have today the critical size to develop world sales. Those who are not large enough, will progressively be bought by bigger industries or simply disappear.

NV: What do you consider the most influential impact you have had in the industry?

SB: In my personal experience, buying Tarrago in 2008 has been the engine that accelerated our family business. Our family business could actually be the second or third in world presence in the shoe care.

NV:How would you describe, differentiate the Tarrago, Avel, and Saphir products?

SB: Avel has two main branches: Do-it-yourself products (care of woods, tiles, metals, paints…) under the Avel and Louis XIII brands; and shoe care products, under the Saphir and Saphir Medaille d’Or brands.

Saphir Medaille d’Or is a high-end luxury brand, with the highest consideration in any market where we sell. The general comment is that this brand has no equal. The best shoe, bags and leather brands in the world use these products.

Saphir is Avel’s French large shoe care line. It is considered as the most quality range ever done for quality shoe shops and shoe repair. Saphir has always put quality before price. This is very important for many clients, as the margins obtained when selling this brand are very good, and customers appreciate so much the security of using such good products. They become confident in the brand and in the shop that sold it.

Tarrago is a high quality European-made shoe care brand. Based in the experience of our family, we have been able to put this brand in a much higher level in image and quality than it was before. Today Tarrago, thanks to the confidence of our distributors, is present on 5 continents, and in more than 50 countries.

NV: In my opinion, the polish and shoe care industry has gotten very stale over the past few decades. The only thing that seems to happen is big companies buy out smaller companies. Then the bean counters reduce available colors and products. It all gets pared down to basics. Your comments?

SB: The last 3 years have been very difficult for the European and American economies. The lack of money to finance business projects is putting Europe in a very delicate situation, where the Asian companies are coming with strength, ideas and money.

This is reducing the traditional stores market, which has always sustained the business. We are seeing many businesses close and we do not see many efforts from governments to protect these entrepreneurs; much more education and support is needed if this economic change has to lead to a successful new economic period. I still believe that the Keynesian theory will result and so governments will help more to get out of this situation; in fact, I do not consider we are in a crisis but in a big change. We must realize this to adapt our business to the new rules coming.

What we must not do is decrease our quality, reducing cost and keeping very little margins. We need to maintain our levels, and reinvest in research and development, new machinery, be stronger and propose valid and high-quality alternatives. Fighting against low prices is no future for a family business or even any developed countries’ brand that wants to survive against low salary countries’ brands. We have recently seen what happened to Tacco Footcare in Germany, where they went into a financial distress last November, because of low prices, offering some Asian production, insufficient margins, and no machinery renewal.

Expansion for the leaders in the shoe care market must come by choosing the best merge or buy-out opportunities that we will surely see in the next months or even years.

NV: Many of the shoe makers see this as an opportunity to introduce their own labeled care products for their leathers. Can you tell us what makers you produce products for?

SB: Shoe makers should make their own brand when they accomplish two goals: they have the size to procure branded products to the MOQ [minimum order quantity] requested by producers, which are high; and they have the management of the shops’ where their products are sold.   Many people think than when doing a private label, they should have lower prices, as they ask for “reasonable” quantities. It is not true. For example, when I buy 1 million caps or labels for my shoe cream I get prices that when doing a private label (for smaller quantities), prices are very expensive compared to mine. When I produce my shoe cream, I can do up to 20,000 units in one production turn, in only one color; can you imagine how expensive it is to have to do only 600 or 1,200 units for each color, for a private label? So MOQs the factor that permits gain margins and operating full performance; with private labels, it is difficult to meet those margins, so that is the reason why it has to be sold at a higher price if we want to keep the same quality. Of course, Chinese productions (which have high MOQ by the way), can give nice prices for these private labels, but quality is very low. In Spain we say: “there are no $5 notes that value $4.”

Making shoe-branded products must also be done to the quality that is at the level of the shoes. Cheap shoe care cannot be used for nice shoes. This is something many shoe producers do not look at: when a customer buys a $200 pair of shoes, and the brand proposes a $1 shoe polish, do you see something wrong? I do.

In Saphir, our branded clients are mainly from the leather European luxury items and luxury shoes (English, Italian, French…). Products are done in the art of the highest possible quality.

In Tarrago, we offer a very good quality product for a very tight price, so bigger quantities are demanded. We are not in the battle of reducing quality for cheaper pricing, so normally we only work when client has the necessary MOQ level for doing its own brand, and is interested about quality, not only price. When looking for low prices, we always suggest Asian producers, what is a better choice for that, even though we are very competitive and the price difference is very small.

NV: How many plants do you manage?

SB: Our family business has two factories, one in France and one in Spain. My brother in law Marc lives in France, and I live in Spain.

NV: Their sizes?

SB: The French factory has 30,000 square feet, and the Spanish plant (factory plant and logistics plant) around 15,000 feet.

NV: How many people do you employ worldwide?

SB: Our total human resources are 100 people.

NV: What changes do you see in the near future?

SB: I think we could see how big corporations “discover” that the shoe care is not a great deal for them, and they will abandon this market, which will be led by the big retailers with self-labeled products, done by Asian producers.

By the way, the Asian price gap will not last forever. Prices from Far East will increase every year, so we could see a new economic period where domestic industry could recover, but always with a bigger size, so I come back to my idea of seeing many mergers in our sector.

Concerning the traditional market where we are, as I said before, we will see many mergers and buy-outs, so only a few brands will stay; those selling very cheap will be mismanaged and disappear, as some cheap brands will take the place. But this “cheap” concept will be reduced in the shoe shops and shoe repair, as those wholesalers and shops that do not pay for quality and distinction, could also be in very bad shape in the future, as “cheap” is a natural market for big marts and not for traditional shops.

Quality brands will continue to get bigger; I would say almost one or two in U.S. that will stay for sure, and maybe two or three from Europe.

NV: Where do you see your company 10 years from now?

SB: As is happening already, I imagine our company growing because of our bigger international presence, and also because of the companies we are buying. We have already bought some in the past, and we are negotiating for some others.

We present a great opportunity for intelligent managers. When a company is in distress, the best solution is to merge into a bigger corporation. Unfortunately, to be able to survive in market circumstances, this is the only way to proceed. Or to close. So when the owner or manager of a company in distress, accepts a company like Tarrago or Avel (our group), to take the shares and rebuild the organization, it is a good decision. This permits the manager to keep his work, to keep employees (in many cases), and of course to make its brand to continue to exist!

NV: Favorite reading material?

SB: Fiction books, spy novels and science, but my reading is mainly management and marketing.

NV: Three dinner guests (past and present)?

SB:

1. My father in law, Alexandre; friend and mentor.
2. Any of my distributors in the world, as it is not only a matter of business and already many are very good friends.
3. Obama, Sarkozy, and Merkel at the same table, to ask them the truth of what it is all about.

A selection of Saphir Medaille d'or shoe care products.

A 1967 Saphir print ad.

Tarrago's plant in Manresa.