MILAN — “Here, nobody has talked about food yet,” exclaimed Prada Group chief executive officer Patrizio Bertelli, opening his speech on Tuesday at the 13th edition of the Milan Fashion Global Summit, which this season explored the convergence between fashion and food.
While the speakers before him — Salvatore Ferragamo’s ceo Michele Norsa and Federico Marchetti, founder and ceo of Yoox Group — affirmed their companies are not currently interested in entering the food arena, Bertelli unveiled Prada’s expansion strategy for the Pasticceria Marchesi.
Prada, which acquired a majority stake in the storied Milanese coffee and bakery house last March, will open two other Marchesi units in the city. One will be located in luxury shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where Prada already operates two boutiques and where its Fondazione will also have an exhibition space. The other will be located on Via Montenapoleone, “so people will have a place to have coffee on Sunday,” said Bertelli, hinting at the fact that Cova coffee shop is traditionally closed that day.
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The new Marchesi shop on Via Montenapoleone will be in direct competition with Cova, which Prada tried to buy last year but it passed into the hands of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton at the end of June. Prada engaged in a legal battle with Cova’s former owner, the Faccioli family, claiming rights to the Cova brand but, according to sources, Milan’s courthouse rejected Prada’s request to sequester the brand.
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Bertelli, who also said that Prada might open additional Pasticceria Marchesi doors in other countries, pointed at the food business, and the idea of well-being linked to that, as a tool for fashion brands to stimulate the interest of consumers.
“We are certain that customers have such a broad vision of the concept of luxury and well-being that we can start a development strategy for such an important flag of Milan’s pastry scene,” said Bertelli, adding that food is also an important category when it comes to engaging younger generations.
Asked about the most appealing countries for the expansion of Italian food and fashion businesses, Bertelli listed the Far East, the Gulf, Turkey and the Mediterranean countries.
“The U.S. is mature but it’s a country that leaves me perplexed,” said Bertelli. “They keep saying everything is great, everything is amazing, but they continue eating hormone-stuffed chickens.”
During his speech, Bertelli also criticized the huge emphasis put on China during the first part of the summit. In particular, a number of speeches highlighted the great impact that the new Chinese middle-class could have on the sales of Italian fashion labels.
“We don’t depend on China,” affirmed Bertelli. “Japan is actually the market that is performing better, and there is the Gulf, Brazil, and everybody glosses over India, like they are just 500 million wretches.”
Answering a question on forgery, Bertelli said: “It’s better to be counterfeited than to be forgotten. It’s a sign of a strong presence on the market.” He also highlighted that most of the people and companies counterfeiting Italian fashion products are Italian themselves.
Discussing the theme of outsourcing production, Bertelli confirmed the position he has always maintained.
“When you decide to create the European Community, you cannot prevent someone from producing in Poland where the cost of work is lower,” Bertelli said. “If you agreed to activate a globalization process, to create a more open market, you cannot hold back now.”
During his speech, Bertelli also defended Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his Jobs Act, aimed at simplifying employment procedures.
“When people talk about a firm, there is always an antagonism emerging between the owner and the employees,” he said. “This antagonism is useless. People should just stand up for creating jobs. Those with initiative must use it on the field — doing business is not a matter of class.”
A form of antagonism, this time generated by “a type of culture from 20 years ago,” is also behind the attack by Italian TV show “Report” on Moncler, according to Bertelli. Moncler was accused by the show’s investigation of using goose feathers coming from Hungarian companies that would harm and badly impair the animals when plucked. Moncler took legal action against the show.
“[Milena] Gabanelli [“Report’s” presenter] was stupid,” said Bertelli, who highlighted how fashion companies have offices dedicated to verifying that their suppliers respect the law. “But at a certain point, we cannot take the role of the police or the Guardia di Finanza.”
Back to the main theme of the summit — fashion and food — Trussardi Group ceo Tomaso Trussardi revealed that the company is working on exporting its Milanese Trussardi Restaurant and Café, located on the first and ground floors of the company’s palazzo on Piazza Scala. Trussardi is in advanced negotiations to open a unit in Dubai, while a Trussardi Caffè will debut inside Cologne’s furniture and interior design trade show IMM in January.
“We matured the desire to export our food business in China and the Middle East years ago, but we were not sure about the franchising approach,” said Trussardi. “The problem is to really understand how to reproduce the same quality, where to source the ingredients and how to transform them.”
La Rinascente is also exporting the Food Hall inaugurated at its Piazza Duomo flagship in 2007. According to the department store’s ceo Alberto Baldan, Copenhagen-based department store Illum, which La Rinascente bought last year, will host a floor dedicated to food featuring 10 different restaurants and a food market with a selection of niche brands.
Neapolitan luxury tailoring brand Kiton should be ready to inaugurate a restaurant in its Milan headquarters just in time for the Expo, according to the firm’s ceo Antonio De Matteis.
“Our dream is to buy the ingredients in Naples in the morning and to cook them in Milan in the evening,” said De Matteis, highlighting that the restaurant will have a very traditional and genuine cuisine.