MILAN — More than singing, Allegri is getting ready to rock ‘n’ roll in the rain.
In a quest to evolve its image and raise its international profile, the Tuscan rainwear and outerwear specialist has signed a three-year contract with Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren of Viktor & Rolf, confirming a WWD report last month.
Their first effort will appear with the men’s wear collections at Pitti Uomo in January.
To support the designers and the brand’s new course, Allegri is revising its retail plan and strengthened its management with new hires such as Renato Baldini, who now is worldwide sales manager in charge of commercial strategies and retail development.
Besides designing Allegri’s men’s and women’s collections, Horsting and Snoeren will be in charge of the brand’s overall image, a category that will span everything from a new store concept to the ad campaigns.
Previously, Allegri was designed by another duo, A.F. Vandevorst from Antwerp, and before that, Giorgio Armani, Romeo Gigli and Martin Margiela all lent their creative touches.
“We evaluated a slew of designers for the position, but we opted for Viktor & Rolf because we felt that they are great at channeling their fashion vision into other areas such as the store concept and the advertising campaigns,” said Cosimo Graniglia, Allegri’s chief executive officer and general manager. “The alchemy in these cases is very important.”
Graniglia added that while Allegri will evaluate a future runway show, there is no intention of playing around with the company’s DNA. “We’re a high-end brand and don’t intend to suddenly become a designer fashion house, because we want to maintain our quality standards.”
Allegri has five directly operated stores between Italy, Russia and Japan, plus 670 salespoints worldwide.
Graniglia added that Allegri has mapped out a three-year retail plan to open stores in the U.S., the Far East, the U.K. and Germany.
The company’s restructuring comes after the death of Augusto Allegri in September. He was vice president of Dismi 92, the $69 million company that produces Allegri, as was his sister, Dianora Allegri, who now has fuller control. Pietro Allegri, a cousin, is chairman. Aside from manufacturing Allegri, Dismi 92 is the outerwear licenser for Giorgio Armani and Neil Barrett.