MILAN — Elio Fiorucci and budget Italian retailer Oviesse have inked a deal for two new fast-fashion clothing lines, one targeting teenagers and the other for women in their 20s and 30s.
Fiorucci already designed a line of T-shirts, stationery products and gift items for the Italian chain last year under the name Baby Angel. The designer and Oviesse now are expanding the line into a full-fledged collection featuring handbags, jeans, beachwear and other items for teens. They also are launching a more sophisticated collection called Selected by Elio Fiorucci for young women.
Oviesse will unveil both collections today at a fashion show for its vendors and some press at its Venice headquarters. The spring-summer collections will be rolled out to about 200 of Oviesse’s Italian stores in April. Sales projections were not released.
“The possibility to design for a large retailer can be exciting for a creative person who sees his creations…distributed and everyone can take advantage of them. This is the future,” Fiorucci told WWD.
Stefano Beraldo, chief executive of Oviesse’s parent company, Coin SpA, said the chain wants to reach out to teenagers and more fashion-conscious consumers. Oviesse is best known in Italy for offering cheap, basic clothes and children’s apparel.
“Oviesse is evolving into a company that’s not just attentive to price but also to fashion,” Beraldo said in an interview. “[Baby Angel] is for my 12-year-old daughter who didn’t shop at Oviesse.”
Baby Angel prices range from about 7.90 euros, or about $10.35 at current exchange, for a small purse to 39.90 euros, or $52.27, for a pair of jeans. Key looks include polo shirts, sundresses and halter tops in variations of pink, gray, black and green. Selected by Elio Fiorucci price tags range from 12.90 euros, or $16.90, for a pair of leggings to 39.90 euros, or $52.27, for a dress.
Oviesse and sister chain Coin have been revamping their formats and product lines over the past few years to win back lost market share.
Oviesse is in the process of restyling its stores into a cleaner, more sophisticated design concept featuring aluminum lamps, wood trim and neutral colors. The chain also is expanding outside of Italy with new locations in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Beraldo said the Fiorucci collections could be carried in Oviesse stores around the world at some point in the future, but nothing has been finalized.
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Fiorucci’s fame peaked in the Seventies and Eighties with his eclectic approach to jeans and graphic T-shirts. Japanese company Edwin Co. Ltd. bought the bankrupt Fiorucci brand in 1990 and subsequently parted ways with the eponymous designer. Fiorucci then started up his own new brand, called Love Therapy. The designer and Edwin are still engaged in a series of unresolved legal battles over trademark rights.