Gianvito Rossi Steps Into Bag Category With Valì
MILAN — Gianvito Rossi is introducing the first handbag of his namesake brand; it’s “a miniature version of the suitcase I carried around the world when traveling with the most precious things to me: my collections,” he said.
The shoe designer — who is best known for his heels and the signature muted shade of powder pink of their interior soles — has stepped into the bag category with Valì, a style that aims to offer women “a small modern chest where they can treasure their precious belongings.”
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After toying with the product category in the past with some clutch designs that he said were created more to complement to his footwear for special occasions, Rossi decided to deep dive into handbags, acknowledging their importance for women.
“I wanted to take on this challenge with the goal to create something that could become a special object for women, not just a necessity or an accessory of the moment, but an item to establish a relationship with. To do so, I looked at my own archive of emotions,” said Rossi.
“My strongest bond was with my personal suitcase I used to travel the world with. It was big, in leather and wood, with different sections dedicated to shoes,” he recalled. In translating the concept into the scaled-down and feminine Valì version — the name itself is a diminutive of the Italian word for suitcase, valigia — Rossi focused on keeping faith to the purity of lines, less-is-more approach and heightened attention on proportions and details his shoes are associated with.
The designer, who launched his namesake brand in 2006 after spending years studying shoemaking under his father Sergio Rossi, noted that even if the manufacturing skills requested are different, the two categories share similarities.
“Bags require extremely specific expertise and know-how, and for that we collaborated with those that are much more expert than us in this field. But the approach is the same, as both shoes and bags have aesthetic but also functional values,” said Rossi.
For one, each Gianvito Rossi pump requires 60 steps, starting with the meticulous selection of the raw materials, with each piece of leather cut individually to avoid imperfections before being assembled. All shoes are handcrafted in Italy, with the production and development plant located in San Mauro Pascoli, a town renowned for its longstanding footwear tradition.
“We put this same care and attention to details into bags,” said Rossi, about the essential leather design with rounded edges, two handles and a shoulder strap that comes in the brand’s signature Cipria powder pink, as well as in black, off-white and purple.
Priced at 2,250 euros, the Valì bag launches on Wednesday at a selection of Gianvito Rossi stores and on the brand’s e-commerce, in addition to Net-a-porter, which is the exclusive online retail partner for the occasion. Pop-ups at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and at Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo will also mark the brand’s bag debut.
The next addition to the category will be a clutch version of the style, marked by a slightly more elongated shape and offered in Cipria, black or pistachio hues.
The product expansion was hinted at earlier this year, when Compagnie Financière Richemont acquired a controlling stake in the company. As reported in July, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Rossi retains a stake in the firm.
“Nothing has changed,” assured Rossi. “The deal originated with the idea of continuity and the spirit is to ease the development of the brand in the best way possible.” The designer underscored that even if the label had attracted the interest of different suitors over the years, Richemont was eventually favored as a partner because “there’s been a great identity of vision, like the focus on quality and on investing in the maintenance and enhancement of the product.”
One of the main goals of the operation is to increase its direct distribution, especially in Asia, where Gianvito Rossi has only scratched the surface. “And to do so in a way that is aligned with the quality of our products, we needed to have a high level of retail expertise,” said Rossi, praising his new business partner’s skills.
The company already started its expansion last year, when it opened a series of stores in the Middle East and China, such as units at Dubai Mall and Place Vendôme mall in Doha, and the launch at SKP Beijing, followed by locations in Chongqing and Chengdu.
Recently, new doors at the MixC mall in Shenzhen and at Tran Tien Plaza in Hanoi added to the brand’s retail footprint, which will be soon expanded with the first stores in Kuwait and Riyadh at The Avenue shopping mall and Al Faisaliyah complex, respectively.
Even with the strong focus on the Middle East and Asia, Europe and the U.S. — where the shoe brand opened its first stand-alone store in 2015 — still hold the lead of the brand’s best-performing markets. Especially in Europe, the company recently consolidated its presence with openings at KaDeWe in Berlin, De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam and Globus in Zürich.
In addition, it revamped its stores in Rome and London, as well as at Bal Harbour in Miami and Ginza Six in Tokyo.
Today the brand operates 39 boutiques in cities including Paris, Monte Carlo, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Seoul and Beijing, in addition to Milan, which marked the first freestanding Gianvito Rossi store in 2008.
Although controlling locations directly enables the brand to ensure an enhanced customer experience, Rossi stressed that there are no plans to cut the wholesale presence, which include the likes of Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, to name a few.
“[Wholesale] will continue to be relevant for our company, also because it is the channel that contributed so much to the brand’s growth,” said the designer.
To wit, in 2022 revenues came in a notch under 100 million euros, above pre-pandemic levels.
The performance was boosted by the return to social occasions, which fueled the sales of the brand’s distinctive heels, as well as by the expansion of the assortment to intercept new demands. For one, the brand foresaw the flat comeback, and launched the Carla ballerina style shoe, which Rossi said is among the customers’ most requested designs at the moment.
Defined by a round toe and rubber sole, the design reinterprets ballet shoes’ proportions with a modern take thanks to a lightweight, supple silhouette in leather or leopard-printed suede.
“There’s this strong sensibility and demand for lower heels right now. The sneakers’ moment has now transformed into that of flats,” noted Rossi. “But the biggest gift fashion has given us is the one of freedom: there’s no longer one way to dress, but multiple ones.…This has improved the game a lot,” he concluded.
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