«Pandemic, decline of formal clothing and internal corporate crisis. The definition of a perfect storm does not convey the idea, I would say that it was a very perfect storm “: the tone and the only apparently light words of Giorgio Brandazza describe the situation in which Corneliani, a historic Mantuan company specialized in clothing and accessories for men and of which Brandazza has been CEO since December 2019. He was called precisely to relaunch the brand, struggling with a company structure that had profoundly changed since 2016 – when the Bahrain Investcorp fund became the majority shareholder – and with the crisis in the traditional way of dressing for men, established by casualwear, sportswear and streetwear, not only in the younger consumer groups.
It has invested 10 million in the newco Invitalia
The note of lightness in the words of the CEO is however also linked to the latest developments of the Corneliani crisis: thanks to the personal commitment of Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, on 7 April the creation of a a newco in which Invitalia has invested 10 million, a figure that is added to the 7 million paid by Investcorp. “Without the mediation of the Mise and the agreement announced in March and presented at the beginning of this month we would not have been able to face with the right optimism the next step, which was already on the calendar – explains Brandazza -. April 15 was the deadline set by the Mantua bankruptcy court for the presentation of the industrial plan on the basis of which to be officially admitted to the composition procedure. It usually takes four to five weeks for the court to express itself, but I trust a positive opinion and from then on the road could be downhill. Or at least it could stop being dramatically uphill ».
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Reduction of employees and shops: “Painful but necessary choices”
The industrial plan envisages, on the one hand, a rationalization of costs and – as already agreed with the trade unions – about 150 redundancies. «It is the most painful part, as always in a corporate crisis – underlines Brandazza -. But we are committed to minimizing the negative impact on people’s lives, with a mix of early retirement and shock absorbers that Investcorp has already given willingness to work. The goal is to return to the pre-crisis turnover of around one hundred million in three or four years at the most.
Less fixed costs also means closing shops: «We will be forced to give up some prestigious locations, we are not in a position to keep single-brand stores open just for a matter of image and communication – adds Corneliani’s CEO -. During the pandemic, many property owners have shown themselves to be rigid and short-sighted, not only with us: the retail landscape has been profoundly changed by the pandemic. We will focus on e-commerce, franchising and wholesale distribution. Starting from the product: the turning point will be towards casualwear and sustainability ».
A journey that began with the launch of Circle, a line that, season after season, is inspired by the circular economy and in which the garments are personalized with a dedicated label and information tags where the customer finds a specific link to the site to get all the information on materials and production partners.