Cristina Calori loves to collect objects, furniture, furnishing accessories and must refrain from buying company archives of clothes and accessories. But above all, we could say, she collects brands, especially American and British. In 2022 the Wp Lavori in Corso, founded together with his father Giuseppe, turned 40 and the history of the company also tells a lot about the changes in the lifestyle – and therefore in clothing – of the Italians. Cristina Calori does not like the spotlight, but, as an authentic Bolognese, she is a cheerful, jovial and self-ironic woman, a precious but increasingly rare gift. Not enough people know her story and that of her family, that perhaps she deserves a book, due to the uniqueness of the Wp project in the Italian and European panorama, for the successes achieved and for the countless encounters made in her personal life and of an entrepreneur.
2022 began with the Pitti Uomo events, where you celebrated the anniversary and dedicated space to all brands, owned and distributed. Will you be at Pitti again in January 2023?
Of course, it is a fair to which I am very attached and which has been able to evolve and remain strategic not so much to collect orders, but to meet colleagues, observers, creatives. It serves as a showcase for one’s brands and perhaps even more to get an idea or sense where the world is going. Of course, you need to know how to observe and, sometimes, not be afraid to change.
Among the many brands you have brought to Italy is Woolrich. You started with distribution, then you bought it and then you sold it. Regrets?
As I said, we mustn’t be afraid to change and sometimes to seize opportunities that can open up others. The majority of Woolrich Inc. was acquired in November 2016 by Woolrich Europe, a company of our group, at the time the licensee of the brand for Europe and Asia. A year later, Goldwin’s Japanese entered and in 2018 it was the turn of the L-Gam fund. It certainly wasn’t easy to part with a brand in which we believed and invested a lot, but the operation allowed us to concentrate on the other brands in the portfolio and to free up energy, including creative energy. And I’ll never get tired of scouting: every time I go to the United States, in addition to thinking about how to grow Wp in that ultra-competitive market, I see interesting brands that I start thinking about. Or to dream.
It’s a time of change at the top, creative and otherwise of companies in the global fashion industry. What do you think?
In fact, in the space of a few weeks many surprise news arrived: Raf Simons closing his brand, Alessandro Michele leaving Gucci, Andrea Guerra new CEO of the Prada group and, to stay in the sector closest to Wp, Steve Rendle leaving the guide of the American casualwear and outwear giant Vf. I don’t know if it’s a simple combination or something across the board is going on, so to speak. We have remained a family-run business, we could say, but opening up to external managers and skills. My two daughters and my brother work in the company, in harmony with Paolo Corinaldesi, our managing director. I think ours is from Wp, if there is, it’s an affinity of tastes, visions of the world and relationships between people. In 2020 and 2021 it was difficult for everyone, in the fashion sector and beyond: the solidity of our team made us overcome emotional and obviously objective, economic difficulties. We have also developed projects that were sol embryonic ones, such as e-commerce, and in 2022 we returned to growth: we will close the year with a turnover of 50 million, 20% more than in 2021.
Are there any plans for physical retail as well?
Another difficult farewell was to our historic Milan store in via Borgogna, a stone’s throw from piazza San Babila, a Wp multi-brand store. But the lockdowns and then the endless works for the subway convinced us to look for another location, which we will announce soon. In the city, however, we have Barbour shops, a brand that is doing very well, also for women and children, and Baracuta shops.