What is wrong with Brioni?

[CutandSew]

I wonder if Kering will try to bring Heidi Slimane in now that he's available. O'Shea was supposed to do what Slimane did for YSL and Dior, right? He has helped those companies make a lot of money so why not go after the guy who seems to make everything he touches 'cool'? I'm not saying Brioni should go that route, but I can see it happening.

 

[gs77]



I wonder if Kering will try to bring Heidi Slimane in now that he's available. O'Shea was supposed to do what Slimane did for YSL and Dior, right? He has helped those companies make a lot of money so why not go after the guy who seems to make everything he touches 'cool'? I'm not saying Brioni should go that route, but I can see it happening.

I think, in terms of revenue potential, YSL, Dior vs Brioni is a different league if not different game all together. They wouldn't be able to pay him.

 

[ChristopherFol]

Not unless Brioni is willing to move to Los Angeles. He wants to stay there, good part of the reason he left Saint Laurent

 

[harlemriver]

Why would Kering bring in Slimane at Brioni right after they just parted ways with him and were sued by him?

You do know YSL is a Kering brand, right?

 

[CutandSew]



Why would Kering bring in Slimane at Brioni right after they just parted ways with him and were sued by him?

You do know YSL is a Kering brand, right?

Yes, I do know and why not bring him back into the Kering family? He has a proven track record and is considered an influential 'superstar' designer. The lawsuit was over money - Slimane wanted his non-compete reinstated along with the financial windfall that came with it. He didn't renew his contract at Saint Laurent because he wanted complete control over pretty much everything with the Saint Laurent name on it. If the money was right and he was given complete unfettered control at Brioni, it's plausible that he would do it. It all depends on what the heads at Kering envision for Brioni the brand, not the suit manufacturer.

 

[harlemriver]



Yes, I do know and why not bring him back into the Kering family? He has a proven track record and is considered an influential 'superstar' designer. The lawsuit was over money - Slimane wanted his non-compete reinstated along with the financial windfall that came with it. He didn't renew his contract at Saint Laurent because he wanted complete control over pretty much everything with the Saint Laurent name on it. If the money was right and he was given complete unfettered control at Brioni, it's plausible that he would do it. It all depends on what the heads at Kering envision for Brioni the brand, not the suit manufacturer.

That's not going to happen anytime soon. Business does not work that way. Kering does not care what he wants at this point and negotiations already ended in a standstill. Now they are in legal opposition. Complete conflict of interest.

Here's a recent read for you:
http://hypebeast.com/2016/10/hedi-slimane-suing-kering-saint-laurent-again

 

[harlemriver]



That's not going to happen anytime soon. Business does not work that way. Kering does not care what he wants at this point and negotiations already ended in a standstill. Now they are in legal opposition. Complete conflict of interest.

Here's a recent read for you:
http://hypebeast.com/2016/10/hedi-slimane-suing-kering-saint-laurent-again

Actually, here's an even better read for you:

http://wwd.com/business-news/legal/...-report-of-new-hedi-slimane-lawsuit-10656474/

 

[CutandSew]

That's certainly new. I didn't know that he was pushing for even more money. Meh, it was amusing to speculate on for a bit. I wonder what the execs will do to the brand to try and promote growth now. I can't see them just changing things back to the way they were.

 

[ClassicKerim]

The Bond account never really had any impact, at least as far as it impacted sales in the 3-4 locations where I frequent whose mainstay luxury line was Brioni [/quote]

I don't see how you can make that call, even just for your frequented stores. Brand value is exceptionally hard to quantify. You don't know how many customers who came to make a purchase during that time came because they heard Brioni was the James Bond tailor. That data isn't recorded when someone makes a sale.

For all anyone knows, and as quite likely that sales would have been lower for those years if Brioni didn't have that account. They didn't spend money on advertising campaigns so the net income could only be be positive.

 

[jonathanS]

someone may have already posted this but I think this sums up the problem with brine

 

[letsgofire]

someone may have already posted this but I think this sums up the problem with brine

I found this really amusing. Brioni thought 'hey let's made a fake-interview edgy video that will drum up excitement in our brand" but clearly they should have spent more time thinking this through...

Metallica probably thought this was a way to get free suits to wear to their kids' weddings

Oh well...maybe this will go on for 2-3 years before they shift back to something good again.

 

[classicman]

yeah the Madison is very nice...unfortunately no one seems to carry it.

Madison is carried by Las Vegas Brioni boutique at Wynn hotel. I tried it last December and it was a good fit but I went with Brunico.

They also have Brioni mirror technology for MTM & bespoke events.

Madison fit was just introduced then in Spring of 2016.

 

[dreamspace]

Having owned lots of Brioni myself, what I like about them (suits and coats):

-Masculine cut
-Roomy chest
-Nice fabrics

They are well-made suits in classic cuts and with classic looks, and you know what you get. They are very good for athletic people, or people that want a more masculine look (due to the shoulders).

But with that said, you can get the same look from Zegna or Canali, for a fraction of Brioni retail. Sure, you'll go down a notch or two when it comes to quality, but I'm frankly not into paying $3000-$4000 extra for those small details.

I feel that Brioni is one of those go-to brands for executives. Their suits are very business friendly, you find their stores in every big city, and they're a classic and exclusive brand (though you can screw up a perfectly fine Brioni...just look at Trump). Just like Oxxford.

I guess some of the SF "hate" comes from their lack of Neapolitan style. People here love natural shoulders, light construction, high lapel gorge, and casual details like patch pockets.

 

[EFV]

Of course it's easy sitting here having opinions about this whole business, but I'm still at loss for words on the desparation of hiring O'Shea.

It's clear that Brioni needed (still needs) change, but O'Shea? He's probably a nice guy in person (or so I've been told by mutual acquaintances), and must obviously know how to talk the talk, but the fit of him + Brioni just seems so off.

No matter what kind of suave image they started out with, Brioni grew into a brand widely considered as quite conservative. So much so that they lost any sense of identity. Besides selling to OP and his likes, Brioni has obviously been loosing business over an extended period of time. Stylistically I think a lot of us would say they were not far off from your average run-of-the-mill department store brand, but with a price tag that equals a lot of bespoke houses. Sure, the quality was excellent, but that's secondary when your suits look like one step up from JAB. Boxy, boring, un-flattering. Of course they had ok cuts as well, but the boxy stuff was really what a lot of people seemed to identify Brioni with. If you wanted a suit that projects power you'd rather go to Tom Ford, if you wanted something that signaled taste you'd go with Kiton or Attolini.

So yeah, Brioni needed a change.

Hiring O'Shea was obviously not the way to go. He is a fashion dude, that's not what Brioni is about, not anymore. Also, for being a fashion dude, he seems out of touch with what's actually cool. Metallica? Really? They were hardly cool even back in the 80s-90s, when they may have had an ounce of "edge". The documentary "Some kind of monster" definitely put to rest any idea of Metallica being a "cool" band.

Metallica wasn't the only problem though. Looking at his collection you realize that he lacks a clear vision. Sure, he can talk vividly about it, but in the end, only the designs matter. He completely re-designed the Brioni look, but managed to do this without any sense of originality or identity. Everything he presented seemed like a boring version of what several other brands had done before him. Shorter, slimmer? The classic menswear scene has been moving away from those aesthetics for the last ~5-10 years. Crazy fabrics/materials? No, that's not gonna cut it.

Looking through Brioni's history for inspiration was a great idea, but without actually grasping the brands identity, it's all in vain.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

 

[Mokwit]

My thoughts on Brioni.

Started in 1946 in Rome - my guess is to sell to GI's returning to the states who wanted an "Italian" suit.

70% of their sales are outside Italy and I would guess a large proportion of the remaining 30% is to tourists visiting Italy. Kiton for example have a Milan shop but apparently not one in Naples. Shops in Milan are for tourists. A Roman friend of mine tells me these brands only exist for export market, few Italians have heard of them - an Italian goes to some hole in the wall where you walk in and Berluscioni is having a fitting as he described it to me.

Kerig (was it?) took over Brioni whose sales had collapsed in the face of overepansion as the trend changed. Theyre is a very informative commentb on permamentstyle.com purportedly from an employee saying the focus is on selling higher margin leather goods. The launch of a Brioni aftershave is where they probably expect to make the money - they bought the brand to expand it. maybe they thought the James Bond Association could mean less marketing spend as PR would carry some of tyhe load. this seems to be a very common mistake by people buying into an established brand - the name and press mentions is not a substitute for $50m marketing spend. Kilgour French Stanbury was bought into by a group thinking they could use its making of the tails for Fred Astaire and patronage by Cary Grant to carry the brands expansion into 'designer' and RTW. It failed.