Oi Polloi

The Rig Out meets Carlo Rivetti

Published: Tue May 24 2011

The Rig-Out’s Glenn Kitson and Antony Crook took a trip over to Italy recently to interview Stone Island’s capo di tutti capi, Carlo Rivetti. Originally appearing on Selectism, here’s some out-takes and quotes from the full interview, which will appear in the up-coming issue of The Rig-Out, this is just a little taster… I guess this could be called the antipasti? Mind you keep some space for the main, from what we’ve seen it’s weighty.

Carlo Rivetti:

“From a certain point of view we (Stone Island) are a medium sized company. Everybody thinks we are much much bigger, I hope we do grow, we are growing. But size is not everything. I’m not interested in becoming the company that is doing 1.5billion turnover. I don’t want to compromise, I cannot compromise as this is my life. I will continue this way. We are successful and truly independent.”

“We are more interested in product design than say, ‘fashion design’. Each piece can stand alone. Every piece has a reason, we never make something simply out of beauty. It has to have a function. It is in the DNA. It is product design, we look at sport, movement, purpose.”

“The type of consumer who buys Stone Island are normal ‘real’ men. For them it is basic. Women, sport, cars. Stone Island is a brand for real men. It’s natural. The approach is natural. Let Gucci do the fashion, its not my cup of coffee but it’s perfect for them. I’ll be honest, I do not want to dress women.”