A fashion mogul wise beyond his years

Heir to Trussardi family business looks to expand on back of Chinese luxury demand

Despite becoming the chief executive officer of a century-old Italian luxury house at the mere age of 29, Tomaso Trussardi thinks he is "old" and "sophisticated" enough for the position.

"I was born into this company. The skill of CEO is something in my DNA, and I have learned to be a CEO since I came into this world," said Tomaso Trussardi, a fourth-generation descendant of Dante Trussardi, the founder of the Trussardi Group, a multi-million dollar Italian luxury company that produces clothing and accessories.

Tomaso Trussardi's forefathers, especially his father - Nicola Trussardi - turned a small glove-making business established in 1911 in Bergamo into a brand adored by British royalty and European fashionistas. After his father and elder brother died in separate car crashes, Tomaso Trussardi took the helm of the family business, and has since decided to write a new chapter for the brand in Shanghai.

His first step toward that end has been to open a leather fashion house on the Bund, a famous tourist destination in Shanghai. To many, the decision has evoked memories of a similar operation his father, a trendsetter in Italy, started in Milan in 1976.

"We want to grow," Tomaso Trussardi said. "We are growing at a double-digit rate in every market. And speaking of growing, since Europe is in recession and there is little market share for us in America, we would like to focus on China."

He said China is one of the company's fastest-growing markets.

Even though the international consulting firms Bain & Co and McKinsey & Co have both said the Chinese market for luxury products expanded at a slower pace this year and will continue to do so in the coming couple of years, China's demand for luxury goods remains strong.

Bain predicted the market will show a meager 7 percent year-on-year expansion in 2012, while McKinsey suggested the rate would be between 12 and 16 percent for the next three years, down from 18 percent last year.

According to a recent report on luxuries by McKinsey, more than a third of the money spent in the world by 2015 on luxury bags, shoes, watches and clothing will come from Chinese consumers - both in and outside the Chinese mainland.

Trussardi's new flagship store in Shanghai, the first one in the Chinese mainland and the fifth in the world, is housed in a prestigious building on the Bund.

Its two floors occupy 400 square meters of space and present a decorative facade that the company believes will present "a chic look and perfectly interpret Trussardi luxury".

"It is a completely different one from other stores in European cities," said Tomaso Trussardi. "The exterior design of this store is brand-new, a work of Michael Young, an internationally renowned designer. And we have given our greyhound logo a tri-dimensional look only for this store."

Having been CEO of the company for about three years, Trussardi said he cannot tell what influences or changes he has brought to it.

"I am trying to stick to what we are," he said. "I don't want to make big changes, but only move faster to develop the business, for example, in this market."

The company's 440 stores now give it a presence in 23 countries. Among them, seven are flagships. Although the brand has been known in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai through its Tru Trussardi collection, it was not until the beginning of 2012 that it introduced its primary line.

Tomaso Trussardi said he believes the market is now ready for a brand such as Trussardi's, which, he said, has much more than a popular logo.

The Chinese, he said, now are no longer obsessed with logos and are instead more attracted to "craftsmanship", "quality products" and "Italian lifestyle".

"Chinese customers now are more mature," he said.

His beliefs find support in the two latest annual luxury reports released by Bain and McKinsey.

Bruno Lannes, partner at Bain in China and the lead author of the China Luxury Market Study, said luxury shoppers in China have gone from "showing off" to "recognizing and learning".

He said the change will pose difficulties to luxury brands, which will lose customers unless they offer them something more relevant than "the status of those brands".

Shoppers in second- and third-tier cities in China continue to acknowledge being attracted to products with "remarkable logos", but 65 percent of the shoppers Bain polled from Shanghai and Beijing said they plan to buy fewer luxuries bearing well-known logos.

McKinsey, on the other hand, found that two-thirds of the respondents to its Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey "agreed or strongly agreed" that they prefer luxury goods that are understated. And more than half of the respondents said they think "showing off luxury goods is in bad taste".

Two years ago, only 37 percent of the respondents expressed the same view.

In the next five years, the company plans to open 15 Trussardi stores in China that will be completely managed by the company itself, as well as 15 in the Asia-Pacific region. The company now has total managerial control of 25 percent of its stores.

"Chinese customers are really willing to spend a lot of money on what they want," Trussardi said.

"In Europe or the United States, it may take at least half an hour to sell a bag that is priced over 1,000 euros ($1,320), while here, Chinese customers are like 'goal customers' who don't bother with money."

For Trussardi, the biggest difficulty in China will come in giving people an understanding of its brand without "taking customers back to Italy".

"Trussardi is first a family. The identity of Trussardi first comes from a family," said Tomaso Trussardi, who began appearing in Trussardi advertistements at the suggestion of his father when he was 15 years old.

In keeping with that practice, Trussardi's film-star looks were featured in a recent video clip promoting the brand's newest perfume in a campaign to mark the 100-year anniversary of the company.

Trussardi has a master's degree in corporate finance and banking from Bocconi University in Milan. Wanting to practice the techniques of communication, he had once worked as a journalist.

After reporting for three years on what he called "the hot topics of the day", Trussardi said he can affirm that he prefers working as a CEO, although that job comes with more responsibilities.

"My father and my mother, along with my family, give me my thoughts and also my experience," he said.

"That's something in my DNA. It's genetic. I am really lucky because I have the possibilities to grow in the environment of my family and ... to become who I am."

xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/27/2012 page15)