DECEMBER EDITORIAL

First of all, thank you. And now, let me explain why.

If you follow us on social media, you’ve seen that the last few months for Daniela and me have been truly frantic. After Venice, New York, and Milan Fashion Week, we decided to kick off this autumn season with a series of Trunk Shows—special Crida sales events—that took us to many different cities to present the winter collection and meet new clients.

I say thank you because it was an exhausting but also extraordinarily constructive and exciting experience. It was so because of the welcome we received, the enthusiasm you shared with us, and, above all, the joy of meeting so many people like ourselves with whom to share energy, style ideas, and life philosophies.

We visited Varese, Monte Carlo, Montecatini, Turin, Lecce, Venice, and Rome. Why did we choose to embark on this long journey across Italy during such a difficult time for the fashion system? Well… precisely for that reason!

Because we believe in the strength of our product and refuse to submit to the logic of aggressive discounts used as a lure. Because we believe it is useful, in this historical moment where people are buying less in physical stores, to meet our potential clients and tell the story of Crida’s philosophy: our values, our “Italian-ness,” and refined elegance. But also the passion that drove us to choose this path, leading us to select only natural fabrics, made in Italy, and to have them crafted as only our Lombard companies know how.

And do you know what the magic was? The fact that every woman we met tried on, loved, and bought our dresses. It was a result that went far beyond our most optimistic expectations.

Many fashion professionals told us: “Well done, great marketing strategy; it’s clear you’ve studied the situation and were well-advised.” I’ll confess something: it wasn’t a choice driven by marketing or numbers, but purely by the heart. We wanted to see for ourselves how the collection was perceived, and stage after stage, we realized what every client is looking for today: not a simple purchase, perhaps discounted, but a different, deeper experience to understand the value of things and to be able to buy with more awareness.

Today more than ever, in these complicated times we are living through, we can no longer ignore the deception of prevailing consumerism. We cannot ignore the fact that too many garments are produced—mountains of non-recyclable clothing that end up suffocating landfills in poor countries like Ghana or Pakistan. In light of this, I believe we must learn to purchase only what we truly need, and ideally use those clothes for a long time because they are well-made and environmentally sustainable. Watch the Netflix documentary “Buy Now” and you will certainly get a clearer idea of what I am saying.

The fashion market—and not just that—is out of control.

On one side, there are the ultra-luxury brands with a clientele willing to spend astronomical figures just to own that object, that bag, solely for the brand it represents and not for its real value, which is infinitely lower.

On the other side, there are fast fashion chains that release new merchandise every week, imitating luxury products with synthetic, low-quality materials and often using underpaid labor.

We do not want to be part of either of those worlds. Instead, we want to represent “attainable luxury”—sustainable Italian fashion that has a fair price relative to the quality of the fabrics and the work of the manufacturers, and that reflects the needs of women like us, who want to be elegant but also ethically mindful of what they wear. The only thing we can do to convey these values is to go out and tell people about them.

That is why the Crida tour of the last two months was so useful and constructive; your feedback made us realize we are heading in the right direction.

That is why we want to say thank you for being by our side.