NOVEMBER EDITORIAL

In November, I celebrate a major birthday: 60 years, thirty of which were spent working as a television journalist. The last four, however, have been revolutionized by a total shift in my professional life with the creation of a start-up, Crida, and my new role as an entrepreneur in the fashion industry. I don’t regret having the courage to change at all; in fact, I believe that every change—with all the studying and preparation it demands—helps keep you young and is, above all, a challenge to yourself that can only make you better. But I never imagined I would enter this sector at such a difficult and complicated time, especially for someone who decided in 2020 to launch a brand based on Italian elegance, strictly “Made in Italy” and fully sustainable.

In my opinion, two factors have completely overturned the rules. On one hand, the pandemic radically changed consumer habits: people are less willing today to spend on clothing and are instead looking for experiences, such as dining out, traveling, and weekend getaways. It’s no coincidence that there has been a slump for major online fashion platforms, followed by a crisis in Asian markets like China, and the unnatural necessity for physical stores to put goods on sale just weeks after receiving them simply to attract customers.

On the other hand, a deep and growing divide has emerged between luxury brands—which, despite a significant drop in revenue, continue to be supported by a loyal core of high-spending buyers—and fast fashion. Fast fashion, born with the blatant intent of quickly copying high-end designs at rock-bottom prices with obviously poor materials, is now trying to expand its market share by waving the flag of sustainability and positioning itself as the “new prêt-à-porter” that challenges high fashion.

However, we must be careful, because the words and images used by some brands to launch this challenge are not enough.

I’m thinking of Zara, for example, with its 7,000 stores in 100 countries and its 20-billion-dollar annual sales empire. They recently launched a polished advertising campaign—featuring Stefano Pilati as a designer and imagery not unlike that of Gucci or YSL—to convey the idea of clothes that are not just affordable but also beautiful, well-made, and sustainable. But the goal remains continuous growth, at a rate of 10% per year, to push more and more clothes into the market—clothes that will quickly go out of style and end up polluting the poorest countries in Asia and Africa.

The financial resources at their disposal are massive, unlike those of many other brands that occupy a smaller but higher-quality market segment—brands that work locally, truly use natural fabrics, pay fair wages, and must naturally offer products at higher prices. Consequently, they struggle much more.

Do you know how many clothes are produced on average per year? 150 billion. But there are only 8 billion of us.

People could make the difference if they consciously chose to buy less and buy better—to choose clothes that are not made of synthetic fibers (even if polyester is now flaunted on labels as “recycled,” it remains plastic), and to verify where the garments they purchase are produced.

Crida is certainly part of that multitude of companies that produce small quantities with high quality, spend heavily on labor, and carefully select only natural fibers. We create only two collections a year and believe in fashion that lasts, in clothes to be kept in the closet for years, and in the elegance of fabrics produced in our country. We don’t run grand advertising campaigns because we don’t have the means and because we prefer to invest in products and people. Above all, we believe strongly in Italian fashion—in that high-quality prêt-à-porter that cannot and must not disappear because of fast fashion.