If jeans have passed from American farms to fashion week’s podiums, it is thanks to him. At almost 70 years old, Renzo Rosso is a little proud to have brought in this 19th century workwear “into fashion collections and today’s wardrobes”. In 1978, the former student of Marconi Technical Institute in Padua, where he studied the properties of textiles, worked for the manufacturer of Moltex pants, who collaborated with different Italian ready-to-wear brands. “My boss, Adriano Goldschmied, has become a kind of mentor, says Rosso, firecracker and Gothic initials tattooed on the phalanxes. When I wanted to put myself on my own, he agreed to launch a new business with me. The start of diesel.” A name, pronounceable in all languages, which sounds like a nose to the oil crisis of the moment. Insolent prices, much higher than those of competition. And crazy pubs, punctuated by a slogan that slams: “be stupid.” The brand quickly finds its place in the dressings of trendy youth. Seven years later, Rosso takes 100 % of the capital and digs his furrow, before giving free rein to his bulimia of acquisitions.
With the acquisition of international staff, he got his hands in 2000 on the production and distribution of Vivienne Westwood, Dsquared2, Just Cavalli or the men’s line by Marc Jacobs. Maison Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, then Marni then fall into his bag. Grives gathered in a holding company, OTB (Only The Brave), which today employs around 7,000 people, for a turnover close to 2 billion euros. In 2009, he was one of the first to bet on the potential of the online market by becoming the largest minority shareholder in Yoox/Net-A-Porter. Five years later, he did not breach the disgrace that strikes John Galliano for his anti -Semitic remarks and appointed him artistic director of Maison Margiela. The same year, he charged Nicola Formchetti, a 37-year-old Italian-Japanese, to relaunch diesel, losing speed. Bets that have revealed each time winners.
The context is a little less pink today. After the splendor years that followed the Covid pandemic, the luxury sector has lost 50 million customers in two years, in a decrease market of 2 % in 2024 according to the latest study by Bain & Company, carried out in partnership with Altagamma, the Italian association of manufacturers. OTB did not escape this cold stroke,, linked in particular to the duty consumption in China. Last year, its sales slipped 5.2 % at current exchange rates. “The phenomenon is not only Italian but global, points to Renzo Rosso. The many conflicts, the policy of the new Trump administration are all elements that distill apprehension.”
True to his mantra -“daring,” always ” -, man remains on the lookout. During the last Milanese Fashion Week which ended on March 3, behind the scenes was rumoring rumors on the upcoming sale of Versace. The American company Capri, which had acquired this emblematic Italian brand in 2018, wishes to give it up. There are many manifestations of interest to bring it back to the national fold. And if the Prada group seems favorite, Rosso Rode. “I participate in the race, he confirms in the Express. These negotiations are very complicated. Prada seems in better position than us but nothing is done. OTB has a DNA which would perfectly marry that of Versace. Our group is solid, the brands that want to join it are not lacking but I am looking above all labels with a personality and a unique identity.”
Fashion … but also the hotel industry
In this universe where success is often based on the artistic instinct of a few individuals, the founder of Diesel, who pushed back into the stock market at 2026, pleads for a network of a network business, more able to release energies. “The mega-conglomerates that do everything internally are behemoths that belong to the past. We still have some examples in Italy. The key, to be fast and intelligent, is to have connected structures, even if they do not belong to you directly, but which respect the same quality values. At OTB, we are all small entrepreneurs of ourselves.”
For this business enthusiast, who sewn his first low-waisted jeans on his mother’s machine before exercising different odd jobs-mechanic, carpenter …-fashion is only a playground among others. Son of a farmer, it was quite natural that he acquired in the early 1990s a organic farm, the Farm diesel, in Molvena, where he produced olive oil, and a wine estate of 100 hectares in Marostica, in his native venetia. The grapes are cultivated there according to the principles of organic farming and harvested by hand. Since 2023, the Brave Wine holding company has been wearing these shopping in food, including several canteens in Piedmont or Sicily, and participation in the Naturasi organic shop.
In terms of hotel industry, Renzo Rosso is also a pioneer. A diversification which he began long before Versace,, Missoni or Armani. “It was in 1990, he remembers. During a stopover during a trip to South America, I discovered Miami and I fell in love with his contrasts, his colors, his light. I walked along the ocean and I saw the pelican, an Art Deco hotel abandoned. I bought it, the feeling.” In the process, the creative team of Diesel is mobilized to restore it and furnish it with works of art. The establishment reopens its doors four years later. “It is a haven of peace which vibrates today to the rhythm of fashion, of culture. A symbol of design in Miami Beach. And one of the rare places in the world where I can relax completely and enjoy the atmosphere of the city, surrounded by people who love life”, confesses the happy owner of two other hotels, in London and Cortina, and the team of his city of origin, Bassano del GRAPPA. Last year, a new Tocade: through his personal investment vehicle, Red Circle, led by his wife, he set his sights on the Villa Arbini group, a set of cosmetic surgery clinics in Rome, Milan or Naples, which have many stars among their customers, such as the American actress Drew Barrymore.
As a good billionaire anxious to “do the good of society”, this father of seven children does not forget philanthropy. OTB contributed 5 million euros to the restoration of the Pont du Rialto, in Venice. The Only The Brave Foundation opens schools in Africa, supports women in India and accompanies the reception in Italy of hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, facilitating their integration into the group entities.
The Transalpine press willingly compares it to Bernard Arnault or François Pinault, and would see him at the origin of an “LVMH or an Italian Kering”. An analogy a little too flattering, he estimated in the Financial Times After the pandemic: “French groups are giants and one cannot imagine reaching this level. I learn from them and observe them with admiration.” Before adding, the air of nothing: “Italian brands can unite and each can help strengthen the other. We may not have the level of market capitalization of our neighbors but we have something special: creativity.” Bravache, until the end.
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