At yesterday’s Green Awards in Berlin, Renzo Rosso, Founder and Chairman of OTB SpA, received an award for his commitment to sustainability. His OTB group, which includes brands such as Diesel, Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Marni and Jil Sander, has been focusing on innovation, digitization and sustainability for decades. Among other things, the group plans to switch completely to renewable energies by 2050. In his acceptance speech, Rosso called on politicians to introduce stricter regulations for sustainability and to close loopholes for greenwashing in order to create a level playing field. FashionUnited spoke to him shortly after receiving the award.
Mr. Rosso, congratulations on the award! What are your sustainability efforts at OTB?
Sustainability is an overall project. It starts with having the right people in the company thinking about how to run the company in a way that emits less CO2, how to work without chemicals in the dyes, how to find sustainable materials and ingredients, how to use less water, how to use recycled paper and recycled plastic and so on. We are green in every way.
We also do a lot in the area of social responsibility. We check all our delivery companies. We want to know the working conditions of workers and what their wages are. The companies we work with must reflect the values and mentality of OTB.
We have also invested heavily in technology, allowing us to save costs and produce less waste. For example, we can now showcase our patterns on avatars so we can sell the clothes through our digital showroom. Consumers decide what they want to buy and then the product is made to order.
Usually 20 to 30 percent of a collection is not sold and has to be thrown away. So by using this technology we can avoid waste, produce less and improve quality and standards.
And as far as our stores are concerned, we looked at how much CO2 they emit and are opting for green electricity. That means a cost increase of about 10 percent. So sustainability requires a lot of time, money and organization, while at the same time we don’t want to increase the prices for customers.
Your business figures for 2021 were very good. Now the war in Ukraine has forced you to close stores in Russia. How do you assess the situation?
First Covid, now the War – the prices for the materials have increased, or you can’t get any more. Transport costs have also increased. The situation is difficult.
Even in this crazy situation, the company is doing quite well. We’ve grown almost 20 percent this year. And the luxury business is doing fantastic overall, it’s actually up 30-40 percent.
In Glenn Martens you have brought on board a creative director who provides a connection to the origins of Diesel as a denim brand, but at the same time can lead the company further towards luxury. How do you see the future of diesel?
I am very happy for Diesel because we have made big changes there. We have shortened the long distribution channels and increased the quality of the materials, we have brought a large part of the production back to Italy from overseas. With our RFID labels, customers can now see exactly where the materials came from and where their product was made.
So I’m very proud of Diesel and his new creative direction. diesel is my baby You are right, in the very beginning it was a denim brand, but now I see Diesel as a lifestyle brand. This includes a very wide range of products, such as Fiat cars, Ducati motorcycles, watches, jewellery, sunglasses, fragrances and home products. We just signed a contract to furnish 250 apartments in Las Vegas. So for me, diesel is unique. It’s a way of life.
What do you wear today?
He looks down at himself. It’s a gala, so he wears a black suit but pairs it with a t-shirt, athletic socks and sneakers.
I only wear my own brands, I can’t wear other brands because I know how we produce and I’m very proud of it. [Er zeigt auf den Anzug] It’s from Margiela [er zeigt auf die Socken] they are from diesel [er zeigt auf die Schuhe] they are [er zeigt auf das T-Shirt] this is my birthday t-shirt [Das Shirt ist schwarz mit einer Stickerei auf der Brusttasche, auf der 66 steht, was an die Route 66 erinnert].
On stage you mentioned your OTB Foundation. What exactly is she doing?
Renzo Rosso’s wife, Arianna Alessi, sits next to him during the interview. Asked about the OTB Foundation, he hands her the recording device. She is the vice president of the foundation.
Arianna Alessi: We are committed to women’s rights and the empowerment of women in many countries around the world. Among many other efforts, we are particularly focused on Afghanistan. [Anm. d. Red.: Dort unterstützt die Stiftung unter anderem das Projekt ‚Fearless Girls‘, das afghanischen Mädchen, die in Jugendgefängnissen inhaftiert sind, und denen „Verbrechen gegen die Moral“ vorgeworfen werden – obwohl sie nur vor Zwangsheiraten oder anderen Arten von Gewalt geflohen sind – rechtliche, psychologische und pädagogische Maßnahmen anbietet.]
We support refugees, including many from Ukraine, who have found work with us, teaching them Italian and integrating them as best we can. I hope this war will end soon and they can decide whether to return or stay in Italy. But right now we’re giving them the opportunity to build a new life in Italy, that’s important.
Renzo Rosso: I am very proud of our foundation. I think that as a modern company you have a social responsibility. My dad used to say, “You were lucky, life gave you a lot.” So we have to give something back to the community.
You recently met with Mark Zuckerberg and other Italian business leaders at what he dubbed a ‘Meta-Porter in Milan’. What were you talking about? What are your plans for the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is a new lifestyle for a new generation. Many people don’t even know what the metaverse is or what it means. In very practical terms, the new generation wants to live a digital life, for example on Roblox, where you can interact with your friends, build digital houses and change your clothes or make-up. I believe companies have an obligation to invest in the Metaverse and create content for this new life.
We set up our own company, which my son Stefano runs [BVX (Brave Virtual Xperience), die Geschäftseinheit der OTB Group, die sich der Entwicklung von Produkten, Inhalten und Erlebnissen für die virtuelle Welt oder das „Metaverse“ widmet]. BVX creates content for all of our brands in the Metaverse. We’ve already released an NFT with diesel, which also brought in quite a lot of sales, 700,000 euros. Now we’re about to do something for Margiela that I can’t talk about yet. But it will hit like a bomb, I think.
And what does the future of OTB look like? What markets or acquisitions are you currently targeting?
The group is very solid and growing organically. We can continue to grow through new markets or acquisitions, but I don’t want to just buy for the sake of buying. I’m interested in the luxury business because it’s better to integrate sustainability and the margins are higher. I’m still looking, but it’s very difficult to find something because beautiful things are not for sale. But when a brand is in trouble, we can give them incredible support.
You announced OTB’s IPO for 2024, are you sticking to that schedule?
I would love to do that. The numbers are looking great, I’m reckoning late 2024, early 2025. I can’t wait for the moment because I have so much to share at the roadshow about all the beautiful projects we are working on at the company and that consumers are: don’t know inside yet.
I’m also looking forward to OTB becoming a public company because I want to make consumers my business partners and also all the people who work for me. As a public company you have to be more transparent, which I think is a good way of running a company. And it will also be easier for my successor, my family, to run a public company.