THE FASHION IN PALERMO IS SIGNED GIGLIO

Anteprima [March 2008]

Passion for fashion and familiar tradition are the two souls of the enterprise climbing Europe and more.

ALESSIA LICATA

Looking for the last news? Jimmy Choo shoes are now part of the brands proposed by Giglio Donna .

The most long-awaited event? The opening of the new store, it is the biggest luxury store in Italy. Apart from the ground floor the Boutique Donna enlarged on the upper floor. It is a 1400 square metres space dedicated to the fashion and accessories collections. The 15 March, the Giglio group will be presenting the new shop to the public and national and international designers.

The next project? The Online Store . Giglio Group is about to step in the e – commerce world thanks to the online shop boosting up the virtual shopping, a reality everybody has to cope with. Giuseppe Giglio explains: “The idea is to let every customer worldwide able to access our store. We intend to go beyond the geographical limits in order to satisfy the requests of who wishes to have access to a service but cannot manage. At the moment there are only two competitors in Italy, but our strength is the number of our suppliers.”

It is not by chance if we read few days ago on the Messaggero: “ Everybody knows Michele Giglio. Him and his sons Federico and Giuseppe are the most important Italian and European buyers. Milan, Paris, London, they are always in the front line.”

A three generation family of buyers working passionate for fashion. The official buyer is Federico, always around the world looking for the newest items in fashion. Giuseppe deals with the administrative side of the company and Michele Giglio( shown in the photo on the left) is the president. He deals with the strategies and the coordination of the group. By listening to him it is evident his passion for a job that means everything to him.

He tells us about the beginning, the little shop in Palermo town centre, at a time when dresses were hand crafted and textures were bought after accessories. Michele remembers his peculiar way of exposing men shirts, without the packing, to make them more accessible to customers who were a bit perplexed at the beginning being used to a more formal way of exposing. In fact, he made customers closer to the product.

Buying a dress is an experience, specially when it comes to brands and when you live for fashion because it becomes a part of yourself. And Giglio brought fashion to Palermo. It all started with Versace and Dior , of whom they still are the only purchasers. Today the choice is endless and all requests can be satisfied. Starting with Armani , Valentino , Prada , Fendi , Ferrè , Balenciaga , and carrying on with Gucci , Calvin Klein , Moschino , Etro , Ralph Lauren , Blumarine, Alberta Ferretti , D&G , Cavalli , Iceberg . Featuring the traditional Emilio Pucci and Ermenegildo Zegna , and the innovative Frankie Morello and John Richmond . There are also shoes brands like Tod’s and Hogan , Cesare Paciotti and Roger Vivier . And much more to come.

Seven shops all around Croci Square, in Palermo’s town centre, Giglio is one of the biggest multi brand chain shops in Europe. Giglio Boutique Donna and Giglio Boutique Man are exclusively for the first man and woman collections. Giglio In with the young prêt – à porter collections. Giglio Jeans all dedicated to the denim world. Giglio Accessories for shoes, bags and sportswear chic belts. Giglio Piccolo and Giglio Piccolo shoes dedicated to the youngest. All for a total of about 4000 square metres surface and 61 shop windows.

Giuseppe explains: “People like us, so careful to every single detail, are aware of the importance of either the product or the interior selling it, no matter if it is a store or a shop window. The entire image of the enterprise is what matter to us, and that’s why we always address to the best professionists.”

And the result stands clear along time, starting with Giglio institutional logo created in 1965 up to the last re – styling. Famous are the Christmas decorations on the liberty style building, keeping faith to a tradition worldwide, that of decorations over Christmas.

Lots of cultural events witness the international halo of the enterprise, like the participation to the Marco Glaviano photographic catalogue, the collaboration with the photographers Pucci Scafidi and Dalla Chiesa, and the launch of the Italia – Independent collection by Lapo Elkann, and the presentation of the Absolute bottle designed by Ennio Capasa.

To discover more, visit www.giglio.com waiting for the new opening.