Top Retailer

Brand:
Versace, Armani, Gucci, Prada, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Balenciaga, Roberto Cavalli, Alberta Ferretti, Gianfranco Ferré, Roger Vivier, John Richmond, Ralph Lauren, Etro, Cesare Paciotti, Tod's, Ermenegildo Zegna, D&G, Frankie Morello, Iceberg, Hogan, Fay, Moschino and many others...

We interviewed Michele and Federico Giglio during the Milan’s fashion week spring-summer 2008 for men. Actually the whole family works in the fashion brands distribution. Federico takes care of  purchasing, while his brother Giuseppe oversees the stores management and administration and his mother takes care of the boutiques. Michele, the leader of the company, takes care of  strategy and coordination  of the Giglio S.p.A.

This business has a staff of 70 people and a balance that would make a lot of companies of the same field envious.

When did your adventure in the fashion business start and how?
It started three generation ago with Michele (the homonymous Michele’s grandfather), in a small haberdashery shop. At that time there was no industrial tailoring, everything was handmade. The shop sold everything tailors needed to manufacture clothes: buttons, lining, etc. When the business was handed down to his son Giuseppe (my father), the shop started selling textiles too.

Then the business has been handed down to me. In the '60s, with industrial development, I guessed that it would have been necessary to deal with ready garments’ sale.

So we started with a local shop in which different items were sold: clothes for the whole family, house linen, even wedding dresses. I've always travelled a lot, outside Italy too. I went in Paris and in London looking for new ideas and at a certain point I realized the world was changing and so we had to invest. So, the store has moved from the university to the place which has became the new city centre.

Today the boutiques are still there. Since then our development has begun and continues with the creation of further boutiques, for men, women, children and Jeanswear.

Since the '80s, while the first brands were rising, we've dealt only with designer labels, following a definite strategy.

We started with Mary Quent, Kenzo, Fiorucci, and we've sold Versace and Ferrè since their start. Meanwhile, my sons, Giuseppe and Federico began to work in the firm.

Today they take care of the key areas of our business.

You talked about several stores. How is your business organized?
Today there are 7 stores. A women's boutique with haute couture, a men’s boutique, one with ready to wear collections, a jeans store, and a store with just accessories, a children's store and finally one for children's shoes. Each store is closed to the others, near the beautiful Piazza delle Croci. We have 70 employees, 61 shop windows and an amount of 4.000 sq.meters of shop area. We address many resources to technology and software which are necessary for the management of a so complex business.

Have you ever thought about putting the boutiques together in a single big place?
No, we haven't. That doesn't fit with our conception of boutique that is based on privacy. Each store is specialized so we can always offer a five stars service. Depending on what a customer wants to buy he will come into the different boutiques with a particular mood. Possibly customers would like to be welcomed and helped in a certain way in the boutique with high fashion collection, while in the jeans store they could came just to take a look around. As the stores are closed to each other, we are like a department store developed horizontally along the square instead of in one building. Customers can park their car and go around the stores depending on what he is looking for.
  
What about the Giglio Café ?
We have a café inside the Giglio In store, in a beautiful villa in Liberty style. On the upper floors there are the head office and the accounting and administrative offices. Giglio In is a fashion store for young people and it's the biggest of our shops. At the bar we offer to our costumers drinks or coffee. I would like to underline that it's a free bar. It's a trendy place where people often meet each other. In the Boutiques the service is more private.

Which other services do you offer to your customers?
Customer care is one of our key points. We have for example a tailoring service with 6 persons working for us. We modify everything from the jeans to the shirt and dresses that can be even unstitched to be adapted to costumer's requirements. It's a free service, even during sales. And if you need your garment to be repaired after a year ,for example, because you have lost weight, we'll modify it. If an article has some imperfections we always replaced it, even if the supplier doesn't repair or change it. Customer is a very important resource, that's why he is always right.

How do you maintain the level of your service high?
That’s not an easy work. When a lady comes into one of our store she will never have a shop assistant asking her: "May I help you madam?". It's an embarrassing and annoying approach. As well as asking for her size. The shop assistant must be so qualified as to guessing the size by herself. That's why, in order to teach these techniques, we've a team that take care of training our staff. Besides, a specialized psychologist holds a 10 hours training course, once a season, about sale techniques. Federico, who take care of purchasing, trains the staff about goods, collections, matches, etc. We notice immediately that if a piece isn't figured out by our staff, often it doesn’t leave the store.

Where do your customers come from?
We are a point of reference for the whole Sicily. Our customers come from Trapani, Messina, Enna. Service in really important to us and our customers are very faithful. A person who buys a dress or a bag from us is unlikely  to go shopping in a department store. There is a totally different service. All that is highly regarded and the fact that we have doubled over the last 6 years and we get a 20% rise each year is the proof.

How are your tasks organized?
Each one of us has a precise task, but we always talk about everything. We bring ourselves into play because an areas to improve can be found even when things are great.

How much important are the renovation of the stores and the location?
Location is crucial. Our stores have been redesigned many times over the years and there will be other renovations in the future. At the moment one store is being renovated and doubled. In that way we evolve continuously. We always rely on important architects for the redecoration of our stores. In the past we relied on Maurizio Peregalli and Rocco Magnoli. 

How do you observe the market and it's development?
We always have a look on what happens around us. We love to face our competitors in the most important towns like Milan, London, Paris, New York. We observe which one of us is the most clever to be always abreast with the times and improve. Fashion changes and we have to do as well. We always pay attention to new designers, we look closely at things we like, but keeping at a certain distance, waiting for them to get concrete. They must have a good industrial structure and a well organized firm able to deliver goods in time and with a constant quality. There are often very good designers we don't buy because they lack this requirements. Versace would never be the same without Girombelli as well as Armani without GFT.   

Do you see any new name for the future?
The problem is today famous brands are so strong they don't make room for new designers. And that’s not a good thing. Customers want most famous designer labels so it's impossible for a new designer to stand out without a big group investing in advertising and production.