Rinascimento: a story of beauty
Florence and art, the Maritime Republics, the liveliness of a circus, entrepreneurship. All this is Rinascimento
Reading time: min
In the words of Luca Antonini, Brand Director of Rinascimento, there is no place for nostalgia but there certainly is for a strong bond with tradition and history, while looking to the future with enthusiasm.
‘When Vittorio Taddei, founder of Teddy Group, of which Rinascimento is a part, created this new brand, he started out by thinking of a name that could describe not only the project and the path he wanted to take, but above all the values that inspired it’, says Antonini.
If there is a moment in the history of our country that best represents the art of savoir-faire, the value of culture and innovation, the beauty of our country, the drive towards the future, it’s the Italian Renaissance.
‘I remember the first meeting in which Vittorio put forward that name. No one backed him at the time, but he was confident about the project he had in mind.'
And so’, Antonini continues, ‘began our journey through the history of Florence and the Maritime Republics, which were an exception in Italy, a very powerful instrument of knowledge and connection. We took on those values to face the challenge of launching a new brand on the market. We chose to start in the city of Bologna, home to the brand’s current head office, and to do so with an illustrious name’.
The early years of Rinascimento, in the early 2000s, were years full of enthusiasm and research. ‘We were selling a product made in Italy that told the story of Italy. We still work with our original suppliers today, but in the early years the project didn’t include direct sales to the customer. The collections were presented to retail buyers, who selected the garments based on the needs of their customers’.
After a short while, we felt the need to meet directly with the women that Rinascimento describes through its collections. To interview them, ask for their advice and discover their habits.
‘The beauty of women and their story is the real star of our work’, explains Antonini.
When Rinascimento chose to offer itself directly to women, it did so because ‘We didn’t want to limit ourselves to studying the collection, we didn’t just want a beautiful product, we wanted to express and create beauty’, Luca Antonini explains. ‘And today, what we want most is for every woman to be able to express herself through the all-Italian beauty that we offer with our clothes’.
The Rinascimento brand truly kicks off with the launch of the first single-brand shops. Life in the shop itself is an experience of beauty made up of relationships, words, clothes and dreams. The shops become a fleet that brings to life the values that inspired the project and tell the world about women’s sartorial art, of which Italy is a key player.
In 2008, Rinascimento, like many other Italian companies, faced a difficult period. The Italian model is slowing down and the Bolognese brand needs to be relaunched on the market. ‘It may be obvious, but a crisis can be an opportunity’, explains Antonini. ‘Sometimes when everything is going well you may stop asking questions and consequently, stop innovating. Vittorio sometimes referred to our team as a circus, because of the variety of challenges we face every day with new proposals, the way we support each other in our work and the way we have made our diversity a tool to constantly reinvent ourselves. Innovation should be a must for every company, but in fashion even more so. Clothes tell the story of the world sometimes even anticipating it, they become the symbol of battles and desires, which we must never stop questioning.
Rinascimento was born out of curiosity, beauty and a desire to do. We want to continue to put ourselves out there before all the challenges that are there and that will come’.
What will the Rinascimento of the future look like? ‘Big and varied’, Luca Antonini concludes, ‘we want to continue to tell the story of the beauty of Italy from every angle. We welcome collaborations and a wide variety of products, and we want to travel even further and explore new realities.
