Aquazzura Marks First Decade in Business, to Launch New Categories

MILAN — Aquazzura is marking its 10th anniversary this year and founder Edgardo Osorio however marvels at the milestone. “It looks like yesterday and nevertheless like a life span in the past. It is funny, a good deal of people are shocked, they in no way consider it’s just 10 several years.”

This is probably mainly because of the standing and brand recognition Aquazzura has accomplished in the decade, as the designer has succeeded in setting up a solid and impartial company and in creating a loyal buyer foundation that consists of celebs and royals ranging from Kate Middleton to Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson, to identify number of.

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Practically nothing has took place by possibility, nonetheless, and Osorio pays tribute to the artisans he has worked with over the several years, who have handed on their know-how and passion for this craft. A single of his aims is to hold Made in Italy traditional tactics, passed on throughout generations, thriving for the long term.

Osorio was only a teen when he started out interning and he labored for a decade in the sector right before launching Aquazzura. “I had time to plant my toes on the floor and produce my practical experience and the appropriate contacts with companies, suppliers and artisans just before heading on my have,” Osorio stated. “This is a business you just cannot improvise, knowledge is so critical, never ever recommend if not.”

He recalled how he’d normally been fascinated in layout, interiors and style, “obsessed with generating the globe attractive and producing lovely matters,” he claimed with a chortle. “Since I have any recollection, I have usually cherished to sketch and attract.”

Following a summer months study course at Central Saint Martins in London, his teachers — and he himself — speedily realized his emphasis must be on accessories. “It was fairly organic for me and I am a pretty instinctive particular person, I do the job and live on intuition and this appeared to me the right way to go.”

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The anniversary is not a moment to seem back, while, as Osorio is chaotic extending the Aquazzura merchandise give. Just after presenting a residence line for the duration of Milan Design and style 7 days, Osorio is introducing the Tequila clutch to mark the brand’s birthday, flanking the Tequila sandal, and he will unveil a entire-fledged purse collection to retailers in July. This will be released in the to start with quarter of up coming year.

The designer has approached this section before with a capsule of 20 a person-of-a-type minimal version baggage with semiprecious stones with French artist Béatrice Serre for the Venice Biennale. “This was bought out the identical evening to collectors,” he reported proudly.

The new purse collection will be “versatile” but extra concentrated on daywear “in communication” with the shoes. Osorio said the start responds to a market place request from companions and prospects.

Marco Lambri courtesy of Aquazzura

“I have been wanting to do this for a prolonged time and I have experienced 10 years to great the system. I assume I finally identified the suitable course. It’s a really essential group and it is quite exceptional for footwear manufacturers to see purses turn into a significant section of their business,” Osorio claimed. The baggage are also designed in Italy.

In September, Aquazzura will also start its to start with menswear shoe collection in the first quarter of future year. It will have “a serious emphasis on convenience, for a clever everyday collection, offering an option to sneakers,” stated the designer, who admitted he is also eyeing eyewear, fragrances and cosmetics.

Company income are predicted to whole in between 66 million and 70 million euros in 2022 and Osorio claimed Aquazzura has observed “really substantial-double-digit growth” from 2019 and as a result of the adhering to a long time, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve been pretty lucky the enterprise has been successful from the initial year,” he reported.

Asked about the rumors surrounding a possible sale of the brand name, Osorio reported that “independence is uncommon and we enjoy it, but we know that to develop to the subsequent degree, to sales of 200 or 300 million euros, you need to have a strategic partnership and income. I really don’t see it taking place in 2022 or 2023, but in the shorter to mid-expression, of course, and buyers could also assist extend our shops and our staff.”

Wholesale accounts for 68 % of total profits, but Osorio is eyeing an expansion of the brand’s retail network, which comprises 15 stores. “We want this channel to characterize 60 to 70 p.c of the company in the upcoming couple years,” he mentioned. Modern openings contain units in Paris and Madrid. In September, the most important manufacturer boutique will open in Florence. Osorio pays distinctive focus to the interiors, supplied his passion for structure and up to date art, with just one-of-a-sort parts.

The U.S. is Aquazzura’s key market, symbolizing among 40 and 45 percent of the overall, followed by Europe and the Center East, where by Osorio said he’d observed “explosive growth” in the past 3 a long time. To wit, he is setting up an growth in Dubai and the opening of a next shop in Doha, eyeing “a strategic partnership” in Saudi Arabia. Osorio, who was born in Colombia, is also focusing on South America and Mexico in particular. “We have a enormous Latin American neighborhood of shoppers who also store in Europe and in the U.S.,” he observed.

Online targeted traffic was up 110 per cent from 2021 and Osorio forecast the model will pretty much double its website company by the close of the yr. “Omnichannel last year was phenomenal, it is wherever we see a actually significant driver of advancement,” he said.

On June 15, Aquazzura unveiled a capsule collection with Mytheresa, influenced by the designer’s newfound like of diving “and the amazing coral reefs I frequented in Bonaire and the Maldives previous year,” he mentioned. With submarine colours, the Meteorite Sandals arrive in dazzling and iridescent summer months shades of blue, green and yellow plexiglass with matching crystals.

courtesy of Aquazzura

The capsules “bring pleasure to the manufacturer and give an fascinating and new stage of view,” he stated, adding that they phase from “opportunity and friendships,” citing, for example, his selection with Marie-Louise Sciò, chief executive officer and inventive director of Pellicano Hotels, on her Issimo system.

“I really don’t take into account myself a manner particular person, I am intrigued in the culture and what is heading on in the second. I vacation 8 months of the year and I am fascinated by what men and women don, in which they are heading, what’s take place in the world,” Osorio ongoing. “Culture moves me, not developments, I do what instinctively will come to me, irrespective of whether it will become a pattern or not. Very good style wants to stand the take a look at of time, it need to not be seasonal, for me it is about producing a girls beautiful and truly feel incredible. If some thing is nicely-designed, it should really be beautiful in 10 decades. I detest the concept of issues that are stylish. What is a trend now? Almost everything is a trend and very little is a pattern, you make the traits and with Instagram a craze can be established in a day and die a 7 days later on. Luxury should really not be trendy, it ought to stand the take a look at of time and be cherished simply because it’s very well built. Luxury suggests that someone invested time considering of the shopper, wondering of how she’s likely to wear that item and delight in its to match her lifestyle.”

courtesy of Aquazzura

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