Remo Ruffini shows Moncler is more than just puff with €1bn Stone Island deal
Italian owner plots new path for the luxury puffer jacket brand that he rebuilt
Remo Ruffini, chairman and chief executive of Moncler, approached rival luxury brand owner Carlo Rivetti after his son, Romeo, saw the Stone Island chief speak at a conference late last year and insisted they meet because of shared values and vision.
On their first encounter, which Mr Ruffini, 59, recalls as “fun”, the men chatted for more than two hours about their early careers. Other meetings followed with their respective families before they agreed the €1bn acquisition of Stone Island, announced this month.
The deal for Stone Island, a label popular with celebrities such as rapper Drake and former Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher, surprised analysts and fashion industry insiders.
Luxury puffer jacket brand Moncler has often been identified as a target, rather than a buyer. It was rumoured to be in buyout talks with French group Kering last year. Mr Ruffini has not denied the talks but after the Stone Island announcement, he reiterated that this was the first tie-up that he could fully commit to. But few in the industry expect the deal to be the last for Moncler.
Mr Ruffini’s closest associates say he tends to spot trends before rivals and often goes against the tide.
“While few people like to contradict him, he is usually proven right over time,” said one Moncler executive. “Remo is an excellent entrepreneur who knows how to combine creativity with organisation,” said Nerio Alessandri, founder of Italian fitness equipment maker Technogym and a member of the Moncler board.
“He always strives for improvement, innovation and uniqueness.”
Mr Ruffini bought Moncler, then an almost bankrupt 50-year-old French skiwear brand, in 2003. He shifted focus from its traditional wholesale distribution channel to high-end boutiques, pitching the brand as a cross-generational luxury label. The goal was to create an iconic product that would appeal to women and skateboarders alike. He also insisted that Moncler’s traditional shiny nylon laqué fabric be used for menswear too.
Marketing was the next step. Mr Ruffini shunned supermodels and instead used images of dogs, then bears and puffer jackets encased in ice cubes. “I didn’t have my competitors’ advertising budget at the time but I also wanted to tell consumers my project wasn’t the same as any other,” he told the Financial Times.
Mr Ruffini took a similar tack when Moncler listed in Milan 2013. Virginie Morgon, chief executive of French private equity group Eurazeo, which backed Moncler’s initial public offering together with Carlyle, remembers quarrelling with Mr Ruffini over the listing price.
“The room was filled with adverse and assertive energy that went on for hours,” Ms Morgon said. “I missed most of the flights back to Paris but finally made it [back] barely alive.”
The prospectus, too was “extremely unusual”, recalled one analyst: a sleek black book full of pictures on which it was impossible to take notes.
Moncler started out in the 1950s producing goose feather-filled sleeping bags, then shifted to making attire for Himalayan expeditions which Mr Ruffini described as “heavy and gigantic”. Growing up close to Lake Como in the 1970s, where temperatures would drop to -10C during winter, Mr Ruffini was gifted his first pale blue Moncler jacket to ride his Vespa to school.
He went on to work for his father’s eponymous New York-based fashion brand and at 23 returned to Italy to launch casualwear brand New England, which he sold to Italian retailer Stefanel in 2000.
“I invented the New England brand inspired by Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the Kennedys . . . With Moncler I didn’t have to invent anything, I just had to rebuild the brand,” said Mr Ruffini who owns 22.5 per cent of Moncler.
Before buying Moncler, Mr Ruffini had a stint at an Italian company that went bankrupt, said Ms Morgon, and “the torment left him with scarring effects that, in time, would become his brilliant strategic vision and greatest strengths”.
When Moncler listed, the share price leapt, making Mr Ruffini a billionaire. The group, to be rebranded as Double R to reflect two families behind the merged group, now has a market value of €12bn and revenue close to €1.63bn in 2019.
Another milestone for the company has been to eschew a single creative director and seasonal collections, instead focusing on one-off collaborations with regular limited editions, and marketing new lines each month.
Mr Ruffini’s closest aides were sceptical and suppliers panicked. Two years since the shift, Moncler has signed an impressive roster of creative directors from Simone Rocha to JW Anderson and Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, while also establishing a strong online presence and expanding its global client base.
Peers have hailed Mr Ruffini as a visionary for the switch. “But he likes to repeat the famous quote by Thomas Edison, ‘vision without execution is just hallucination’,” said one senior Moncler executive. “He expects the highest standards and is extremely attentive to details.”
Mr Ruffini is known for his work ethic. His close-knit team had little sleep in the days before closing the Stone Island deal. But the night after it was announced, the Moncler chief asked one close aide if she was heading home. “He makes you feel proud to work for 20 consecutive hours without a break,” said the executive.
Moncler employees expressed similar sentiments after Mr Ruffini won the British Fashion Council’s business leader award last year. A group of 100 staff greeted him on his return from London, chanting “Grazie presidente”.
“At the end of the day,” Mr Ruffini told the FT, “it’s all about the people.”