THE INTERVIEW. SUPERFLY DELUXE CREMONA, THE FIRST FRANCHISING BY SUPERFLY DELUXE

Superfly Deluxe is one of the historic names of Italian urbanwear. A name that in addition to launching new brands and open new roads in streetwear, launched in 2005, the industry’s first online shop Italian, and today carries out an ambitious project, based on a network of franchises, and a selection of the best Italian and international brands.

We talked with Michel Conca and Niccolò Marenoni who opened the first franchise, in Cremona, to tell us about their experience.

Ciao Michel, ciao Niccolò. Solo pochi mesi fa avete lanciato il primo franchising italiano di Superfly Deluxe. Raccontateci come è scattata la scintilla e cosa vi ha attirato del progetto. In quanti mesi si è riusciti ad avviare l’attività, dalla firma all’inaugurazione?

Abbiamo firmato il contratto ad inizio anno 2016 e in breve tempo, con tanto impegno sacrificio e grazie all’aiuto di Marco Bianchi e Marco Scorrano, siamo riusciti ad inaugurare il negozio Sabato 19 Marzo.

Raccontateci come è stati impostato lo store dal punto di vista del ‘design’.
Bè possiamo dire che tutto, fin nei minimi dettagli, è stato studiato per accompagnare il cliente all’interno del nostro store; infatti è stato scelto un design industrial per far si che anche l’arredamento del negozio segua lo stile dell’abbigliamento che proponiamo.

Una prima stagione, che ha coinciso con una delle più difficili, anche visto il clima, al di la della situazione economica, in Italia. Sicuramente il momento più difficile per iniziare. Come sono andate le cose?
Purtroppo hai pienamente ragione; ma possiamo dire che eravamo psicologicamente preparati alla cosa, anche se poi sul piano pratico risulta sempre una bella mazzata. Nonostante ciò, possiamo affermare con orgoglio di essere riusciti nel bene e nel male a rispettare i canoni che ci eravamo prefissati prima di dare il via a questo progetto; abbiamo avuta una partenza che definirei “sprint” nei primi mesi di apertura, dopo di che con l’arrivo dell’estate purtroppo abbiamo risentito un pochino del clima come dicevi tu, per poi riprenderci con la fine dei saldi.

Hello Michel, hello Niccolò. Only a few months ago you launched the first Italian franchising of Superfly Deluxe. Tell us how you taken the spark and what attracted you to the project. In how many months it was possible to start the task of signing the inauguration?

We signed the contract at the beginning of 2016 and in a short time, with so much effort and sacrifice with the help of Marco Bianchi and Marco Scorrano, we were able to inaugurate the shop Saturday, March 19.

Tell us how you were set to the store from the ‘design perspective’.
Well we can say that everything, down to the smallest details, is designed to accompany the customer in our store; In fact, an industrial design has been chosen to ensure that even the decor of the shop follows the clothing style that we propose. Wood and iron where used and everything was done ‘to measure’.

A first season, which coincided with one of the most difficult, given the climate, beyond the economic situation in Italy. Certainly the most difficult time to start. As things turned out?
Unfortunately, you are quite right; but we can say that we were psychologically prepared to do, even if in practice it is always a nice blow. Nevertheless, we can proudly claim to have succeeded in better or worse to respect the standards that we set before kick off to this project; we had a departure that I would call “sprint” in the early months of opening, after which with the arrival of summer unfortunately we suffered a bit of atmosphere as you were saying, and then recover by the end of season sales.

Ora parliamo dei marchi. Su cosa è confluita la vostra selezione? Fatemi una panoramica
Essendo noi stessi, a nostra volta, dei possibili clienti del nostro negozio abbiamo fatto una scelta in base a quelli potevano essere i gusti del target di età che avrebbe frequentato lo store, scegliendo brand più “street” e “alternativi” condendoli con altri più fashion e classici .La selezione è avvenuta all’interno dei brand che fanno parte della brand list ufficiale di Superfly… vi facciamo alcuni nomi: Minimum, Komono, Hero, Double U Frenk, Levis Vintage, NUMB, Herschel, Diadora, Kwots, Zampolini, Contains Only, Cayler & Sons. Questo per citare solo alcuni nomi. Come vedete un bel mix tra brand emergenti e storici, tra italiani e stranieri, tra avanguardia e stile più pulito e minimale.

Qual’è stato il brand che ha venduto di più? Quale invece il brand, che personalmente, amate di più?
NUMB e Contains Only sono piaciuti molto e hanno riscontrato commenti positivi sulla clientela e di conseguenza sugli acquisti, personalmente penso che proprio NUMB sia quello che più rispecchia il “nostro stile” e che ha articoli davvero belli per la loro particolarità, anche se penso che siamo riusciti ad avere un insieme di brand che riescono ad accontentare tutti.

Now let’s talk of the brands. What is merged your selection? Make me an overview
Since we ourselves, in our turn, the possible customers of our store we made a choice based on those could be the tastes of the target age that he frequented the store, choosing brand more “street” and “alternative” seasoning them with other more fashion and classic .The selection occurred inside of the brands that are part of the official list of brand Superfly … we make you some names: Minimum, Komono, Hero, Double U Frenk, Levis Vintage, NUMB, Herschel, Diadora, Kwots , Zampolini, Contains Only, Cayler & Sons. This is to name but a few. As you can see a nice mix of emerging and historic brands, including Italian and foreign, including advanced and cleaner, minimalist style.

What was the brand that sold more? Where instead the brand, and personally, love the most?
Contains Only and NUMB had great success and found positive comments about the customers and consequently on purchases, personally think that just NUMB is one that reflects “our style” and that has really beautiful items for their peculiarity, although I think we managed to have a set of brands that manage to please everyone.

What can we expect next season?
Definitely let us know more also through events and advertising, and make sure to let us know more and more

Is there any brand, that, given the sample, promises to make sparks?
In our view, the selection of the store brand allows a choice, so do not think there will be one that will stand out on all but that will be all on the same level as those for one reason, some for another.

How he is ‘catching’ the ‘Superfly style’ in a ‘traditionalist’ city such as Cremona?
Cremona is not an easy city, we were already aware that we should have a little more patience; through word of mouth from customers, however, we managed to make us and our customers to make many types of people appreciate our merchandise.

How he is answering the woman at the street-fashion style … or a decidedly style ‘forward’ and away from the look and more classic styles?
The woman very well because they can find particular items but at the same time very valid, even some clothes that fall within ‘”unisex” were purchased mainly by women.

Is it true that are also planned special events and DJ sets?
Exactly we are working on events in collaboration with brands such as Hero and Contains Only, are events that for a store is an important advertising and falling perfectly into the style of the store.