Interview in preview, comes from 45 Wait for release in late July.
These days, telling stories of great success in all Italian urban wear is increasingly rare. In this case we are faced with another phenomenon ‘made in Emilia Romagna’ capable of contaminating the market with creativity and color and, within half a year, reaching almost 200 stores. The ‘deus ex machina’ is called Nicola Masino, founder of the brand Lab84, exploded in the summer of 2014 with a line of swimwear, best-seller, followed a few months away from Catfish, a brand of socks that is printed also became a successful lightning.
We met Nicola to tell us their stories and developments of these young but very strong brand.
Hello Nicola, tell me about the birth of Lab84. How did the idea of the creation of this line?
Hello Marco. Lab84 is released on the market in 2013. E ‘from a fresh, young, and above all very cheap if we think that everything is made in Italy. We thought we’d start with the shorts, our first article, when we realized that the whole world revolved around beachwear brands by high prices and products now too homogeneous. Also at the national level the road was easier because in Italy there are real brands beachwear. Our choice was to put on the market an economic product but also with a very high quality. From this was born the first package, a single model in eight colors.
Swimsuits of Lab84, which we have already talked about Waitfashion were a great and sudden bestseller last season. From there the starting point to build a line growing and complete. Tell us the secret of the success of this line of swimwear.
As for the secret of our custom, a real secret there. Let’s say that the fabric is a polycotton silicone that gives way to the skin to breathe, to not sweat and is especially handy for those who often attends the sea thanks to the fact that the sand does not get stuck between the fibers of the shorts.
How you will develop the project Lab84? I know that it is no longer only swimsuits but a true streetwear line.
Lab84 as mentioned came with shorts. The consecration took place in the summer of 2014. We would not want the final consumer or shop our customers wish to Lab84 as purely beachwear brand. We have expanded the collection by building a real total look to make sure to be competitive and attractive in the winter season, managing to dress completely our typical customer, from head to toe.
How did the inspiration to create products? Observe the road? Do research abroad? Use the internet as a source?
Inspiration follows a trend Hawaiian, South American. Our competitors are historical brands of clothing in mondodel surf and beachwear. also we follow with great interest also some northern European companies in recent years have made some very good products with trends keeps getting better. we see a lot of our end users, and we try to create a product “popular”. We do a lot of research abroad, soprattuttoin northern Europe (UK and Netherlands) and Spain. for the moment we have not yet physically moved to America but between our points of reference, there are several US companies; in this case we use all channels available to us to keep us updated on the web.
What do you think is the real strength of the line? If you were a trader, why you would be betting on Lab84?
The strength and core business of our company are unquestionably the shorts. Initially it was a limit, but then we realized that due to the short and all its developments (in 2015 prided 180 variants model / color) have now economic potential can develop our line. if I were a trader i would choose Lab84 because it is a brand young and fresh, always keeping up with the trends of the moment, with very competitive prices since, is a made in Italy … another good reason to choose it!
How will be the next collection? You describe it?
The next collection of Lab84 can only say that it will be lively, very full of colors, a collection that follows more and more what is becoming our moods, or the strand hawaii, tropical flowers and fantasies. for the moment I would not like to mention more. Soon it will be visible in all our showroom available to all our current, ongoing, and I hope many future.
In recent years we have seen the Emilia Romagna region as the cradle that gave birth to some of the most successful lines of recent years.
What is the secret of this land? I am still the clubs and the world of the night to dictate the trends?
I could not tell what is the secret of this land. May be the clubs, our beaches which do not have a beautiful sea mean that the Romagna cling to all the resources they have available to do their best. We are a people very positive, they are looking to transmit the sun and the energy we have inside. Personally I do not take inspiration from the world of the night but otherwise I like to live the day. In fact, we created a product that you can wear all day long, including the beach.
Now tell us about Catfish. In recent years the socks printed with the original fantasies has become a real fashion rampant Catfish and I must say, this season has brought some really crazy prints.
Catfish was born as a small “rib” of Lab84. in the collection of Lab84 they were and still present an article socks, but socks while Lab84 follow fantasies as the mood of the collection of the brand itself, Catfish was born when we realized that there could be a vast world to go to express the concept of stocking. We thought then create a real brand. The inspiration came to me watching the program on MTC Catfish: false identity, much followed by the young. Going to see if the trademark was registered in the Chamber of Commerce, we found free logo and marketing operation we have seen fit to exploit this brand that is well known worldwide. In fact, the program is on TV for about 4 years and it is therefore very indexed on Facebook and the internet in general. This has made it much easier for us to spread it on the net.
What do you think your line has more ‘or different than the other?
On the market there are so many companies that are producing socks, but we noticed that all these were a “copy and paste” of each other. They have a product too homogeneous with each other, just colorful, unimaginative. We thought we would put so much color, so much sympathy with a bit of exaggeration controlled producing graphic patterns, starting from the cartoon world that works every time, passing through pop art, nature with flowers and plants up to the graphics that it gave best results: condoms! We have not missed the leaf maria, the image most commercial of all time which we have developed various pattern and color b & w. The inspiration for the socks comes from all that is around us: let’s notice the people in the street, do you ask, what to wear and having the chance to be even owners of three concept stores, depending on the products required and that attract more attention, we are going to develop the new collections and the new graphics.
Are you planning to attend a trade show in Italy or abroad?
For the moment, our ambition is to be able to enter alPpitti in Hall myfactory used emerging brands. Unfortunately for this summer edition we did not succeed because of the many requests that the fair receives. speriamodi able to present the collection to 15-16 ela eg 2016 as ready / programmed in the January partly because we are a programmed but we try to satisfy our customers with the “flash” at the ready to constantly introduce those trends that are last-minute. We want to proceed in small steps, trying to coprireil Italian market evenly. To date, we supply about 180 customers: about a third are Emilia-Romagna area.
For this there is still much to be done to develop the national discourse. we are already working abroad: we began distributing in South America, specifically in Aruba, Panama and Venezuela thanks to the world of tennis beach- and the latest addition is Japan with two new customers but we focus on the next summer to arrive at least a hundred customers for South America and Japan for a fortnight. in the future we expect the European opening, so we count on very Pitti well as on Bread & Butter, where we hope to riuscirea present our collection in the coming seasons. There is much talk of this fair that offers a panorama of global trends. for the moment it is only in Berlin but is rumored to return to Barcelona and look forward to that time to be ready for a trade show abroad.
What other surprises can we expect from your company?
In the yard there are so many projects and so many ideas that we want to develop with care and precision. for the moment we would like to be able to surprise our end users with the collection eg 2016 with ’16/17 we are already beginning to study and draw.
For further info here is the official website online:
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