Folli Follie retail excellence for Wait has always been absolute reference point: we have always looked at with admiration for the beauty of the shops and the mix of classic and innovative proposals. So when Folli Follie contacted us among the first in Italy to be part of our SHOPenauer project, when we were online for only 3 months, it was a magical moment for us. In addition to giving us pride, Folli Follie’s interest was a push and an injection of enthusiasm for a newly born start-up and, if we should say, a further responsibility for all of our staff.
The fact that Folli Follie have had the courage to marry among firsts a project in a unique and innovative way made us understand how historic and consolidate businesses, have the ability to grow without losing any desire to experience and test new streets.
And today it is a pleasure to have an interview with Francesco Galli, CEO of Folli Follie and TheDoubleF (the new online portal of the group) to know more about the past, the present but also the future of an Italian excellence.
INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCO GALLI, CEO OF FOLLI FOLLE AND THEDOUBLE F
Good morning, let’s start from the beginning: when and how the beautiful retail history of Folli Follie started?
The story of Folli Folli was born in the 70s by the encounter between Lucia’s creative mind and Giuseppe Galli’s entrepreneurial spirit. The starting idea was to create a jewelry accessory for man and woman, where to find unique and precious objects. Our first boutique was born in Mantua, for the first time in a small town you could buy accessories that were normally sold in the boutiques of Milan, London or Paris. This was initially the secret of our success, and since then, Folli Follie has always been careful to grasp the needs of the market and to renew itself while maintaining its positioning over time.
Tell us of some of the most representative brands of your reality.
Our image is historically linked to Italian brands such as Prada, Miu Miu, Fendi, to whom the French Dior, Saint Laurent and Celine joined in time.
We keep our DNA in time, but we are mindful of evolutions and new courses. We attach great importance to research, including seasonally emerging brand new emerging brands.
What were the most successful brands last season?
Among the most successful brands of last season I can certainly quote Dior, to whom we have dedicated a whole area to the new FR Boutique in Bologna. Gucci, who with the advent of Alessandro Michele has experienced a real style revolution. Balenciaga with his vision in line with the millennial aesthetic heterogeneous and not only.
And those revelations?
I think the revelation of 2017 was without a doubt Off-White, a brand of the emerging category that in the shortest time has fallen in love with the fashion-insiders of the new generation.
What might be the product or brand MUST HAVE for next season?
I believe that sneakers, both man and woman, will continue to hold the scepter as far as footwear is concerned, while pouch will replace the backpack. There will be athleisure total look (luxury sportswear), with its limited edition, see adidas X Alexander Wang or the Yeezy collection designed by Kanye West.
Which product, beyond the volume of sales, has given you more satisfaction with selling and pride to propose?
The products that this season have given us a lot of satisfaction are those of the so-called “Treasured Bags” group. This classification was born from the idea of offering handicrafts and special handbags, we selected a niche of Italian and French artisans with the aim of rediscovering the value of Heritage handbags created with unique materials and unique embroidery. To do some of these exclusive names, I would like to quote Launer, Serapian, Cambiaghi.
What features should a brand have in order to enter your brand list?
To become part of our brand list a fundamental feature is exclusivity. We want to distinguish the selection of our stores and e-boutiques without forgetting the fashion trends and the phenomena of the moment. We try to offer our customers an up-to-date look at the fashion and luxury landscape.
Which brand would you like to include soon?
If I tell it now, it would lose the taste of surprise and that’s just the factor that leads the customer / user to come to the store or on the site looking for new brands to discover. What I can anticipate is that we will develop new product categories.
In the future of big changes, we see that you’ve also integrated e-commerce. I know you are investing a lot on your brand new TheDoubleF online platform, www.thedoublef.com What makes you in a unique way and what are the goals you are aiming to achieve through the online?
Definitely TheDoubleF is very important to us, Folli Follie had to have his online boutique and could not be anything trivial.
We built our platform thinking first of all to the needs of the user, our first goal was to create something that was easy to use, able to reduce those that are called useless clicks.
The findings at the moment are positive and the navigation experience is also optimal from mobile.
Now that we are online, we have found out that what we had thought was working, in the coming months we will integrate new sections to make our customer-journey even more interesting. In 2018, we will increase our communication efforts, at the moment we are evaluating many applications that will allow us to make our communication more and more personalized.
For a company like Folly Follie an e-commerce can really change prospects and open a wide range of business options.
Expectations are great and many are open scenarios, at the moment we look at the first steps and are satisfied.
I know that last September, a few weeks ago, you opened a new wonderful store in Bologna: FR, the result of a collaboration with Ratti. Something unique, from the point of view of collaboration between great luxury wholesalers in Italy. Tell us about this store, how it is possible to collaborate instead of fighting in Italy … and whether this store may be the first of a series of additional openings.
Collaboration with the Ratti family is born from the idea that at this precise historical moment no longer has any sense to fight to contend a territory. Customers are increasingly aware of the selection and structure of the boutique, looking for an ever more engaging experience both in terms of space and design. Joining in big realities allows us to blend our strengths and to be much more competitive. We have decided to collaborate by maintaining a balance between our traditions and enhancing our mutual experiences with a dialogue that has led to this evolution. I do not rule out this path for other locations and other entrepreneurs in the industry, I think this is one of the best ways to tackle change.
Now a few more personal questions. What are the 3 brands you could never miss in Francesco Galli’s personal wardrobe?
Rather than talking about brands, I would like to talk about product categories: in my wardrobe there is never a blue blazer, a moccasin collage and a vintage denim.
And finally: we would like to know three songs you would like to put as a music background in your store. In short, something that suits your spirit!
Choosing only three tracks to interpret the multifaceted spirit of the Folli Follie boutique would be reductive, so we thought of a real playlist designed to represent our many facets:
Ashford & Simpson – Bourgie Bourgie (instrumental version)
Rufus Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody (Remix Version)
Grace Jones – La Vie en Rose (Longo Version)
Lemon Jelly – His Majesty King Raam
Frank Sinatra -This Town
Gabin – La Maison
George Benson – Breezin’
Henry Mancini – Lujon
Frank Sinatra – Fly to the Moon
Odyssey – Native New Yorker
The Sura Quintet – Onda De Bossa
Cy Coleman – Pussy Cat
INFO E CONTACTS FOR FOLLI FOLLIE and THEDOUBLEF
Sito ufficiale: www.follifollie.it
E-commerce ufficiale: www.thedoublef.com
Pagina Facebook di Folli follie: www.facebook.com/FolliFollieBoutiques
Pagina Facebook di TheDoubleF: www.facebook.com/THEDOUBLEFofficial
Pagina Instagram di Folli follie: www.instagram.com/folli_follie/
Pagina Instagram di TheDoubleF: www.instagram.com/thedoublef_official/
Pagina SHOPenauer di Folli Follie: www.shopenauer.com/en/store/folli-follie
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