“We Dress The 0.001%” - Stefano Ricci: Inside The World’s Most EXCLUSIVE Luxury Brand | PBD Podcast
Patrick Bet-David sits down with Stefano Ricci CEO Niccolò Ricci to go inside the world’s most exclusive luxury brand, famed for dressing the 0.001% with handcrafted Italian elegance, timeless design, and unmatched attention to detail.
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ABOUT US:
Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
We just got back from Tuscany, Florence, Italy, incredible experience.
You know, when you think about levels, in life, there's levels at everything you do, including suits.
You may have a suit that looks good.
You may see somebody that's got a suit on a president, a prime minister, a billionaire.
You say, where do these guys get their suits from?
Well, according to New York Times, the 0.001% cloth year for billionaires around the world is a company called Stefano Ricci, based out of Tuscany, Italy.
We went there.
We spent time with the entire family.
I, matter of fact, right now, I'm wearing a Stefano Ricci, so my closet is only Stefano.
I got their pin on here as well.
First time we go out there to have dinner with them, they take us to this place called the Cantineta Antinori restaurant.
We're thinking it's just a nice restaurant.
Later on, we find out the wine that we had with them has been passed down for 27 generations since the 1300s.
It was like a castle.
Family staying upstairs.
Food was amazing.
We celebrated my daughter's birthday, 9-year-old daughter's birthday, Senna.
Great experience.
Then afterwards, we went to their headquarters.
This is the area of the artisanal heart of the city.
We saw where they make their silk, you know, material.
If you want to get your house fixed up with the things that they do with Stefano, they do all of that.
They do it for yachts.
They do it for clubs.
They do it for massive five-star hotels around the world.
And then we went to their actual headquarters and we saw how they make their products, the details, the stitching, the patent they have for the needle that they use to make the suit look as good as it does.
The amount of time it takes them to do one suit, how many hands touch each suit they make.
And then they showed me the different things that they have.
A purse they were making that's $125,000, $100,000 cufflinks.
I'm talking the type of stuff that people that are in that category of the 0.001% that purchase.
And then afterwards, we went to their property, we spent time with the family, we spent the night at their estate that they have in Tuscany, a few thousand acres.
We had a chance to have dinner with the founder of the company, D. Stefano Ricci, his wife, his sons.
It's just an incredible experience.
And then afterwards, we went to their number one flagship store that's in Florence, walked in, got a tour, sat down and did an interview with the one and only the CEO of the company today, the son of Stefano Ricci, Niccolo, as well as Filippo Ricci.
Here's the interview.
So the first time I'm in Beverly Hills.
I'm barely coming up in insurance and I'm buying clothes from three-day suit broker.
I'm going to these Ross, buying $29 shoes and I see this store.
Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Bijan is there.
You got Stefano Ricci, the most incredible property.
I go in and I said, one day, one day I'm going to wear the clothes here.
And today we're sitting with you, CEO of Stefano Ricci.
Nicolo, it's great to have you on, buddy.
You know that Stefano Jr., when he saw you, he told me, you didn't tell me PBD is here.
I look at him on TikTok all the time.
This does not look like a store.
What is this place?
It's a Florentine workshop, as we call it.
You know, you enter the heart of Fernacon.
You have this ceiling, which is all hand done by special mirrors, special glasses, the frescoes from the early 1900.
And it used to be, this location used to be where they kept the carriages.
So New York Times has a story on you guys, talking about the clothier for the top 0.001%.
Not the 1%ers, not 0.1, the 0.001.
You see the list of people that have worn Stefano.
This is a long list.
We got Nelson Mandela.
We got the Pope, we got Tom Cruise, we have the weekend recently, right?
You have 20 presidents, dignitaries, one that I'm very friendly of because of something he shared with me.
A lot of these names, business people, Bezos coming here.
I saw Bezos sign the meal, the place that we went that Felippo was showing us.
All of these folks, how do you, your father, the family, view how to impress and keep the 0.001% of doing business with you?
What's the level of expectation there?
First of all, you know, 0.001, now we are targeting to the 0.002 because we would like to grow our business.
I think we focus on that niche where maybe it was missing in the market, or maybe we reached, it was never reached before, providing products and materials that were not shown before to give emotions.
You know, gentlemen like you, I've seen it all, I've worn it all.
You need something that you wear it, you touch it, you understand there is a, for us, there is a family and the group of artisans behind doing research and make things by hand with a great passion.
And, you know, it's exclusivity, of course, it's not an exclusion to the rest of the world.
But as an example, we were talking with my brother.
Nobody can drive a Ferrari, but when they look at it, lots of people admire Ferrari.
So in our case, it's like we love to do these products extremely exclusive.
And I think as a form of respect for all the people that works behind it, we're talking about hundreds of people that on a daily basis that come in our headquarters and put passion and also help to hands down the heritage also to the newcomers, that the younger generation that is coming to within our facility.
And we teach them this art of tailoring, of like making shirts, leather goods, jewelry, diamond settings.
So all within our world, we try to express the maximum heritage of artisan that can be done here in Florence.
So one thing I noticed of just being with you guys last two days and walking around everywhere, whether it's the headquarters or the meal that you guys have, is the amount of details that you look at.
Whether it's the little button, whether it's the sewing, whether it's it was so much details that things you guys talk, is that because in your eyes, even right now when we're sitting down here, these chairs, right?
These are, or these, these are dead chairs.
These are crocodile.
Crocodile.
Crocodile chairs.
Life is made of details.
Details make the difference.
And in our world, a button, a specific fabric, a specific type of skin of crocodile is what makes the product unique.
You don't need, you know, you don't go on the market, we find what is available.
We make our own materials, our own buttons, our own, and then we create, of course, our own styles with details, with stitching.
You know, my father, he invented in the 80s, you remember all those shirts with those gimmicks on the colors and the stitching on the color.
So he invented them and he made also his collection of shirts famous with that back in the 80s and the 90s.
And I remember we had, at the time, we didn't have a shop on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
We have two, three multi-brands that were buying our shirts to sell it to their top high-end customers.
Is one of them, Bijan?
Is that where?
Bijan, I do have great memories because we feel like family with him and his son Nicolas.
My father was designing his shirts and ties back in the 80s.
And it was a very strong relation between the two of them.
Of course, we have to give credit to Bijan.
He was a luxury master.
He invented this world of high-end luxury.
Only by appointment, I think was inspirational for everybody that is in the luxury business today.
How long does it take to make one a piece?
One dinner jacket like this, it gets close to 30 hours to make one garment.
30 hours to make one project like this.
So, the fabric, the time of making the fabric would take how long?
It depends on the kind of fabric, as you know, some looms produce up to 20, 40 centimeters per day.
A meter per day as well.
One feet per day.
Can you imagine one feet per day?
One feet per day.
Yeah, when you guys were telling me you only make 12 suits a day in that one property, another 24 days.
The vision is at 12 suits per day.
You spoke as 12 suits per day.
That's the perfection part.
You take your time with it.
And you have 45 people to make 12 suits a day.
That is the key.
45 people to make 12 suits a day.
You know, for us, the strategies now is to be able to offer our client an experience like the one you're living.
Just sitting in a beautiful environment with Made in Italy furniture, with Made in Italy product, with a great team, with great service.
You need, honestly, you work a lot, then you dedicate yourself maybe once every six months, one hour for yourself to do your clothing selection.
You get here, you just want to be relaxed, enjoy.
You can open a bottle of champagne, you sit down, we cover you, we show you all the latest fabrics that we have.
We measure you.
If you have to send our tailor to your house to make the second fitting, we send it wherever you are in the world.
We provide the service that we just want to make you happy and remove the headache of having a full closet of merchandise for the season to come.
And I see that people come, there are some people that come every month, they like to enjoy the experience.
Somebody comes twice a year, spring, summer, fall, winter.
Even though for our top clients, we offer something that is unique.
We invite them in our showroom in Milan and we offer them to see the full selection of the actual collection, which means normally you go in a boutique and you find 15, 20 outfits, which is the selection made by us together with the managers of the boutique that they can offer you.
Instead, if you are in the top tier of our clientele, which means spend over, let's say, 150 to 100,000 per year.
Per year, you are invited and you can select out of like 80, 100 dukes, but you must have a mentality of a shop.
So you must be able to wait for five months, four or five months, in order to get the collection at the right time.
And there are some clients that enjoy it really, really much.
Then they stay at, of course, they stay with the family, they stay with us, we have dinner in Milan, then they come to Florence, we invite them in our country house.
Because at the end, talk about clients, but with most of them, they become very good friends.
Share some passion, vintage cars, great wines, great food.
And I think this maybe is the best part of my job because I get the opportunity to meet very influential, powerful, self-made multi-billionaire, if not billionaires, and share the vision and understanding from their perspective what is going to happen, what is in the near future.
And hearing, and honestly, from I go from China, US, Middle East, you really get some interesting information.
Last time when we're having dinner, your mother, Claudia, was unbelievable, the stories with her and what things happened.
The family is pretty competitive, some of the conversations that we're having.
It was very interesting listening to the conversations.
Your dad is sitting right there next to my wife, and I ask, so how did this whole thing get started?
You know, they met at 17, he was 19, she was 17.
And then the story of how they started selling ties.
Maybe you can start out, you know, the story of the company.
It's, you know, it seems like a story from a book from ancient times because they met, they were 17, 18, still together after 57 years.
I think it's a great story because they started, my father was, he started as an accountant.
And then he decided within the, my mom, my grandmother, she had a little facility with two, three ladies doing garments for lady.
So he was a great graphic designer and he had an inspiration from the ceiling of the Renaissance Palace of Florence to recreate those design into the ties.
And it was amazing the success that they had right away.
So he showed Pity, Petty Fashion, Pity Warm of Fashion Week.
He met buyers from all over the world.
And within two years, the four ladies were doing the latest gown.
They were converted into making ties.
And my mom and my dad, they started together.
Of course, my father had the vision.
I always say he's enlightened because doing what he did, especially in 93, going to China, maybe neither me, I would maybe would have not been able to do it.
Maybe my role and my brother's role, extremely important, was after, to develop it.
But the vision that they had and with the great support, my mom, because we always say behind the great man, this immigrated woman.
Let me show you something.
This is something that made Stefan Ricci famous around the world.
And it was the most expensive tie in the world.
This is a micro patchwork tie.
When he came out, it was touching the thousand dollars.
And it was 25 years ago.
So this made a statement and it was one of the points that what is the score for now?
This is $500.
Because it's not the pleated.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
But the pleated one you do would go for today.
Oh, a thousand.
A thousand dollars.
Okay.
When did he decide he wants to mainly target the 0.001?
What was it?
Was it he was always so eccentric?
Because being around him, the way he looks, you know, he looks like somebody that would build something like this.
Yes, I think it happened for different reasons.
Accidentally or on purpose?
Accidentally?
No, it's accidentally, but on purpose, because his vision was to, as he always teached me, taught me and my brother, always starts where everybody else stops.
So he always raised the bar higher and higher and higher.
Always start where everybody else stops.
So if they think this is the point where the market, if you speak with the fabric supplier, say, this is the finest fabric we've done until today.
They say, can we do better?
But Mr. Richie, this is the best we've done.
Do better.
So that has been his mantra, his motto, that you're teaching everybody here in the team.
Don't stop where you think is very good.
Try to be more and more and more.
Sometimes even complicated for us, can you imagine every season to raise the bar?
But this path lead us to the 0.001.
When we were at our Vault conference last year, Julian's there, who does a phenomenal job, by the way.
And he's like, well, let's see what's going to happen here.
Everybody runs up.
I'm like, have you guys heard of Stefano Ricci?
And we got nearly 6,000 people there.
You know, the CEOs and the founders, they raise their hands, they know about it.
The rest of the people, like, I've never heard of this before, right?
Because of who the market is for.
There is a famous quote you always hear that says, there's a reason why Ferrari never advertises.
Okay?
It never, because their buyers don't watch too much TV.
That's the quote.
Their buyers are out there drawing things, right?
But, you know, everybody walked up when they went to the booth.
They say, I wouldn't mind getting a Stefano Ricci cologne.
I think it's the best, by the way, in the marketplace.
Thank you.
It's what I wear.
My son Dylan wears it.
Dylan, who loves your dogs, Adam, the one that was running away from Watson.
Last night everybody's out there.
We're having dinner and we have cigars.
And next thing, you know, we hear a screaming and a chair moving.
And I say, well, what's going on?
It's our brown chocolate laboratories trying to play with Randall.
Dylan, yeah.
At the end of the night, he was playing.
Was you're right.
And this morning he was playing with them in the backyard, which was great.
No, but some items.
If somebody doesn't know about your items, we're sitting here.
If I wanted to create these two in my office, if I want to change my office, my house, and I wanted to get something like this, price range of items.
Benny's looking at a leather jacket yesterday, $30,000, $35,000.
We were looking at a bag yesterday with a gold lock on the front of it, beautiful bag.
And I think it was also a crocodile bag.
Because that bag with the golden diamonds with 15 carats diamonds on it.
15 carats that for us is, I think this is our main challenge.
To make people understand that we can go from Thai to a finished apartment.
So lifestyle is what now is driving also our business.
I always say there will be two maestros and inspirational for us.
Besides my father, has been my mentor and my brother's mentor.
But Giorgio Armani, Ralph Loren.
These two persons have been able to create two maestros.
They've been able to create two lifestyles where wherever you enter their restaurant, their boutiques, their hotels, you understand immediately where you are because they've created a legacy, they created a lifestyle.
Different looks, different concept.
So we have to take inspiration from them.
They did it.
They made it.
For us, the idea is this one.
Of course, in a smaller case, but being able to create a lifestyle at 360 degrees.
And recently, proven with a beautiful suite inside the Castafalfi Resort.
Today it's going to be run by Discoveryland.
A beautiful suite in Principia Villipe Monte.
We've done a yacht club in Sindaland, Saudi Arabia.
With MBS.
That's the one that was the blue.
It's incredible.
PIF, of course, with the MBS commission to us.
They reach out to you and they say, want you to come and design this.
We were invited to make a proposal.
So I've been waiting with my brother and Saudi for a few days to meet with the number one.
And they love the concept of an exclusive brand making something even more exclusive with all our crocodile chairs and sofa armchairs with a unique design of marble for all the for the yacht club.
Together with that, we have our lounge and building in Shanghai where our members can participate and go and have dinner and drinks.
This is because today, for us it's fundamental to create a lifestyle, and the interiors as well.
We have this kind of concept, but we also have leather, so it not only has to be crocodile.
Of course, it's becoming more and more person, more and more important for our, for our business.
But the price point?
It's important because in the NEW YORK Times article it also talks about that there was cufflinks that were a hundred thousand dollar cufflinks, even more.
We've done some pins, we've done some buckles, we've even done one buckle in diamonds for one million dollars.
But a diamond buckle yes, with four billion dollars 50, 50 carats, all designed with the initial of a special client.
We've done Cufflinks for a couple hundred thousand.
You know, the jewelry, as you saw yesterday, is, I think it's really elevating the brand.
Because for us, we've been doing Cafflings for 30 years.
And the last 10 years, we organized a team of extremely skilled goldsmiths and diamond setters that are doing unique things.
And one more thing we are extremely proud of.
If you have in your mind either a design for a house, if you want one buckle, one diamond, one jewelry, one cufflink with your initial, with the family crest, if you have a company with the logo and you want to do something unique, one-off, we are here for this.
We do so many special projects for our clients.
We've done, you know, crocodile jacket with matching hats, with embroidery, some logos for some clients.
You saw yesterday our silverware product production of Chisel with this Balzo and Chiselo Technique.
We can do family crest, we can do anything, pretty much anything.
We are a great team of designers in-house with this under supervision of my brother and my father.
We can create customized design for ties.
What would something like this go for?
If a person wants two of these in our office, what is it?
$80,000 to $100,000.
$80,000 to $100,000 or something like this.
So this isn't just about clothes.
You guys will go to buildings, homes, bedrooms, offices, the variety of creativity homes.
We have done also two homes for two special clients of ours.
And, you know, once you are in, you are in.
You really.
So spend the first dollar you're in forever.
No, you really want us to be involved.
Yeah.
Because, for example, after you came last night and you saw our estate and the passion that was put to build that house where every beautiful, every detail has been designed with the heart because everything was a lot of passion behind it.
You say, I would like to do my country house.
Which inspiration would you get?
Have you had clients come in and say, can we do something similar to this?
Can you give us inspiration?
And we've done a penthouse and we've done another house for another client.
It's beautiful.
I mean, 3,000 acres, you know, the pool, the Tuscany.
You see Tuscany, you think about it.
That's our secret paradise.
We keep it.
Well, it definitely is a secret, but we almost lost Vinny because Vinny was hiding in the house.
He didn't want to leave.
Yeah, he was not going to leave.
But somehow, some way we were able to convince him to leave.
You know, it was going to be a problem.
Your dad's going to wake up tomorrow saying, who is this?
I think in the wine cellar, in the wine cellar.
What we do, who we are, the women.
You can also share the vision.
And cheers to that.
Have a good day with us.
Cheers.
You know what I liked about the house that Rob noticed?
He says, Pat, you know what's the craziest thing I noticed about their house?
He says, what's that?
I said, what's that?
He says, I walked around everywhere and looked at pictures.
There was no pictures with celebrities and all this other.
It was all family and kids.
The only thing that was there was the Pope, the picture with kissing.
I think it was You're In It and He's In It.
And it was a family picture because one of the kids were there.
Is that intentional that in the house it's just family?
No, it's a family house.
So for us, it's a picture of male is a grandchild.
You see them everywhere.
There are some pictures of me and my brother, but just rarely because grandma and grandpa put all their grandchilds around.
But when you talk about, like when you talk about the Holy Father, Pope Francis, we had the honor through Antico Citificio Florentino, which is a company founded in 1786 here in Florence with antique looms that you saw yesterday.
We donate actually the lady working in Antico Citifico through them we donate the fabric produced for the Casula so for this dress for the Holy Father when he celebrated the mass here in Florence.
It was a great honor for us.
I think he showed it to us, Felipe.
Is that the material that was soft, incredible?
Yeah, it was uncomfortable.
Because it's made with hand looms, human-activated looms that create a 3D effect.
So they came, they made the selection, they saw this fabric that it would have been amazing to represent the heritage of Florence during the Mass of the Mass of the Holy Father.
And then that's how we end up wearing the Antico Certifico fabric on his shoulder during that very special day.
So we had the opportunity to participate in a private mass in Vatican City and we met the Holy Father.
At the time, my daughter, she was in the womb of her mother, and we were not sure about the name yet because I wanted Anna Julia or Margarita or Aurora.
So when we got there, and he asked me what I can do for you.
And I say, Holy Father, I just want, I'm here just to thank you for the light and the peace you're bringing to a lot of people that are coming back here on St. Peter Square for your mass.
And so thank you for that.
I say, also, you're expecting a baby, it's just due in a few months.
And what's her before he says, what's her, her mother says, Aurora.
So Aurora was how long before Aurora was born?
This is two months before two months before.
Two months before.
And you say, Aurora, and Aurora, it is, Merid was blessed by the Holy Father.
And it was fantastic that after six, seven months, he came back in the Duomo together with the authorities.
And next to me were the mayor, the chief of the region of Tuscany, all top officials.
And on the side, the first one was me with Aurora, with her mother, and my mother, and my brother.
So I say hi to the gentleman on my left and say, Hello, Nicolov, like give us a few minutes.
It's a very important moment to say hi to the grandfather, the Holy Father.
Say, okay.
So I say, pass me Aurora, please, one second.
So I took Aurora and I put her like sitting on the barricade where the Holy Father was going through.
So he was supposed to go to the authorities.
Instead, he came straight to my daughter and he said, How beautiful is this girl?
What's her name?
Aurora, you gave her the name, you gave the benediction.
And he told me, This is why it's so beautiful, because I bless her in the womb.
So then he just gave a give a give a hug to them, to my daughter.
And then what he did, he just went, he left without ignoring all the authorities.
It was my fault.
You gotta be.
Oh, they were so upset with me.
The mayor is a friend.
I've been waiting this moment all my life to take a picture with the Holy Father in the dome of Florence.
And what he does?
He came to your beautiful daughter.
Okay, let me forget about it.
I noticed something in the front that really caught my attention a few times.
You don't mind going there.
So what is the story with this chess board and the chess pieces you have over there?
Well, within the lifestyle, we've got projects.
Of course, game boards are are part of it, and we wanted to tell a story about the chess board with the crocodile.
So you see, the black and white, also the square, are in crocodile and we traded, you know, these in in um steel and silver and you can really play.
I mean, you're looking on the market for, you know, has one of these.
We gave him as a, as a present to our dear friend, Andrea Bocelli.
he loves to play chess and he has one of these in his house checkmate but but they're crocodile pieces that are the leather We can actually do it in crocodile as well.
This is his artwork.
This is artwork.
I got it okay beautiful, and if you want a real size one in crocodile, we can.
Uh, I think it's beautiful.
So our UH consulting firm's UH logo is a chess piece.
Okay, that's why I asked the question.
Yeah, we can send that to you.
That's exactly the point, and so what i'm saying is this is, this is our brand.
How often do you run into people that are wearing richest time?
More and more and more restaurants, Florence Rome, Milan And Nice.
If you go London London Ball Istole, I think you go around Yereval.
I mean, the best restaurants are here in Europe.
You know my father, they know him.
But really stop in Armenia, in Russia, in Azerbaijan.
If you go with my father, people go crazy like a superstar.
Your dad has a distinct artist.
You know the beautiful that's.
That's not, that's a, that's a brand new.
It's like respect.
You know, when you see all the colors yeah yeah, for sure.
Fun story.
We are just out of the of the store.
A few years ago, when Matteorency was the prime minister of Italy and he was also mayor of Florence, so after he was prime minister, he was here walking.
We go out and we see you guys like the sky, we are friends.
So we see him walking and say come Hages uh sandwiches, like having fun.
And then a couple, they look and they come to us with a camera and they go to him and say, can we, can you, can we please?
He was an entertainment.
Yeah sure, take the camera, take picture of my.
He's a Russian.
Yeah, so they knew him more than they knew him.
Yeah, they were.
Fuck you.
Fuck you.
I'm going to sell it.
So, guys, this is a prestige brand.
Recent years, a lot of stories comes out about, you know, companies in Italy, big brands, competitors of yours, who claim it's made in Italy, but they're assembled in China.
Made in Italy.
Two things, how important is the fact that everything that's produced is made in Italy?
Why is the whole concept of what is it called tutto Italiano fatto in Italia, fat fat fatto in Italia, made Italia?
Why is that made in Italy so important?
Because the quality you do here you can't do anywhere else.
There is the concept of quality that we have in Italy.
It's second to none.
Why, though?
Why, Niccolo?
Because it goes back to our roots.
Let's go back to the beauty you want.
Let's have a walk outside here.
Show you some beautiful building.
They were done like this.
Yesterday they were done.
They were done like the duo was done in the 14, like you know, from the 1400 Renaissance in Florence.
You breathe it everywhere.
So beauty things have to be made with quality.
If you try to produce some of this garment in some other countries would be hard because there is not the heritage.
It goes down for hundreds of years.
Leather goods here we have an area which is extremely famous.
All the brands from around the world, the top brands around the world.
They all come and produce here in Florence.
I noticed when we're there was a piece in the, in the Leonardo Da Vinci piece that had been designed.
We, we are the proud custody of a loom that has been created following the original design of Leonardo Da Vinci, which still wave.
It's a Orditorio that created fab.
We use for the, the warp, for our effort making in order to make the samples, and it still works perfectly.
Yeah, yesterday the guys uh, what was his name?
Was his name Fabricio, was Fabricio.
The Fabrizio Fabrizio was a little bit worried because I wanted to try this one guy that was doing the thing.
So I stood up there, he showed me how to do it and bring it back and they were all nervous this is gonna break and have to push the thing this way.
That that thing comes from 1700, that's unbelievable.
It still makes the most amazing fabric.
When we talk, we go back.
When we talk about details, right details are made if you respect history, if you respect the heritage.
You know when yesterday you were trying to do the chisel on the silverware and you told me how you do it because it's difficult, I showed the picture of the guy.
Now is uh, maybe 50, and you have a picture of him.
He was 16.
so it's a experience that's what you like was the the the chiseling which was you hammering hammering it in and then it comes up and then it turns into a piece like that did he do that is that him yes that's him and that takes how long to make that is a month one month of work just on one piece yes one piece wow and if i want to buy something like that for my house what would i be paying for
Yeah. 80,000 dollars. 80,000 dollars.
You know, you know.
You know what you said yesterday multiple times, which I loved.
He said uh look, there are customers that come in and they just go, I want this.
Here's my credit card.
She didn't ask for price, they don't ask for price.
But you know why they don't ask for price.
They've been buying for us for many years and they always got happy at the end because what is important?
When they say ah, this product is expensive no, it's not expensive, because for what you are getting, it's a very good price.
How long did it take to have that reputation?
So you guys been around 50 years.
How long did it take to have that reputation?
It took, I think, the 20, the first 20 years of b2b selling shirts.
You need to build the brand until the market realized that's going to overdo it.
You know what I think made us?
It is reputation, made us our life easier because we added categories like the you know the, the suiting, the leather jacket, the leather outerwear, the briefcases, the jewelry.
The clients gave us the chance because we never let them down and as far as you give them quality, as far as you give them quality, the client respects you.
I keep on buying from you.
But you know, you can't just sell a brand and then use crazy multiples.
You need to be fair, prices, high prices, but for what you are getting and the amount of work that is behind it, the amount of research and the amount of investment that we do from our side is it's amazing you say this.
So we're in Miami, we go to George.
Tom needs something for here, okay?
While we're in Florence, he doesn't have it yet.
We're in Miami.
George contacts the store here, says, I have a client, Tom Ellsworth, that's going to be here.
And he comes down here.
What is the gentleman's name?
Where is he at?
Alessandro.
Alessandro, who was fixing my tie, by the way, Alessandro.
We walk in, takes out the jacket, ready for Tom.
Then we see Tom look like an absolute model of a guy.
We can't send him home today because he'll have another baby in nine months if he goes some right now with his wife.
But we saw that to me, the most unique differentiator working with you guys is the service.
It's absolutely unbelievable, the service you offer across the board.
The mission of their life is to make you happy, is to make the client happy.
You have so many headaches in your life.
The last thing you want to have a headache about is about your clothes.
Can you teach that or do you have to find people like that?
You have to find the right manager, have him staying with us a few months, but normally they're trained, you know, they come train.
You train them more and then it's their responsibility to train their team.
But do you like, how do you, if I'm not a person that's a service person, you can't really teach it to me, to the core.
How do you find guys that are fully about service?
You know, we look at people that maybe have also experienced previously in the jewelry business, hospitality.
Because at the end of the day, you have to be a great salesperson, you need to know about products, but you need to know how to greet customer.
Got it.
For the most part, what we love is to have the team working together.
When the first person gets in touch, well, the manager gets in touch with the client, the team works around him.
It's funny.
Our family, for four years, we would go to this restaurant in Fort Lauderdale called Angelo de Elio.
And they would do these pizzas and, you know, in the oven and martadella.
And they would bring the cheese and the 25-year balsamic glaze aged.
And then we go to the one restaurant, which I absolutely love, Casa DiAngelo, ran by Angelo, phenomenal place in Fort Lauderdale.
Michele was our manager that would take care of us.
We love this guy so much that eventually we said, you come and run our cigar lounge.
So he runs a cigar lounge, Michele.
Customer service with Michele to us is one of a kind.
The way he treats us.
He's also Italian from here, tells the story.
It's a very unique experience and gives me the vibes of this is like a three Michelin star store you walk into.
You come to thank you.
It's an accomplishment for us to hear from you having this kind of compliment interaction.
It's the treatment we get every time we're in.
So I got a question for you.
Movie-wise, when are we going to see 007 wear a Stefano Ricci suit?
This is a good idea.
It's a project.
Also, because most of our clients, they don't envision themselves as that specific actor.
Of course, we are proud if some of them wears our things, but 007, everybody envisioned them as 007.
So that would be a great thing.
We need to explore it, hopefully, in the future.
We'll see.
How does that work?
Do they come to you?
Do you go to them?
Do you put a few outfits saying, hey, what if he wears this?
Is it?
I think you collaborate with them to go to meet them.
Sometimes we had some production that asked us to provide some clothes, but mainly they even go through department stores, they have a personal shopper and they buy the looks for during the movies.
Recently we saw Woolsmith was wearing one of our knees and we didn't know about it because they bought it directly from a department store.
Yeah, that's the best kind, right?
The interest is there to go.
They love it.
They put it maybe in their context they would like to wear and they put the brands.
Then they go, they make the outfits to buy, some directly, some indirectly to our some of our partners.
And I saw my new friend who told me the history of a lot of other things that he really wants me to tell today in this interview, but I won't.
I'm not going to do it.
I know you want me to tell it.
I'm not going to do it because of my own level of discipline.
But he showed the book that you opened up here with Mike Tyson wearing a white belt, right?
And you guys didn't give it to him.
He bought it himself.
So he had a picture of him with our eagle head as a buckle.
Right, the brand.
But the other one was, apparently you guys have a store in Armenia, in Yerevan.
We opened a shop in Armenia 20 years, around 20 years ago.
In 20 years you've been in Yerevan?
15 years, 20 years ago, yes.
And they say in Yerevan, if you don't wear a Stefano Ricci socks.
They say if you don't wear Stefano Ricci socks, you're nobody.
And you know, this comes through a lot of years of Armenian families been working in New York, in LA.
I've been great support London.
Britain has a lot of pay.
They will pay because they want to wear the best.
That's why I had a couple of ideas for you.
I said, in my opinion, I think Boca Roton will be a good market for you to look into.
Maybe the Boca Resort area, maybe some of the areas there.
And then, you know, Glendo wouldn't be a bad market to look at.
A lot of Armenians that they're also like nice clothes.
You know, lots of Armenians have a lot very strong know-how about tailoring.
So they really appreciate the workmanship that we put in this.
That's a good point.
You know, in my dad's, yesterday when I was with Filipone, show me the singer, the sewing, the machine that you guys have.
And today you showed me the video for the new series that's coming up that I don't want to disclose it to the audience.
They'll find out about it.
You had the singer sewing machine.
My dad is 83 years old in our house.
If something is messed up, we need to fix it.
We just go give it to him.
No.
83 years old.
He goes to his room, fixes it, comes out.
Here you go.
If a button, anything is missing, my dad goes and does it.
So in Armenian Middle Eastern, it's very strong tradition.
Yes.
Yes, very.
And they're spenders.
They will spend the money as well when it comes down to wanting.
Yes, I know.
I know you know.
I know.
Yes, I know you know.
Any final thoughts?
Any final thoughts you have here?
Because for us, we're excited about this partnership that we have together, the collaboration that we have together.
We are very picky on who.
We don't do any sponsorships right now with anybody.
When Julian and I started talking about the brand and, you know, how much I love what you guys do, how the treatment, we brought it to our audience, they fell in love with it.
So we're proud to go on this journey together with you guys.
But what are some final things you want to tell the audience?
First of all, can't wait to be in Orlando September 8th to the 11th.
I believe it's going to be a super exciting meeting.
And for me to interact and meet the people that are going to be there, lots of CEOs, a lot of very successful people sharing ideas, like your motto, the future looks bright.
I think that we always have, we must get the good energy of everything that is coming out and from every kind of conversation we are having.
Future project and we are on it.
We develop, we deliver quality, excellence.
This is what we are good at.
And I think with your team and with the people going to be at the vault, we're going to get great ideas and we're going to make great things.
I look forward to it.
It's been a great experience spending time with you, your family the last few days.
And I hope, audience, if you're watching this, go find the nearest, you know, Stefano Richie store and then go to whatever you want to pick up.
Start off with something.
If you can get a jacket, a suit, do so.
You will see how you're going to be treated.
Thank you so much for this.
Thank you.
It's great to have you.
Yes, and your team here.
Likewise.
Thanks for hosting us.
Now you know the story of Stefano Richie and I'm proud to announce today the collaboration with Valutain and Stefano Richie by the first limited edition product we're launching.
It's the ties I'm wearing.
There's a couple of them.
They're all numbered.
They're not going to last a long time.
But if you want to get these ties on the back, they have the future looks bright.
Logo on it.
You'll see Value Tayment on some of these ties and they're all numbered.
And you'll get this box that comes to you showing the partnership between the two.
And if you want to go order these ties, the limited edition ties, go to vtmerch.com or click on a link over here.
And if you've never been to a Stefano Richie store, click on a link below.
Go to a store near you.
Buy a cologne, buy a suit, buy a sport jacket, buy a shoe, and let them know Patrick Bay David sent you.
