The year just ended has been significantly challenging for the fashion retail industry, which had to deal with multiple lockdowns and consequently with piles of unsold merchandise. But in 2020 Italy’s top luxury stores made significant investments that, in the year ahead, should help them maintain their position among the leaders in global independent retailing.
One of the most anticipated launches for 2021 is the debut of the new “10 Corso Como-the-global-shop” digital platform, the fruit of the partnership unveiled last September between 10 Corso Como and its founder Carla Sozzani and Italian high-profile retailer Tiziana Fausti. The new digital project will be aimed at translating 10 Corso Como’s unique shopping experience, created over the past three decades with its mix of fashion, art and design, into the virtual environment. While units in New York, Japan and China have been shut down, 10 Corso Como, which has gone through financial troubles in the past few years, currently operates its historic shop in Milan, as well as two stores in South Korea. There are also two corners with 10 Corso Como logoed products in Tokyo, in a partnership with Sogo and Seibu, and in Taipei.
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Already one of the most successful independent retailers online on a global scale, Modes will seek to reinforce its digital presence in 2021 with the launch of a new online retail platform, which will make its debut over the next few months. Internally managed by the company, the digital platform will feature the same “curatorial” experience that Modes seeks to create in its physical stores in Milan, Trapani, Favignana, at Sardinian luxury resort Forte Village, in Portofino, as well as in St. Moritz. “We don’t want the online store to be a catalogue,” said Modes chief executive officer Aldo Carpinteri. “Also in the digital environment, we want to create something unique, something that can really reflect Modes’ personal and distinctive take on fashion.”
At the same, Modes will expand its physical presence this year with a key opening in Paris. As reported, the company has secured a location on Avenue Montaigne at the corner of Rue François 1er that it will transform into its first multibrand store in the French capital’s luxury district. The store will be designed by Berlin-based architecture studio Gonzalez Haase AAS and it will span over two floors, along with the basement, which will be used as a warehouse.
While its attention has been focused on creating high-end physical shopping destinations, Dolomites-based luxury retailer Franz Kraler will make its digital debut in 2021. “It took a while to develop this project since we really wanted to create something special and unique, which could really translate our own identity, deeply rooted in the love for the mountains surrounding us and in the passion we put in everything we do,” said Daniela Kraler, who, with her husband Franz and her son Alexander, runs stores in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Dobbiaco and Bolzano. In the South Tyrol’s capital, Kraler unveiled a new shop on Nov. 3, on the eve of the second lockdown imposed by the Italian government to contain the pandemic.