Refrigiwear
Ready for phase two
Refrigiwear is well established in Italy. Now the brand is setting its sights on the German-speaking market in particular. What does it have to offer? A genuine workwear heritage, a promise of value for money, and a young, ambitious team.
Text: Nicoletta Schaper. Photos: Refrigiwear
What accounts for Refrigiwear's success in its home market of Italy?
Tommaso Rossi, General Manager of Refrigiwear: When we took over the brand in 2018, our focus was clearly on offering excellent value for money for a collection with genuine workwear heritage, designed with fashion and urban lifestyles in mind. Because we control the entire value chain, we can offer premium quality at good prices. Jackets are priced between €200 and €390, supplemented by smaller, higher-priced capsules with Korean or Italian fabrics. In retail, our margins of up to 3.0 are currently a strong selling point.
Refrigiwear is still something of an insider tip in the D-A-CH region. How do you plan to change that?
Visibility comes first and foremost from good distribution; shop windows and products displayed on real people are a must. We rely on strong multi-brand partners, our own mono-brand stores, and pop-ups. In Italy, collaborations with Sky, X-Factor, and MotoGP have helped us enormously. We are also striving for similar collaborations in the German-speaking market.
Refrigiwear aims to become a lifestyle brand. How does that fit with the DNA?
Everything we do is rooted in workwear. Whether pants, knitwear, or accessories: we transfer the details of the jackets, such as reinforced seams, functional pockets, and technical fabrics, to the collection for a harmonious total look with urban-functional appeal.
Warum noch ist Refrigiwear für Premiummultibrand spannend?
Because we bring new products to our ranges that surprise consumers in stores and that they cannot discover online. We stand for a focused collection of around 150 styles, which keeps delivery and reorder processes lean and ensures reliable delivery. We are also extremely motivated, more like a start-up than a corporation, but already very solidly positioned with sales of €30 million. That's why we are ready for phase two: international expansion.
