Replay
The Italian brand Replay is a ready-to-wear clothing brand for men, women and children.
Replay was founded in 1978 by Claudio Buziol in Asolo.
Index
- The origins
- Year 2000s
- Recently
THE ORIGINS OF REPLAY
Replay is an Italian brand of ready-to-wear clothing for men, women and children. The brand was registered in 1978 by the entrepreneur Claudio Buziol who, in 1981, founded the Fashion Box company based in Asolo, in the Treviso hills. The name Replay recalls the brand’s mission to re-propose vintage clothing with a contemporary twist.
Although it is known as a jeans brand, the first jeans only hit the market in 1989. In two years, this product has been sold more than a million times. Moreover, these jeans were made of a special material, Double Ring Denim, which Buziol discovered during a trip to Japan. And these jeans have become the brand’s trademark.
In 1990, the company recorded an annual statement of 35 billion lire. The first Replay store opened in Milan the following year. In 1992, 16 more outlets were opened. In 1993, the company opened its first shop in New York. The following year, the company experimented with a new blue jeans format, which featured denim dyed indigo blue. Growth in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets brings sales to around 280 billion lire.
New Developments
In addition, Fashion Box builds a new headquarters in 1996 at the same location in Asolo: the 25,000 square metre building is reminiscent of the American industrial buildings of the early twentieth century. Here the company’s entire production process comes to life, from the first designs to the prototype and the finished product. A combination of past and future, tradition and technology.
Until then, after launching the patent in 1997, the brand inaugurated the eyewear collection by Marcolin Replay SpA. In the meantime, the company’s turnover reaches 350 billion lire: the company grows exponentially. So far In September 1999, the new Replay shop opened in Milan on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, offering an 800-square-metre display area that changed the concept of the point of sale.
Year 2000s
However, in 2001, thanks to an agreement signed by Buziol with the company Sugi International Limited of Hong Kong, was the year in which the production and distribution of footwear for the REPLAY and REPLAY&SONS brands began. Moreover, In 2003, licences were granted for watches and perfumes, sales increased and the brand’s new premium line, WE ARE REPLAY, was created and presented at the international event for men’s fashion, organized by Pitti Immagine in Florence. In 2005 Claudio Buziol died of a heart attack, aged just 47.
Furthermore, The brand celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006 with a series of events at the San Gregorio monastery in Venice. Even more, it achieved a turnover of 353 million euros, the highest in the company’s history. From the following year, partly due to the global economic crisis, the company began a long period of losses, bringing turnover in 2007 to 320 million and in 2008 to 305.
In 2008, the brand signed agreements with Procter & Gamble for the launch of a line of perfumes REPLAY FRAGRANCES, with Christian Bernard for watches and jewellery REPLAY TIME&JEWEL and with Arcte for lingerie and swimwear REPLAY UNDERWEAR. In the same year Gaetano Sallorenzo joined Fashion Box as Managing Director, leaving Calvin Klein. Also in 2008, the Orient Box project was launched, which immediately achieved sales of 80 million euros.
The 2009 Crisis
2009 is a year of great difficulty. The company’s turnover dropped to 250 million and the company was forced to cut back on employees and close loss-making shops. Paola Dametto, Buziol’s widow, then decided – after lengthy negotiations with various interlocutors including a branch of the Marzotto family heirs – to sell 60% of Fashion Box to Equibox Holding S.p.A.
Equibox is a company controlled 70% by Matteo and Massimo Sinigaglia and 30% by Wolfgang Friedrichs, a partner in the German market. The Sinigaglia brothers had already been in business with Fashion Box for some time as Replay licensees in the footwear sector, through Sugi International Ltd. At the end of the year, Matteo Sinigaglia took over from Gaetano Sallorenzo, becoming the new managing director of the Fashion Box Group.
That same year, Replay launched a collaboration with the MINI brand to mark the London brand’s 50th birthday, creating a limited edition jeans model. In May, the brand’s online shopping site opened.
In 2010 Wolfgang Friedrichs left Fashion Box and Equibox Holding S.p.A. reduced its presence in the Treviso-based company, maintaining 51% of the shares. The Red Seal and White Seal lines were launched, limited edition garments made with special looms and special treatments. An innovative sales concept was promoted in the flagship stores in Milan and Paris, celebrated with worldwide events attended by fashion and music celebrities.
2011
However, in 2011 – the year in which Replay celebrates its 30th birthday – the store model inaugurated in Milan and Paris is exported to Barcelona and London. The concept is mainly focused on creating an environment for the customer, i.e. a context that can offer a break from everyday life and change the original idea of shopping habits.
In September of that year, Thomas Wirth becomes the new Managing Director of Replay in Germany. New international openings are planned; such as Fashion Box Japan, to strengthen the brand’s grip on the Asian market. Then, in July 2012, the first Replay shop opened in Beijing, China, and in August in Daikanyama, Japan.
2013
In 2013, the brand signed a four-year contract with FC Barcelona as the team’s official sponsor and supplier. Some of the club’s players have acted as testimonials for the brand’s advertisements.
In Milan in 2014, Replay The Stage opened, the new flagship store designed like a film set. The majestic sets make the shop unique and make customers the protagonists of the store and of a new era for shopping. Unfortunately, however, despite the new fittings, the revenue front continues to decline.
2015
In 2015, Neymar Jr., international football celebrity and captain of the Brazilian national team, signed a three-year contract as Replay ambassador. In the same year, he opened the Replay The Stage restaurant in Piazza Gae Aulenti and, in December, Paola Dametto exercised her option to exit the Fashion Box company, collecting around €40 million for 49% of her shares. At the end of the year, the balance sheet was still critical, with losses of over €20 million.
Dametto was succeeded in 2016 by the Chinese holding company Belle International, which became a shareholder of the Replay brand, leaving the majority shareholding in Equibox unchanged. Replay also signed a collaboration with Fedez, singer and record producer, for a series of t-shirts and sweatshirts with bright colours and tribal references, under the NoGodz brand.
The last few years have seen a slow and steady recovery of the Replay brand, accompanied by the strengthening of the company’s management team, which focuses on the focal points of development.
Recently
In 2018, football star Neymar Jr. and the Italian brand renew their agreements for another three years. In 2019, Replay organises an advertising campaign in collaboration with supermodel Emily Ratajkowski and footballer Neymar Jr. to launch Hyperflex+, an innovative denim created from a mix of special fibres.
Notable appearances include the participation of important show business personalities such as Irina Shayk, Bar Rafaeli, Alessandra Ambrosio, Stella Maxwell and Joan Smalls photographed by the duo Alas and Marcus Piggott for some Replay campaigns.
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