Multi-brand workshop: boutiques at the centre of the Made in Italy relaunch

The uniqueness of the Italia fashion system is not only expressed upstream, by the peculiarity and richness of its manufacturing chain, but also, downstream, by its multi-brand boutiques. It is no coincidence that Italia is the only country in the world to have an organisation that understands, protects and enhances these enterprises: the Chamber Buyer Italia, founded 26 years ago, since 2023 led by Maura Basili, a manager with long and articulate experience, who with courage and vision is committed both to protecting the history of these shops, often with several decades of activity behind them, and to bringing them into the future, with highly innovative projects. The most recent is the agreement with three European shops and their respective owners, who will be ambassadors of Camera Buyer Italia in their countries and who, together with the Italians, will create an authoritative and structured international network of the best independent luxury boutiques, to build a common voice with brands, institutions and the main players in the fashion system: they are Luis Sans of Santa Eulalia for Spain, Lars Braun of Braun Hamburg for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Luc Dheedene of Verso for the Benelux. 'We will discuss data and strategies for the future, share experiences, visions and best practices,' says Maura Basili. 'Today products are global and working together is necessary.

Maura Basili, presidente di Camera Buyer Italia dal 2023

Despite the slowdown in consumption, which has affected multibrands in particular, their evolution can bring them new life: 'In order to restart fashion and luxury, they need to rediscover exclusivity, the propensity to research, and remember that it is the end consumer who decides the success of a brand. Multibrands have always been points of connection between brands and customers; they have chosen, proposed and promoted them, with a close and enduring relationship, which many brands have unfortunately chosen to forget (the reference is to the crucial evolution that 20 years ago led to the proliferation of single-brand shops, directly managed by the brands, and which penalised their presence in multibrand boutiques, ed.) I believe that marketing is above all analysing the pavement, the market. And that is what we are all still working on together: investing in the collective promotion of alternative brands to the mainstream ones, precisely because that is what people are asking for today: research and true exclusivity, not to find the same things all over the world'.

La boutique Braun di Ambrugo

In this sense, the volcanic president of Camera Buyer is also working on another, ambitious project: 'The increase in foreign tourists in Italia offers us a great opportunity,' she continues, 'to include our historical shops in the circuits of knowledge of a city and a territory, as an expression of their history and culture, just like the excellence of food and wine or art treasures. This is something in which we will invest, also in cooperation with hotels and cruise lines. All this will also serve to nurture and encourage a new generation of multibrand entrepreneurs: "New generations are appearing in the shops, a heritage that we want to listen to and enhance more and more in order to understand customers' orientations and know how to interpret them," says Basili. "For example, many are already investing in vintage, a category that the new generations are very passionate about. But what I believe is most lacking in fashion today is the courage to look beyond finance, towards creativity and style, which are now shackled by finance'.

Meanwhile, with this global outlook, they are already looking beyond Europe: 'By the end of the year we would like to incorporate the first US multibrands as well,' concludes the president.