Nove25 Expansion Retail Plan

 

 Greeting me at Nove25’s Milanese showroom is Silver. He is a cute American Staffordshire Terrier, for enthusiasts, simply “AmStaff”, and the mascot of this young company. Young both in terms of the average age of the workers - 30/35 years – and of its presence on the market. One of the “oldest” is 41-year-old Roberto Dibenedetto, who, in 2005, after finishing his business studies course, decided to devote himself to his many passions – fashion, accessories, design and jewelry – that, also due to his numerous travels and years spent abroad, in Greece and Saudi Arabia, for example, he had been cultivating since childhood. Over time, everything led towards his dream and became an ambitious entrepreneurial project, largely inspired by a personal need: to create jewelry that perfectly satisfies a taste, or, better still, that is able to meet the desires of the buyer. The choice fell on a material that is perhaps less noble than gold but rather more difficult to work because it is more deceitful: silver. That is how, besides Silver, the trusty hound, the Nove25 brand got its name. The logo is a nonagon encircling two triangles, the alchemic symbol for silver, and five dots. Nove25 began with a flagship store in the Wagner area of Milan where its 700-square-meter headquarters, the ex Damiani premises, have been since 2017. Now, 40 people work in this early 1900 building divided among the various offices for management, style, marketing, craftsmen, engravers and 3D artists, who mainly deal with customized products, while the “standard” collections are also made in the many goldsmith workshops in Vicenza, Valenza and Arezzo. A total of about eighty workers for a 100% Made in Italy result.

 

“What makes me most proud is being able to give work to so many people by creating a product that is totally representative of me, from an aesthetic point of view through to the last meticulous and timely phase of its creation. Silver requires manual skills and specific techniques and it is for this reason that production is, and always will be, exclusively in Italy. The customization process, a skill which distinguishes us on the market, is simple: in addition to the basic collection, available on-line at nove25.net, yoox.com or farfetch.com, and our flagship stores in Italy and abroad, every visitor, whether physical or virtual, can “play” among endless models, finishings and creative solutions, putting together, in real time, the jewelry of his/her dreams. Moreover, in the Monza boutique we have tested #MyNove25, the new 3D configurator developed by our technicians, which, through an evolved web application, can instantly modify the object. The order is immediately taken and delivery times are really fast. Everybody can therefore be the designer of his or her own jewelry. Despite this, we still have our best sellers: the chevalier signet ring, interpreted in thousands of styles over the years, is definitely the item that best identifies us. It is included in all our collections, from Puntinato, an authentic must, to Native which echoes the Navacho mood , to Materic, to Filo Spinato…" As reported yesterday Novembr the 5th, by Fashion Network, Nove25 is carrying out a retail expansion plan that sees the opening of single-brand stores in Monza, Bergamo and Brescia as the last steps. The stores take up and evolve the concept of the brand, based on a contemporary interior design characterized by the use of materials such as iron, wood and brass. With the new openings, Nove25 reach eleven stores, located in the historic centers of Milan, Rome, Naples, Como, Turin, Lugano, Ibiza and Valencia. The goal of the brand is to reach about twenty stores by the end of 2021. The openings in Bologna and Varese are expected shortly, while the commercial strategies on Milan foresee a second opening in the Lombard capital. The brand also aims to become part of national department stores and concept stores in the premium and luxury segment, where it already has corners and shop-in-shops at Folli Follie, Annex Rinascente Milan, Rinascente Roma Tritone, Coin, among others Excelsior and the Depot men's concept store in Varese. On the foreign front, one of the next goals for the opening of a flagship outside Italy regards a first store in Miami. Nove25 closed 2018 with a turnover of around 7 million euros. The estimate for 2019 is still growing, reaching around 9 million euros. Source Fashion Network, 5 November 2019.

 

Browsing the on-line catalog and following Roberto as he meanders through the workshop between engraving and casting benches and the desks of the nerds busy developing new brand evolutions, I find myself immersed in his aesthetic world with its slightly dark shades that are, however, always open to new input. Other brands of his are Dog Fever and Cat Fever which have a decidedly sweeter and more peaceful mood and can be found on the e.commerce address at dogfever.com. These also originate from one of his needs and passions: his love for animals. “It all began after a flash response from a prototype given to Chiara Ferragni. We created a ring for her that represented Matilda, her French bulldog. Chiara posted a photo of herself wearing it and a few weeks later we received 300 requests from all over the world. We understood that there was a market and so Dog Fever was born, with rings and accessories dedicated to the 7 most common breeds of dog. Now there are over 50 breeds and it’s the same for Cat Fever…” Cats and dogs in silver or enamel that have made America crazy and not only. And there is more to come because Roberto is also the mind behind the new Juventus logo and the accessories worn by the players, including a personalized chevalier ring for each owner. The link between Nove25 and VIPs has a long story, so much so that jewelry in gold and precious stones for guest stars from all over the world now comes from these workshops. Roberto’s final surprise was truly unexpected: he took me into an underground room, an ambient-installation created by Australian artist, Pauly Bonomelli. Graffiti everywhere, esoteric figures and false gods invaded the space illuminated only by neon lights and, on the walls, two urinals transformed into works of art, bombarded with Swarovski crystals. For a moment I felt as if I had been transported into the atmosphere of a typical nightclub in the New York suburbs.