It was 32 years ago that Renzo Rosso founded Diesel. And since then, he has helped pioneer denim as a premium product and pushed the boundaries of provocative advertising. Through his perseverance, he has built a lifestyle empire that now includes everything from Diesel Men’s and Women’s collections, the higher-end Diesel Black Gold line (which recently tapped Sophia Kokosalaki as its designer) to a hotel, wine label, home collection and even a radio station. In 2000, Rosso, who gained full ownership of Diesel in 1985, acquired Staff International, the Italian manufacturer and distributor for such iconic names as Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood and DSquared. Under his Only the Brave group, he now has a controlling stake in Maison Martin Margiela and Viktor & Rolf as well. We caught up with the frenetic, floppy-haired Italian maestro in Berlin. With the Bread & Butter tradeshow as the backdrop, we spoke about Diesel’s return to its roots, its new “Be Stupid” ad campaign, and the recent appointment of Bruno Collin as Diesel’s artistic director.
Interview with Renzo Rosso
Your new ad campaign is called “Be Stupid.” What’s that about?
We want Diesel to go back to the real Diesel, like it was before. It was always innovative, young, rebellious, fresh, new, irreverent—stupid. Originally, it was like this and you can see today how this company in a very short time can still find this incredible new energy. It’s unbelievable.
Tell us more about Diesel’s roots in stupidity.
Well, I have done a lot of stupid things in my life.
Such as?
To call this brand Diesel was very stupid thirty years ago. Why? Because people thought it was petrol, it was about engines, it was fuel. People didn’t understand. Do you want me to buy your collection? “Who are you… Diesel?” They thought it was a joke and they didn’t think that the clothing could be sold with the Diesel name. At the beginning, it was very difficult. Very difficult. Then, it was very stupid to distress the denim, to make it look worn. People thought I was giving them secondhand jeans, and sent them back. Stupid was also when we opened our first store, in New York (1996), a big store in the biggest market in the world. I opened it close to Levi’s, just to show how nice our product was. It worked, but many people thought it was very stupid to try.
On the other hand, what’s smart about your company?
I think our brand is about the attitude that we have. The people who work at Diesel work with passion. There’s a passion behind everything we do. It’s a really smart company because we love what we’re doing, but we are stupid because we are brave enough to do things that normally other people won’t do. But in the end, that makes us smart.
How does the Diesel brand relate to your higher-end, more conceptually-oriented labels like Viktor & Rolf and Margiela?
They’re not Diesel, they’re part of Only the Brave, the group. So we are part of one big group, the group is Only the Brave, and under this umbrella we have Diesel, Staff International, Viktor & Rolf, Margiela, the Hotel Pelican [in Miami Beach] and we have the wine company. We have more brands too. It’s very nice because we can share opinions or different creative visions, different worlds, different mentalities and different attitudes. We receive a lot more input from across a diverse group.
In addition to Diesel’s premium Black Gold line, you also have a Diesel home collection, Diesel helmets, even a Diesel Fiat car. Does spreading Diesel around like that risk diluting the brand?
It’s not us, it’s the consumer. The consumer wants this kind of brand, because the brand is really a lifestyle and the consumer more and more wants to follow someone that they trust, so they’re asking us to bring our touch to different things that are not our core business. So we did helmets, for example, which were an incredible success, they sold out everywhere. We did the Fiat, which is very special. We don’t make much money on these things. Instead, we do it to add coolness to our brand. To make it more about lifestyle.
