Ciesse Piumini, a former property of Fila that has gone through many vicissitudes, too, is being relaunched as a premium brand of technical sports-inspired down-filled outerwear by Fremil International, the Italian company that markets the more affordable West Scout line of skiwear. Keen on expanding their international reach, both brands are showing at the Ispo fair starting in Munich next Sunday. Targeting mainly the fashion segment, the first capsule collection of Ciesse coats developed by Fremil was already shown at the Pitti Uomo fair in Florence a couple of weeks ago.
Fremil announced one year ago its acquisition of Ciesse from an American investment company, GEM. That company will remain involved as a shareholder in a new holding company that is due to go public on an entry-level counter of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before the end of March. Flavio Milani, president of Fremil, says he will keep control of the new company after a planned private placement. The new company, Fremil Holding, will own the Ciesse Piumini and West Scout brands as well as Fremil's factory in China, and it will be on the lookout for new acquisitions.
Meanwhile, Fremil has appointed a dedicated management team and new foreign distributors for Ciesse. Salvatore Internullo, an executive with international experience who comes from the automotive sector, was appointed general manager of the Ciesse division last October. The product manager of the brand is Pierfranco Nervo, who formerly took care of Napapijri and Nautica at VF Corporation's European office in Lugano.
On the sales side, Daniele De Dominicis, who worked previously for West Scout, is now focusing on Ciesse for the Italian market. An international sales consultant based in Milan, Andrea Belloli, has started recruiting foreign distributors and agents for Ciesse in Germany, Spain, Norway and Russia.
The new agent of the brand in Germany is Dietmar Klauser, who also handles other casual sportswear brands such as Aeronautica Militare and Dekker. Ropa Fashion Group has added Ciesse to Brooksfield for Spain. Ventus Nordic, which has Parajumpers and other sports brands in its portfolio, has the distributorship for Norway. Fashion Air is the distributor for Russia. Contacts are under way in other markets including France, Sweden and Japan.
Fremil is working on a product placement project and is planning to sponsor and publicize expeditions in Peru and Alaska to support the image of the brand. A pioneer in the use of down feather, Ciesse is credited for launching the concept of technical outdoor clothing in Italy back in 1976, before Ellesse and other brands. The new owners want it to generate annual sales of €30 million within three to five years.
The distribution of Ciesse will remain separate from that of West Scout, which is opening a sales subsidiary in Stuttgart to back up its sales in Germany, its third-largest market after Italy and Austria. The brand generated sales of €8 million last year, with an increase of 5 percent through November. Fremil's Chinese factory, which also works for other clients, made a turnover of nearly €3 million.
