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Home > NIPPON > ショールーム
SKITSCH: THE NEW ITALIAN DESIGNER BRAND HAS ARRIVED
Skitsch is playing to its strengths: a collection of furnishing accessories exclusively designed by the best designers from a variety of sources, along with personalised product offerings and a web-driven distribution model. It’s a new company which has been launched with the mission of delivering top-of-the-range design. This new brand for Italian designer furniture made its debut last April at the Salone del Mobile 2009 (Milan Furniture Fair). Today it boasts a 600 square metre single-brand store in the centre of Milan as well as an impressive website, allowing it to invest forcefully in innovation to sell its designer items. The distribution model entails direct selling in Europe and indirect selling in the United States and Japan, focused on single-brand retail outlets and a varied e-commerce catalogue. All items put forward are conceived exclusively by various designers in order to match quality, functionality and consistency with the creative design which lies at the foundation of Skitsch. The diverse product range goes from furniture to accessories and through candles and games too: it is thereby able to provide customers with an integrated service. This allows them to find a varied product range inside a single store, making it possible to furnish both interiors and external spaces. The company also publishes a paper catalogue aimed at end customers which serves as an additional tool to encourage purchases and is supported by a dedicated call centre for those who wish to interact directly with the company. Skitsch is putting special emphasis on the web to provide an enabling platform for innovation and is in fact making a strong investment in the online channel. As a result of this it is able to provide guaranteed delivery within 5 days in Italy and within 10 days in Europe (in the case of personalised products this rises to 30 days). The logistics base is at Castel San Giovanni (Piacenza). There are already 27 international designers in the Skitsch team. They have been chosen under the artistic supervision of Cristina Morozzi, herself an expert design journalist. The first collection offers around fifty new designs created by some of the best-known designers and most interesting emerging architects from the international scene. They are produced by a network of Italian companies which have been selected by Skitsch. Skitsch was launched with a total investment of 12 million Euros and the involvement of some key players within Italian manufacturing. In particular, Skitsch was set up by entrepreneur Renato Preti, who had already played a role in enterprises within the furniture and design sector such as Unopiù, B&B Italia and Moooi. Mr Preti is a shareholder (with 20% equity) and chief executive. He has a group of leading Italian entrepreneurs alongside him, all of whom have great belief in the quality and innovation underpinning the project. The major shareholders in fact include Alberto Bombassei (vice-chairman of Confindustria, chairman and chief executive of Brembo, with 20% equity), Adriano Teso from Ivm (20% equity), Isidoro Fratus (chairman of Mdf and chief executive of Atalanta, with 10% equity) and Giuseppe Cornetto Bourlot (chairman of Kines financial and a representative of Schroders in Rome). Turnover for the new brand is projected at 5 million Euros in 2009, reaching 50 million within the company’s first five years of activity.
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