Word: del
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...been years since a Brooks executive had looked at the old catalogs, swatches, advertisements and letters kept in the archives. Modern fashion, it seemed, demanded modern notions. Yet in that repository of the old and classic, Del Vecchio first saw a clear vision of his new company's future. "It was a revelation," he recalls, "a real inspiration. Yes, we're not in 1940 anymore, but this sort of lifestyle still exists today...
...Del Vecchio, 50, a soft-spoken Italian, has been working ever since to prove that not only does that dress-for-dinner lifestyle still exist, but selling clothes to match it is profitable. During the 1990s, as part of the British retailer Marks & Spencer, Brooks Brothers embraced the business-casual look and moved toward the Banana Republic slice of the retail spectrum, even producing its own line of jeans. As CEO and chairman, Del Vecchio has yanked the company back to its higher-brow heritage by rolling out new cuts of suits, reinvigorating the made-to-order and tailor shops...
...that Del Vecchio first got to know Brooks. Growing up near Cortina, he worked summers in the tool department of his father's eyeglass factory?a business that eventually grew into the market-leading Luxottica Group and made the family one of the richest in Italy. Though far from the U.S., Del Vecchio and his compatriots knew to revere Brooks Brothers, thanks to Fiat magnate Gianni Agnelli and the legendary trips he took to New York City to load up on his favorite button-down shirts...
...When Del Vecchio came to New York City to head Luxottica's U.S. distribution arm in 1982, he became a frequent customer. In 1992 he persuaded Marks & Spencer to give Luxottica the license for Brooks-branded eyewear. But it wasn't until 1995, when Luxottica bought the parent company of LensCrafters, that Del Vecchio started down a path that would lead him to take over the iconic clothier...
...deal for LensCrafters, Luxottica also got the midmarket women's-clothing chain Casual Corner. Luxottica couldn't find a buyer for the poorly performing outfit and after two years was on the verge of liquidating it when Del Vecchio said he'd buy it himself. Why? "It was a gut feeling more than anything else," he says. So Del Vecchio left day-to-day operations at Luxottica to strike out on his own. Within a few years, the hemorrhaging at Casual Corner had stopped?and Del Vecchio was looking to expand into additional retail concepts...