Golden Goose CEO: Silvio Campara – Culture as Currency, Imperfection, & Why Luxury Can No Longer Rely on Desire

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0:37The Gstaad Guy:That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. I have to become the number one on sneakers. And that's what we have done. How? Silvio Campa. You are the CEO of Golden Goose. I'm not the CEO. I'm the chief emotional officer. The world doesn't need another chief executive officer. Our sneakers look like sneakers, but they are a piece of art. Pure imperfection is chaos. But imperfection among perfection is character. Today, what made the difference is culture. Culture is a new currency. We don't have employees. We have dreamers.

1:08If you ask me what has the ultimate value...

1:10The Gstaad Guy:Do you think that's a feeling that's shared by most of your customers today? Around the world with your host, the Stardguy, we welcome you back to the Stardguy podcast, sharing stories of excellence with those in the know for those who just know. So Silvio Campara, you are the CEO of Golden Goose, a very special brand. You said before we started rolling that a big part of your mission is connecting people, making this brand a platform for connectivity, for relationships, and to bring back a lot of the joy of the 90s as well, which you felt and experienced. I felt quite briefly. I was very young.

1:56The Gstaad Guy:But I see that energy in Golden Goose. It's a brand I actually have been exposed to since a very young age. There's a store in particular I used to go to in London on Dover Street, across from one of my favorite multi-brand stores, Dover Street Market, before they moved it. Correct. On the corner next to Chuck's. Yeah. And now you have a great one on Walton Street on the corner. We have stores all over the world. Thank you. You have created a category of your own. and congratulations on the recent transaction for the business as well, which I know was recently announced. So you're growing more than ever.

2:34The Gstaad Guy:And it's a great pleasure to be sitting here with you today. Thank you so much. Super happy to be here. Thank you. Very happy to have you here. Grazie. Only one thing, I'm not the CEO, I'm the chief emotional officer, you know? Okay. So the world doesn't need another chief executive officer, especially when it goes on humanity rather than business. I'd actually love to start there. Why do you think that is? And what does that mean to you? You know, I think that if you really wanna enjoy an amazing life, you have to stay faithful to yourself. But not being always the kind of person that was happy if everyone surrounding him was happy.

3:17Okay, so it's something that you learn since you are a little teenager, but not necessarily always. It's easy to understand that what you like could also become your superpower, right? So you're most of the time obsessed by, I need to get a job, I need to make some money. But when within the journey of life, you understand that what you like, what give you happiness can also become your social wealth, You know, it's fantastic. And somehow Golden Goose is the perfect example of that. You know, I don't perceive myself as a workaholic, but a happy-holic, you know. So I'm always looking for the better version of myself, you know, every day.

4:06The Gstaad Guy:I love that, the optimism and the positivity. I know you say that Golden Goose is that for you today. Was that the case when you first became involved with the brand? First of all, it has been a wonderful journey, even because I didn't found the company, okay? The company has been founded by these two amazing guys, Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo, great friend of mine and same age. So everything was happening 13 years ago when I was 33 years old and Alessandro was 33 years old. And what they found 13 years ago, it was a fashion brand with this guru guy with a long beard, long hair. He was a little bit looking like Jesus, you know, and the way he was behaving, he was quite guru, okay, and very slow peace in talking and very deep eyes.

5:02And especially, you know, after having amazing journeys in Alexander McQueen, because I was part of the founding team, Giorgio Armani, an amazing company. They gave me the chance to experience China, Japan, Korea in the early days, 2005. Then when I decided to become an entrepreneur and I met with Alessandro together with an investment fund because I was really one of the first to really create this new job of being the specialist for investment fund and investing in fashion brands. And when I met Alessandro, that was the founder, my first reaction was, this guy is not talking about product. This guy is not talking about style.

5:44He was sharing with me his mission. And his mission, it was to make the world a better place. How? Unleashing in everyone the sense that creativity comes from your uniqueness. And your uniqueness comes from your sense of imperfection. So that's why the cut the star, that's why the dirty shoe, the distressed items. It's all about this journey in shifting your imperfection into your uniqueness. So as you can imagine, listening that 13 years ago was so refreshing, but also so challenging because it was quite up in the air. So there's no execution out of the merchandise. So that was then the beginning of my job because I tend to listen a lot, which is something that makes me very special.

6:42And the first question to Alessandro was, so why do you want me here? And he was like, I think what we created is so special, but we need someone like you that can set the narrative and can skate it to the world. And then I was like, so let me sum up. You create this brand under a story of love between you and your wife, but then actually you want me to spread this love to millions of people. So I was like, okay, maybe I could be the right person because that's my job, you know, to be positive, to really enjoy people and to really stand for people. So that was the first time, because I'm also a businessman, when I realized that we should have shrinked the amount of options in product and figuring out what should be our iconic item in order to tell the story the best.

7:38And those were the days that I decided that sneakers should have done that because the company that we acquired 13 years ago, it was a 20 million euro company, 17 employees, parentheses today, we still have 16 out of 17 still working with us, which is great. And 65 % was ready to wear and 15 % tax and boots, only 20 % wear sneakers. So those days were the days where I imagined that sneakers should be the right item because I'm the guy from the 90s and the world I was living was a world of bags, jewelry, watches, and there were no categories really important for my generation, okay? In our generation, culture, as Virgil, you know, explained very well and executed even better, sneakers were the symbol of culture coming from bottom to top and not from the top to down.

8:37And then they were standing up because the symbol of what Alessandro was willing to unleash, so uniqueness was in the shoe. So the cut and start, including then also the distress. So I said, okay, as you were saying before, I have to become the number one on sneakers. And that's what we have done. how opening stores because if the mission is not to look golden but to feel golden you need a place where to nurture this culture because there's no billboard there's no fashion show there's no catwalk there's no models that can do that in a more authentic way than your community with the community that you can meet outside there so of course it was a slow journey super exciting because we were completely out of finance because all the investment funds that invested, they were always bringing intelligence rather than money because we were out of financing.

9:33But that was great because you never feel alone in the room. And I hate that, you know, I love to be not the smartest in the room. And from a fashion company, we became a sneaker company. And then in 2018, we also invented the co-creation. So in this journey of love with the customers, in the end, we decided the customer shouldn't be just the spectator, but they should have become into the protagonist. And in a fashion brand, as you can imagine, the protagonist is creativity. So we were not needing another brand with a great designer, but we thought that after social media, where everyone was able to create their own contents, they should have wished to create their own product.

10:19So no one designer should be better than the customers itself. So that was brilliant because now 37 % of our revenues is coming from co-creation, which is great. And he said the number one reason. Build your own. Yeah, from zero. We created a complete new professionals. Like before, nobody never heard or wanted to become a sneaker maker. Now we have more than 364 sneaker makers, They travel all over the globe and they help everyone to unleash the creativity because everyone loves to be creative, but everyone is scared to be creative. So having someone that can intermediate the process is fantastic.

11:02So, and then now new challenges, new opportunities, because I think where our world is moving is to more and more into experience and entertainment. So we'll see.

11:16The Gstaad Guy:I'm a big fan of customization and of expression through customization with, I think, guidance and constraints, which I think are a great platform for creativity. I was a big sneakerhead growing up and I used to love Nike ID. And they used to have a really cool Nike ID studio on Oxford Circus in London, where you'd go and do the whole customization process and field materials, which they later shut down. I think for supply chain reasons. But the customization process and the process of letting people express who they are is what also ultimately inspired me to start Pubelle, my charm jewelry brand.

11:58The Gstaad Guy:Oh, wow. So I love what you're talking about. I want to learn more about that 37 % of your business you're talking about. It's very inspiring. But I do first want to start with something you mentioned that I find really cool and that's the beauty of imperfection. and i think it's something i try to even communicate in beauty in people while always mentioning that imperfection in a vacuum of just pure imperfection is is chaos but imperfection among perfection and imperfection among beauty and the presence of beauty is character and it's It's what makes something unique and have identity. And I see that in Golden Goose as a product.

12:42The Gstaad Guy:Because yes, there may be scuffs, but on a beautifully made product. It's not just imperfection built on imperfection. So when you first understood that mission of imperfection being a part of the identity, how did that resonate with you and why did it resonate with you? first of all most of the innovations i think are coming from some personal journey right so i born and rise thinking that i should be the best on everything you know in studying in playing basketball uh when i was a boy scout in everything i was doing you know but then uh when you start failing and you start understanding that you cannot be the best on everything is really one of the greatest time of your life because you understand that the space between what you imagine about yourself and what you actually are is representing not the size of your failures but the size of your opportunities so that was the time i realized the power of imperfection and i really started to embrace my imperfection as my point of strength So shifting the angle was very important.

14:08Okay. And this was mostly driven by paying attention to the people that were better than me in doing certain things and also being a little bit more good to myself, you know? So sometimes we are a little bit too much tough, you know, to ourselves. And this approach to life helped me a lot in understanding the power of imperfection. And when then I met Alessandro that we never met before, and we completely different background and life, even on a geographical level, and was thinking same as me, I felt that very connecting. So somehow the first click on that extent happened with Alessandro. and when I saw that I was not alone on that and Alessandro also materialized that, you know, on the product, then it was very easy for me to scale on the narrative because narrative that was my job, you know.

15:07And when I firstly shared this, you know, internally, I remember because I was very good in synthesizing the things. I was like, guys, but here it's like, where imperfection is perfection. I love this Osimoro, no? And I was like, I think this will, you know, set the barrier so low for people that everyone will feel part of this, you know? So I think it's gonna be a great message. It will take a while because we don't have the money, you know, to make, you know, great advertising or this or that, but I think it's cool, you know? It's much better to spread the voice through word of mouth, it's going to come more genuine rather than through fake instruments and tools.

15:58And then, you know, the social media help us a lot on that extent because social media, by definition, is nurture and use through the phones, right? And so you have basically something that having an impact on your life through a device. And every device is a technological device, right? And every technological device works in a binary way. So it's zero, zero, zero, one, one, zero. So somehow they're not able to explain and give value to shades. they only impose you to choose and never to decide, you know, right and left, red and blue. You can't really be framed into something that you don't feel, okay?

16:53So that is where it was giving me the idea of Golden Goose to stay analogical and physical. I was imagining that sooner or later, this social media and digital environment would have become small and not emotionally efficient for the people outside there, especially for the new generations, because my generation, Bonner Rise, Analogical, and we embrace with curiosity the digital life. So as soon as the digital life is not satisfying us enough, we go back to the Analogical. But for the new generation, the Bonner Rise Digital, they don't have anybody. They don't have a mentor. They don't have someone that can show them the B version of life, which is the analogical.

17:41And that was my mission then. So I was simply willing to give through Golden Goose an example to people that they can also have an amazing life outside of the phone. I mean, today, everyone can take a photo, a selfie in front of a private jet, looking like they're rich, but it's not, you know? But the people that will look at that will think you're rich. So then they will start having this sense of frustration saying, oh my God, you know, I'm 22. He's 22. He's rich. I'm not. What wrong did I do, you know, in my life to not be as good as he is, you know, and many other examples. So the reality is that probably 90 % of the things you see, you know, on the social media is not true.

18:26But how can you know that is not true if you don't have, you know, a counter factor in the real life? So I'm trying to give them a little window of the real life and improving them through the co-creation, through, as you were saying, unleashing in them creativity, improving them that they can be creative. They can be super powerful. They have the power to define a better version of themselves. They can follow. They can realize this in real life. So social media and the technology somehow became the reason for me to succeed. so that's why my brand is growing has been growing slowly it's been growing analogical in real with real people with you real human connections that's our strength this podcast

19:14The Gstaad Guy:is brought to you by kubel bringing you interchangeable charm jewelry hand painted with enamel on styling silver allowing you to celebrate all the things you love and all the things you might question through interchangeable styling silver bracelets bangles whoop charms mini charm bracelets rings cufflings and much more and all customizable through our 3d builder on poubelle.com that is poubelle p-o-u-b-e-l dot com thank you so much for watching and now back to the podcast and what about in particular with the focus on sneakers because i know that that mission could also be true among other categories but when to me when i think about golden goose coming to mind and a big fuel for that growth was indeed the sneakers as i was you before um the big shift that happened through social media it was the notion of time you know when i was a teenager you need to have time uh to learn how to do a job then to have your first stage at work then probably not even paid then you know the first job where they were underpaying you and then And little by little, little by little, probably it was taking you 10, 12 years to start seeing your first 2 ,000 euro salary.

20:52Then with this salary, you're putting some money aside. And then finally, little by little, you were able to buy the watch of your life or sooner or later to buy a house. And that was my analogical life. in the new world everything change you don't have this time everything through the social media has been speed up so much you know and this is forcing you to feel this pressure okay so somehow I feel lucky because I really enjoy a teenage and a life that was giving me the time to desire while today for you guys it's really impossible to desire so if my industry was based on or supposed to be still based on desire I would have failed honestly that's probably one of the biggest fail of the traditional luxury they still want you to desire a bag a watch, a jewel for$60 ,000 or something like that you know it's the desire the seduction of desire that is making you to perceive the need to spend these$60 ,000.

22:07But this will not happen anymore because you want things today. Now, the phone is showing you that this can happen now. So what is the only thing that cannot happen now? Something that is human. And so if I go back to my 90s, what was the most human thing I had? It was basically my daily life, playing sport and having as a myth, Michael Jordan, the superhuman, the man that was training so hard, playing so hard, always in pain in order than to gain the victory. You know, that was the message. And I wanted to feel part of that. So sneaker for me was the symbol of, of this, of this pain, of this playing hard and envisioning your dream.

23:01So sneakers was really the symbol of my generation. And I thought in a very genuine way that today you could be the modern version of Michael Jordan, you know, not performing in basketball, but try really to perform on an emotional level. And sneakers could have become, you know, your playground. Actually, your canvas, because actually you could have expressed your creativity on a sneaker like we were doing on our diary in the 90s. So in the end, what I really understood probably before anyone else is that sneakers would be the perfect category to make you feel the brand and not wear the brand.

23:47You know, try to think about Virgil with Off-White. He always felt part of that amazing revolution. You were not wearing Off-White. It was much more than that. right and virgin was a prophet right of what of your inner happiness so this is the new scarcity to me is not looking great is to feel great especially due to the tension that the social media is putting on your on your generation and that's why you know very simply same as for the upis or the the boomers they were needing to show that they made it you know they were playing with the stock exchange, you know, back to the 80s and 70s. So needed to show that they made a lot of money.

24:33So they need the Ferrari, they need the watch, they need this and that. Now you don't need that. You don't need to show that you made it. There's much more rich people today than in the 80s. So another rich doesn't make the difference. Today, what makes the difference is culture. Culture is the new currency. and you know how can you have your active role in creating culture if not creating your own products it's great you know so and by doing that you're doing even something more important because you are linking the products you're creating with your memories which is even more important and if you ask me what has the ultimate value in life are your memories do you think that's

25:16The Gstaad Guy:a feeling that's shared by most of your customers today yeah Yeah, absolutely. And the proof of that, actually, I'm just coming out from a three hours meeting where still nowadays, our Z generation is growing like insane. It accounts almost 38 % of my revenues from 16 to 25 years old. 70 % of them are ladies and 30 % are boys. And then if I extend to 45 years old, it's 85 % of my business. So it's quite unique, you know, in our industry, which is incredible. Just to give you an idea, you know, in the traditional luxury, each generation is accounting 7%. And including millennials, you go maximum to 35%, which is actually a little bit the sign of where luxury is going.

26:03So would you say that the brand,

26:05The Gstaad Guy:although it is based in Italy, do you think Golden Goose resonates with Italy in terms of it being an Italian brand? Depends. On a product level, yes. But on a human level, no. And this was another great help coming from the social media and the device of the phone, right? Because social media is something also great, you know, because it's bringing the message worldwide. So for your generation and millennials, that is actually representing, as I was telling you, 85 % of my business, as soon as you're able to resonate with their need, you can cover the planet, you know, overnight. So it's not like in the past that you were needing to have an agent to go and have a fair, make the fashion shows.

26:52I mean, you don't need that. You just need to connect to what are the real need of the people. And to understand the need of the people, you need to understand what is the source of the need, which is actually coming from social media, which is actually where just to be realistic, where almost 45 % of the time of the people is spent, you know, every day.

27:16The Gstaad Guy:So what part of the business do you find to be Italian? You said at a product level, what part of that is Italian? Very few probably knows that our sneakers look like sneakers, but they are piece of art. So more than three hours and a half of hand work is needed to be made. Then it comes that people of course use our sneakers like a pair of Nike, New Balance. and actually sometimes they also get broken quite fast, you know, after four months, six months. And actually that's why then we repair the shoe. But why? Because they're handmade. So most of the sneakers that you use outside are vulcanized or in rubber.

28:00While the way you build a pair of golden goose is what we call inietato. Okay, so the upper is completely handmade, stitch handmade. then you have the injection of the household, and then the foxing that we do around is keeping all the parts together. But the materials we use, all the spare parts we use, are meant to get used and aged in order to make your shoe then more beautiful as you use them. So it's quite typical for the golden goose lovers to love to see their shoes broken with that hole, because it's like your old pair of device, you know? That was like all the, the, the, the, the, the scarves were making like a shiny and making it become more special to you.

28:52The Gstaad Guy:That's what gets the character from. Exactly. Yeah. Are there any brands that you think share that similar philosophy among other categories that stand out to you? Walt Disney, 100%. It's my myth. And then Ferrari, yes. I think are the two brands that resonate the most with our business, yes. Why is that? Ah, very simple. I mean, the mission for Walt Disney was not to make cartoons, you know. It was to give happiness, you know, to all the people. How? By creating moments where the father, mother, and kids could enjoy a good time and quality time together. So that's great. And that's on the consumer point of view.

29:40While Ferrari, I think is great because, and of course I cannot say that. I mean, it's the people that has to say that. And it's something that comes along years and years and years of consistency and repetition, which is our aim to become iconic. Okay, so nothing to me is more iconic than Ferrari. And what's admirable about Ferrari is the ability of balancing innovation and heritage along more than 80 years of history, which is great. Of course, we are still too young, but if I need to take an example or a myth, I wish I could become like that in 100 years, who knows. In terms of your philosophies for the business,

30:26The Gstaad Guy:it sounds that you have this kind of timeless view of what golden goose is but fashion by its very nature often has to be timely in order to resonate with whatever the trend is i think before the cameras turned on you're telling me how you actually never really cared necessarily about what was trending today but cared more about a general philosophy Can you expand more on that? 100%. Thank you for remarking that. Because as you can imagine, I'm coming from the fashion industry and that was the first thing also as a financial guy, I had to escape from, no? So whoever want to invest in my business, the first question is, who's the designer?