Post pandemic, the business power suit has faced a reckoning of sorts, with men ditching the formal shoulder-pad-and-tie construction. The CEO of Italian luxury menswear brand Canali, who was recently in India, talks about how the storied brand has kept up with changing demand—a company reinventing itself, along with the suit
Stefano Canali, CEO, Canali. Image: Bajirao Pawar for Forbes India
Italian luxury menswear brand Canali recently opened a flagship Mumbai boutique, at the Jio World Plaza in Bandra-Kurla Complex. Canali has been one of the earliest global luxury brands to bet on India, since they first opened a store in the city 15 years ago—so much so that their only country-specific customisation was a specially created bandhgala, called the Nawab, which launched in 2014.
Ten years later, Canali is still bullish on India, with seven stores spread across the country. “It’s a long-standing love affair with India,” says CEO Stefano Canali, the third-generation scion of the brand. “We are working on the eighth boutique—whenever we have the opportunity, we seize it. Because in India, it’s worth it.”
Edited excerpts from an interview with Forbes India:
Q. Even as the third generation of the Canali business family, you didn’t start your career with the brand…
Funnily enough, I started my career in banking. Back then, the company was a big exporter, and we had to manage and hedge our foreign exchange (FX) risks. So when I graduated, I moved to New York and entered the banking system to get some knowledge about the way banks manage FX in a broad sense.