HOW DO YOU GET THE IDEA FOR A NEW
COLLECTION?
The idea for a collection comes from careful market research and an indepth
familiarity with your customers. It’s important to anticipate their
needs, and at the same time, always focus on the style in a consistent
way.
What makes one creation better than another?
A successful shoe for men needs to have practical advantages as well as
design features that will win out over another brand. Men take a much
more pragmatic approach to purchases; they’re much less romantic, much
more concrete. Our task is to guide that choice.
How do you manage to separate the purely emotional aspect from
the commercial one when you’re creating a product?
Stylists usually only deal with the emotional aspect: they feel an idea
emerging and want to put it into concrete form, just the way they conceived
it. This phase then comes up against various limitations imposed by the
commercial side of things. I’d say that rather than separating the two, you
have to find a good common ground. The team working for me assists with this part as well.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF IMPORTANCE WOULD
YOU ASSIGN TO THESE TWO COMPONENTS?
It’s hard to say, I’d say that the purely creative aspect covers about 35%
of the whole. I have a very rational mind, though with an artistic bent. I
think one has to take a logical approach to creating a collection or even an
individual model, especially for an elegant, masculine product like ours.
What are the most complex aspect and the simplest aspect of putting
together a footwear collection?
The simplest aspect, paradoxically, is the creative stage, from the first
simple sketch of the model up to its actual realization; what’s most complex
is always managing to convey new, appealing messages.
“to us the choice of materials is key”
HOW DO YOU PUT TOGETHER THE “PERFECT
COLLECTION”?
In our line of work, there are no universal concepts that you can apply, just sequences
that you follow. You start by creating the form in all its complexities, with the
same attention to detail you’d find in woodworking; to us the choice of materials
is key, as is the technical expertise needed to make these elements concrete. The
perfect collection is one that has no gaps, no blunders, no underestimations of the
whole; one that captivates and thrills the customer.
What are the guiding themes behind Fabi’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection
for Men?
The concept of “lightness” has been pivotal in many of the themes we develop
every season. The techniques that we have increasingly come to favour lead to
collections with an artisan feel, but using modern-day technology.
WHAT KIND OF MAN IS IT INSPIRED BY?
The Fabi man is a professional, an expert, an artist, a traveller, a manager. He is definitely
a man who makes immediate decisions, adopting and customizing a style through targeted specific purchases.
Could you list a few celebrities whose style is akin to the FABI man?
Our collections never have a single theme, so Fabi style could be associated with figures like
Riccardo Muti, Andrea Bocelli (who often wears our shoes), or even the comic actor Christian
De Sica; James Cameron, Roberto Mancini, Putin. Charismatic men, born leaders.
