Renzo Rosso says Diesel is fashion of the future, OTB group mulling other acquisitions

On Wednesday February 22, at the striking Milan Fashion Week show by Diesel, FashionNetwork.com met backstage with Renzo Rosso, who was especially happy about the show’s success and the OTB group’s work on the label.

 
“These are wonderful times. After successfully establishing the [OTB] group’s luxury segment with Maison Margiela, Jil Sander and Marni, we’re now working to elevate Diesel’s positioning,” said the OTB group’s boss. “But Diesel will never be a luxury [label], I don’t want it to be one, I’d like [Diesel] to become a modern alternative to luxury,” he added.
 
Rosso underlined the “amazing team work” behind every single garment, a mix of creativity, craftsmanship and “exceptional treatments.” As well as the effort all of this requires. “Diesel is doing an incredible job, the label is absorbing my time almost fully, everyone wants me to be involved, at all levels of the company. But I also have other labels to follow,” he said.

What is the energetic Italian entrepreneur currently busy on? “The group is solid, and hundreds of brands would like to become part of it, but I’m only looking for ‘brave’ ones [OTB is the acronym of ‘only the brave’], and especially for labels that are different, with a unique personality and identity, like those currently in our portfolio. I’m busy with something very interesting right now, but it’s too early to talk about it,” Rosso said.

With Diesel’s Fall/Winter 2023-24 show, creative director Glenn Martens wanted to highlight the importance of safe sex via a collaboration with Durex – which gave away 200,000 condoms – and was also embodied in a t-shirt in which the ‘D’ in Durex was swapped with the ‘D’ of the Diesel logo. The t-shirt will feature in a capsule collection out in April 2023, the first created by Durex in collaboration with a fashion label.
 
In 2022, the OTB group generated a revenue of €1.743 billion, growing by 14% chiefly thanks to its luxury labels’ performances.