Scuffed but Sacred

Golden Goose, the Venetian luxury footwear brand, believes in the beauty of imperfections. Its collaboration with designer Manish Malhotra celebrates Indian traditional craft on a new canvas.

- BY VINOD NAIR

Human beings are not perfect, so why should luxury goods be? That seems to be the mantra of Golden Goose. When you come across this Venetian luxury footwear brand, you will find sneakers that look 'lived in'-scuffed, worn, distressed, or with scratches and cracks like in Japanese Kintsugi art. These handmade sneakers with their unique imperfections-including their iconic star logo patches on the sides, made to look imperfect with partially-hidden or obscured points-reflect Golden Goose's philosophy of imperfections.

“If you really want to position yourself as a loved brand, you will have to address your values and missions from every place on the earth... Everyone can look at the star... or everyone can be a star,” says Golden Goose global CEO Silvio Campara. “But on our products, I am cutting the star... because it will make you feel like a person who feels imperfect. That element of imperfection is telling you, ‘hey, you may feel you are not perfect; embrace the journey of life and shift this feeling of imperfection to your own uniqueness,” he says, adding that the message is powerful. “That’s why I created this concept where people can go into our stores and create something by themselves.”

Clearly, this formula is working well for the brand. In 12 years, revenues have multiplied exponentially, as have the number of employees. “Twelve years ago, when I acquired this brand, it had an annual revenue of €20 million and a staff strength of 17. Now we’re projecting more than €800 million, with over 2,800 employees,” says Campara.