'You Cannot Be a Brand For Anyone'

Stefano Canali, the third-generation entrepreneur of the Italian luxury brand, on what it takes to make the perfect suit, and how the brand caters more to a specific mindset, not an age group

- JASODHARA BANERJEE

Stefano Canali, president and CEO of the 91-year-old Italian luxury clothing company, was in India recently to showcase the brand’s Fall-Winter 2025 collection. Known for promoting the values of Made in Italy excellence through its artisanal know-how, Canali creates sartorial masterpieces of exceptional wearability and comfort. The brand has eight stores across New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

As consumer preferences evolve in a post-Covid-19 world, where geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties are influencing luxury spending, Canali has reinvented itself, once again, to become a luxury lifestyle brand, and not just a men’s clothing brand. Forbes India caught up with the third-generation member of the founding family to learn how the brand is staying relevant, how online sales (which form high single-digit percentage of total revenue) will always be complementary to the store experience, and how Canali remains immune to the current situation of “luxury shame”. Edited excerpts:

How would you describe the perfect suit?

Wow. How many days do we have? The perfect suit is a suit that is well conceived, well designed and very well crafted. So, everything starts with the pattern designer team which is supposed to create the shape that ultimately will affect the fit and the comfort that a consumer will receive while wearing the suit. You have to select the highest quality of materials and fabrics out there, and then you have to make sure that the ideas of the pattern designers and the selected materials are properly and skilfully stitched, one to the other. That’s the most important phase of the manufacturing process. It’s where artisans take centre stage; they are ultimately able to stitch together two two-dimensional pieces that become a three-dimensional piece, which is a jacket.