Diesel (brand)

Diesel SpA
Formerly called
 Moltex[1]
Private
Industry Fashion
Founded Molvena, Italy (1978)
Founder
Headquarters Molvena
Key people
 Renzo Rosso, president
Products clothing and accessories
Revenue €1.3 billion (2009)
Parent OTB Group
Website www.diesel.com

Diesel S.p.A. is an Italian clothing company. It sells high-priced denim jeans and other clothing and accessories aimed at a young adult market. The company is owned by its founder Renzo Rosso, President of OTB Group, the holding group of Maison Martin Margiela, Marni, Viktor & Rolf, and is based in the former Laverda building area in Breganze, northern Italy.

History

In 1978 Rosso was working for a clothing manufacturer called Moltex, which was owned by Adriano Goldschmied. He used a loan from his father to buy a 40% holding in the company, which changed its name to Diesel, and marketed jeans under the Diesel brand and many others. Rosso bought out Goldschmied's interest in the Diesel brand name in 1985 for US$500,000.[1] Rosso has said that he learned marketing from the US, creativity from Italy, and systems from Germany.[2] Turnover was over €1.3 billion in 2009.[2]

Diesel store in Kraków, Poland.
Diesel Black & Gold store in Vienna, Austria.

Marketing

According to Chevalier, the stores's merchandise is presented in a confusing way in order to force customers to interact with the sales staff. [3][3]

"Dieselwall" in Berlin

In 2007 Diesel sponsored a music contest, Diesel-U-Music.[4]

From January to September 2008, Diesel spent $5.8 million on U.S. advertising, according to TNS Media Intelligence.[5]

In 2009 the head of Diesel's US division, Steve Birkhold, left the company shortly after agreeing a deal to sell cut-priced jeans through Macy's.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Clare O'Connor (25 March 2013). Blue Jean Billionaire: Inside Diesel, Renzo Rosso's $3 Billion Fashion Empire. Forbes. Accessed May 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 T Surendar, Saumya Roy (June 30, 2010). Diesel Founder Renzo Rosso Knows What Matters In Fashion. Forbes India. Accessed March 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chevalier, Michel (2012). Luxury Brand Management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-17176-9.
  4. ↑ "Attention Unsigned Bands – Diesel Music Contest". April 12, 2007.
  5. ↑ Lipke, David (December 12, 2008). "Another World...Springing Back...The Mastheads Continue to Shrink...". WWD.
  6. ↑ James Covert (November 14, 2009). Diesel out of fuel. New York Post. Accessed March 2014.

Media related to Diesel (brand) at Wikimedia Commons