Chopard protagonist in the weekly «il Mondo». A long interview by Enrica Roddolo covers the strategies of the great watch and jewelery house. A brand that has always been connected to the world of luxury but also of cinema, as demonstrated by the decades-long association with the Cannes Film Festival (to be honest, this year was marred by a huge theft). Davide Traxler, number one of Chopard Italia, speaks: «As for the red carpet, in addition to the high jewelery collection, from this year with Livia Firth (wife of the Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth) we have accepted, as the first precious jewelery company, to develop an ethical jewelery project, with the launch of a Green carpet collection”, explains the manager in the interview. «Not only do we certify the origin of the stones (diamonds according to the Kimberly process protocol), but also the precious metals used come from certified mines and our manufacturing processes are transparent. Furthermore, I have just set up an ethics committee for the Italian branch of Chopard.” The first of the group, an example that the parent company has already decided to replicate for the other branches. The manager offers a global look at the fashion house. «A jewelery and watchmaking company is basically like a metalworking company producing precious objects. Except that 2 million stones a year are set in our factory. And our processing waste is gold dust and other precious metals: every day we recover 3 kilograms of gold from air filters.” Below is a short excerpt from the interview
Request. How do you go after a global customer?
Answer. With a management capable of communicating on an international level and with a strategy attentive to accommodating the movements of a mobile clientele. Thus, we now move the products according to the destinations of our consumers: in the winter in the ski resorts, then in Marbella or Porto Cervo in the summer. Precisely in Sardinia we will be for three months in the new luxury store set up for the first time in the famous square by Harrods. London department stores, such as the Valentino and Porto Cervo fashion house, are under the same ownership, and the experiment immediately won us over. So we decided to join it. Then at the end of the year…
Q. What do you have in mind?
A. It is a project that we are defining in these days: we will also open shop windows inside the new luxury mall, which will be built in Milan, in the central Via Durini on the initiative of the Brian & Barry group. A mall where there will be high-level food, a starred restaurant on the top floor, spaces for fashion and a floor dedicated to precious items where we will be present with the Chopard sign.
Q. How much is Italy worth to this luxury multinational?
A. About 5% of the turnover, with five stores in Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome and Bologna, plus one in franchising in Naples. Milan and Venice are undoubtedly the two Italian cities with a more interesting typicality for our business: the first because it manages to create a system with major events such as fashion weeks and the furniture fair and because it benefits from a good offer of hotel facilities five stars. Venice for its inimitable romantic style, the only city from which you want to leave with a memory of hard luxury: not a dress, but a watch, a jewel, in short, something that lasts. And it is also, due to the safety that its particular topography allows, the only city where we can afford the luxury of keeping the doors of the jewelry store open. Not to mention that the presence of an airport is of great help for Venice. If only Florence, like Venice, had an airport of international importance… But it is increasingly difficult to talk about country markets because the business is truly global. The watches purchased in our boutique on Via Spiga in Milan are easily in Hong Kong after a few hours: the Chinese are great fans of hands, especially gold ones. In short, if we tried to follow the paths of our jewels we would discover that they cover more kilometers than an airplane pilot.
Q. And how much is the Chopard business worth globally?
R. 800 million Swiss francs (650 million euros) in worldwide turnover. In Italy we have a turnover of around 35 million euros with around fifty employees. And we have no debt, no leverage, it’s an entirely family business. The Scheufeles’ underlying idea is decidedly Central European: we are not chasing growth of 20% or more, but rather constant double-digit growth, but 10%. That is the level of development that allows for lasting improvement.
