Ruffini says Moncler plans to reach 30 to 35 stores in the US, a preferred expansion method for the brand in today’s retail climate. “Wholesale is quite difficult at the moment, as you know,” he says. “Our retail chain is super important — we can stay attuned to the customer, improving our clienteling approach. And then, I always say, we never discount products. In terms of fashion, we are not trend [driven], which means our product can last for 10 years. So you don’t want to discount.” He mentions Austin as one US city where Moncler has ground to gain.
As to whether the US market’s unpredictability — in terms of tariff policy and political unrest — is any cause for concern, Ruffini is unfazed. “It’s not a big problem,” he says. It helps the brand’s position that the price stays in step with the product quality, he adds. “For me, it’s very important not to fly up the price like crazy.”
Grenoble’s ambitions, meanwhile, are global. Ski business is booming for fashion brands, and Moncler is a frontrunner fashion brand investing in gear that’s both technical and stylish for the slopes. Last season, it perfected a performance denim material that, in action, is like a ski suit in disguise. The new collection featured more of that technical denim, plus tweed, jacquard and floral embroidery. Norwegian-Brazilian skier Lucas Bratton, who will head to Milan next week for the Winter Olympics, tested the collection to help perfect the performance. The store brings all of those performance pieces into one place, with accessories, boots, cable knit sweaters and anything else shoppers might need for the mountain and after. The cavernous space is a redesigned bank, complete with a tree trunk centerpiece made out of real cedar trees. One Aspen local and Moncler client said he’d never seen anything like it done in the town before.
Ruffini chalks up the popularity of skiwear to a change in consumer priorities, as luxury clients shift spending from clothes and bags to travel and wellness. “It’s experience,” Ruffini says. “Everybody says experience is more important than possessions. I feel confident, because rigor for me is super important. Quality is everything.”
Where might Moncler take its annual ski show from here? Japanese ski town Naseko is the first possibility Ruffini mentions, with eyes also on China (a market outpacing others alongside the US), Canada and Finland.
It’s Ruffini’s last ski outing as group CEO: on January 20, the company announced Bartolomeo Rangone would take over the role, effective April 1. Ruffini will transition to executive chairman. He’ll have to meet the high bar set by the Grenoble experience in the past three years. During the weekend, Ruffini was taking it all in — but not on the slopes, thanks to a recent injury. As the festivities wound down, late Saturday night into Sunday morning, despite many attendees scheduled for the first flight out of Aspen the next morning, editors and clients mused that it was one of the most high-end brand trips they’d been invited to.