Change at the top of the famous Canadian brand. The new General Manager has been made official, let’s find out the details together.
In the middle of Paris Fashion Week 23, an important announcement arrives at the upper floors of the fashion system: Ennio Fontana at Dsquared2. In fact, on March 1 Sergio Azzolari left his role as General Manager of the Canadian brand, a position that took place just a year ago, thus opening a new season under the direction of Ennio Fontana. The new Dsquared2 General Manager will have the dual objective of expanding and extending the development of the brand’s business on the international scene, on the one hand, and strengthening the company’s market position on the other. The founders of the brand, Dean and Dan Caten welcomed the new General Manager as follows: “We are happy to welcome Ennio to our team. His extensive experience in the fashion industry, coupled with his strategic vision and leadership skills, make him the ideal candidate to lead Dsquared2 in its next stages of development.” An equally positive comment came from Ennio Fontana who remarked on the official note of the brand in this way: “For me it is an honor and a privilege to work with Dean and Dan Caten and the entire team. Dsquared2 is a brand that I have always taken as a point of reference in my career. I am highly motivated and confident that I can contribute to the further development of the brand.” Let us briefly review the stages of training and professional experiences of the new General Manager. Ennio Fontana was born in Genoa in 1979. In 2004 he graduated from the University of Passau in Germany after completing his studies in Economics and Commerce. Immediately after graduation, he began his professional career in the fashion world, holding the role of Sales Manager in Munich at Philipp Plein. The results were immediately positive: Philipp Plein achieved a marked increase in turnover with the launch and distribution of the first Fashion collection. Following this experience, from 2005 to 2008 Ennio Fontana moved to Düsseldorf and here at another very important brand, Tod’s, he held the position of Wholesale Director Germanics. In 2009 he was again with Philipp Plein, this time in Switzerland, as Commercial Director, and here he was responsible for building the entire sales network of the brand, through the creation of a line of shoes and accessories. Once again the result is truly optimal: the turnover goes from 4M in 2008 to 180M in 2015. In 2016 Ennio thus becomes General Manager of the Plein Group, which in the meantime had been enriched with the Billionaire and Plein Sport brands. For Billionaire (luxury menswear brand) of which he is also a minority shareholder, he developed the business from 10 to approximately 30 million in 2018. Under the direction of Ennio Fontana, the Plein Group achieved revenues of 254 million, leading a team of 600 people. In 2020 another great turning point: Ennio Fontana is appointed General Manager of the iconic Roberto Cavalli brand and he is entrusted with the brand relaunch strategy after the transition, in November 2019, to Damac, owned by the Dubai magnate Hussain Sajwani. With 20 years of work experience in the most important levels of international fashion, Ennio has thus acquired the great leadership and commercial skills that make him skilled in creating strategies dedicated to the expansion and strengthening of a brand in the market. Surely he will also succeed in his goals at Dsquared2, a well-known brand characterized by its bold, creative and individual approach to the world of fashion through that original mix of Canadian heritage iconography, Italian tailoring and playful sensuality. The collections of the brand, founded by Dean and Dan Caten in 1995, are in fact produced in Italy, hence the famous motto of the brand “Born in Canada, Made in Italy”, and are a perfect fusion of contrasts: sporty and glamorous, relaxed and extravagant, masculine and feminine. We at Michele Franzese Moda just have to wish a god job to Ennio Fontana at Dsquared2, we are sure that we will soon see great results.
