Andrea Dini - CEO Paul & Shark
The Paul & Shark legend was born of Paolo Dini’s love of the sea, of boats and all things maritime. His company Dama already produced thousands of sweaters, usually on behalf of famous labels and is still located in beautiful Varese, a high income, sought after residential town outside Milan where the well-to-do lived to escape the oppressive Milanese heat in the summer. Andrea Dini took over from his father when he was forty and developed the already successful company into a global empire with 300 stand-alone stores around the world.
Andrea Dini at 46 is a successful man. With 2000 stores and shops within stores and a sizeable manufacturing plant in Varese, one of Italy’s prettiest and wealthiest towns, employing 400 people, he has much to be proud of. In conversation with Andrea in January this year Tim Cecil found out more about this genial but totally focused leader in the Italian fashion industry.
TC – tell me about your childhood, education, early experiences and what finally brought you into the family business.
AD – I was born and went to school in Varese, this is where the family has always lived, and went on from here to Milan University to study economics. Following this I spent 9 months at Georgetown Washington further improving my English and marketing skills.
Tim Cecil in converation with Andrea Dini
My father insisted that I speak very good English if I wanted to get anywhere in life and it was the best advice he could give me. I still love America and if it hadn’t been for the family business I would certainly have decided to live there. Then of course the compulsory 12 months military service, and I had no choice here but after that I went to Hong Kong and worked for the giant German Metro Group buying office and this gave me great insight into and introduced me to many people in China, invaluable experience as it turned out for the years ahead. At the age of 24, in 1988 I returned to Italy and joined my father’s, his father’s and my great grandfather’s business, then a prestigious knitting mill making for famous designer companies such as Christian Dior and Balenciaga
TC – tell me more about the early years of the business.
AD – The original knitting mill Daco was established in the 1850’s by another family and fell into disarray shortly after the Second World War at which time Grandfather Dini bought the business and since that time he, his son Paolo and more recently I have built a formidable luxury sportswear empire, much of this due to my father’s vision in creating the Paul & Shark label and this is how it happened.
Paolo Dini loved yachts and yachting and would visit shipyards and museums to find old sailing boats and collect memorabilia.
During one trip to Maine in the USA he found the remains of an old clipper the ‘Paul & Shark’ and bought everything they had. This inspirational and impulsive move gave birth to Paul & Shark when – rather than making for the trade – Paolo would design, make and market our own collection of knitwear and outerwear. We’ve never looked back.
TC – when did you take over management of the company?
I was handed the reins of my father’s company at the age of 40 as had my father at the same age. Now at 76 , my father still takes a benign interest in the business but the company is now under my ownership and control, and the responsibility for the future of our company and the lives of our 400 employees in my hands.
TC – what are your interests in life, apart from your obvious passion for the business?
AD – I love travelling and meeting people. I could travel all year round. I want to explore and find new worlds and experience new knowledge. The best part of my job is travelling but I beyond the business travel I am hungry for more knowledge of the world. For instance I love technology and the unknown. I love Stephen Hawking and am fascinated by the theory of Relativity. I’m intrigued by where we came from and where we’re going. I watch my children and know they have the key to the future at their finger tips. I try to keep up to speed with new technology and knowledge. It is essential that we search and learn.
I read everything I can lay my hands on about real history, not fictional or dramatised and romanticised. I play sport – skiing and tennis regularly and listen to Puccini and Verdi
Andrea Dini enjoys a relaxed chat with Tim Cecil in Italy
TC – how else do you relax?
I have three children, Francesca 14, Alessandro 12 and Chiara 7, so I spend most of my free time with them of course. I try to be a normal father and be with them and my wife Raffaelle as much as possible.
I play golf rather badly with Alessandro. We have a house on Lake Maggiore with a boat and a house in Sardinia also with a boat. Some of my father’s love of boating still runs through my veins!
TC – being a good Italian, do you enjoy your food?
AD – my favourite food is pasta. Raffaelle tries to put me on a diet but has no success. I can only cook
Spaghetti Carbonara and I’m a deft hand at that. But food for me is part of the cultural experience
TC – what are your dreams eyond where you are now?
I want to travel to the moon! I already have my name down to fly into space on Richard Branson’s space shuttle and have paid my deposit, but yes, the moon would be a dream, certainly. I love visionaries and find them inspiring. Branson is one of those. They give me goals to aspire to.
TC – how do you see the future of your company?
AD – I believe in the ‘ant strategy’. Slow but sure growth and consolidation. We could easily triple our turnover if we were to take the simple volume driven, made off-shore, lowering our standards route. We don’t want to do that. We want to make everything in Italy, research the technology to improve quality and performance of all our products and to develop the market with the right people, like Henry Bucks! I look at the long term and so far that has worked successfully for us
