Silvio Campara: a flow of thoughts, numbers – can an interview become literature?
Culture, finance and commitment to human resources – the head of Golden Goose, Silvio Campara is full energy: is this entrepreneurial literature?
Silvio Campara: Revenues, EBITDA, and Cash Conversion – can we take a step further? The average age of potential customers
“In this system, between fashion and finance, three words matter: Revenues, EBITDA, and Cash Conversion. They are the three values that encode a customer’s desire. I wondered – is it possible to take one step further?” The word ‘democratic’ has been overused. “I prefer the concept of ‘popular,’ which means putting people at the center. In 2018, I wanted a potential customer to enter the store and feel invited to converse with a craftsman; I wanted him to feel like he was the creators of the shoes he was choosing. Golden Goose has never had a fashion designer”.
“In today’s world, we are eight billion people. Approximately, one billion live in the so-called Westernized world – the other seven billion live elsewhere. Let’s look at the data on the average age of populations: in the Westernized world – average age of the United States is 35 years; average age of Europe is 42 years. The rest of the world: average age of South America is 31 years, average age of Africa is 18 years, average age of Southeast Asia is 24 years; average age of India is 28.5 years. Where do you invest?”
The growth of Golden Goose’s turnover and the work of Silvio Campara: from seven stores to nearly two hundred
As of today, Golden Goose is not listed on the stock market. Let’s say it: not yet. We have many rumors about such a move. Silvio Campara has increased turnover from about 20 million euros in 2018 to about 260 million euros in 2020. “We have done four rounds of investment funds. Today all the stores are owned. Never a partner, a franchiser. I need direct information from my people. No acquisition of properties: from a cash conversion point of view, it would be a burden. We had seven stores, today we have nearly two hundred – these are stores with an average size of 120 square meters, so essentially about 100 square meters net. To the first fund that acquired us, or rather the second because I was part of the first, I showed that Golden Goose worked everywhere in the world – and that therefore you could scale the formula. I was not the winner; it was the empathy of the product that won. In 2018, we were living in the era of desires, today we live in the era of feelings”.
Golden Goose and the attention to people: can we define it as a culture of empathy? Silvio Campara and a store in Beirut
“A brand must find empathy with the consumer. I could choose to open in Montenapoleone or open five destinations around the world. I opted for the latter. I had worked at McQueen and Armani. I understood that whoever had founded Golden Goose had taken Acne and Dries Van Noten as references. In Paris, I opened in Saint Germain. The second store I opened was in Beirut and someone thought I was crazy – why Beirut? Beirut manages to determine the cultural line in the Middle East. Those who have a house in Beirut want to belong to an intellectual, perhaps stylistic context”. A complex human variety. “A context that influences the Emirates from Beirut. The sales that Golden Goose then reached in Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi, were achieved thanks to that store I had opened in Beirut”.
The difference between a chief emotional officer and a chief executive officer: Silvio Campara, from 17 employees to 1,600 employees
“In Golden, we don’t hire based on who knows how to do that job – because to work in a company like this, I think empathy matters more than experience: the human energy that person brings into the group. How do you scale a company from 17 employees to 1,600 employees? You let them do it, you give them trust. You have to be sincere, honest, and decisive – from both sides and reciprocally: if there’s someone who isn’t good, you have to replace them without hesitation. Seventy percent of Golden’s team is under 32 years old. Almost ninety percent are women, and fifty percent are in their first job. What matters is the state of mind”. Human quality that becomes power. “I have to be able to recognize talent. Make sure everyone feels the project is a bit theirs too. I am the chief emotional officer, not just the chief executive officer”.
“Like in a couple of lovers or friends, when you’re together, you tell each other stories. The exchange of stories is what I call culture. Your life is a bit like your culture. It’s the synthesis of all the things that have been relevant to you. It’s like you’re a living book that can tell defeats, victories, insights, or tensions that have made you the person you are. I evolve the concept of artist into that of dreamer, who moves in such intimacy that no one can ever judge you. Our logo is a cut star – it could be broken, shattered. It’s a star that reminds you and us that we’re not perfect. We can all be stars – not in the trivial sense of celebrity – but in the sense of entities that shine independently. The difference between a star and a planet is that the star shines alone”.
Is there a difference between daily life and culture? Silvio Campara, existential value, the Renaissance, stories and connections
Are there different layers of existence and culture? That means: which is the difference between what we live and what we learn? “The difference between an existential value and a cultural value is the size of the audience that value reaches. Culture becomes relevant with empathy. How many people have something to tell? Why do only some of these people manage to have an audience and others don’t? The message of the Renaissance was to put man at the center – when until shortly before, God was in that center. The message reached people, through power and empathy, and around this message, the cultural ferment that we continue to study was created. If you sculpt David, you make him naked, you make him classical, you take up pagan and Roman elements. You are elaborating that you have been able to synthesize”.
Humanism: the manufacturing sector is struggling due to the lack of craftsmanship and manual skills – Veneto, land of commerce and market, Silvio Campara comes from Verona
“How do you revive a job that no one wants to do anymore? You put a young man behind a counter to do a job that according to our culture is humble. If you want to promote a new Humanism, what do you propose? Today, it happens that you get paid 900 euros even if you’re a lawyer. Everyone is paid little. The real issue is another one: restoring the dignity of every job, restoring the pride of working. This is what the manufacturing sector needs: new respect for craftsmanship and manual human work. A worker does, while a craftsman creates”.
“I am from Verona. We Venetians feel our land, but we don’t stay tied to the place. We tend to go elsewhere”. Perhaps it’s linked to the tradition of merchants, which generation after generation has modified the biology of the inhabitants. “It’s different here than elsewhere. In Tuscany or Sicily, those born there tend to stay. We Venetians by vocation go abroad. A true Venetian, if he doesn’t leave, is not a true Venetian. You find us everywhere – then later in life, we come back”.
Golden Goose in Marghera: Silvio Campara introduces the new Academy, a hub of prototyping, a creative hub, to find talent and give talent the opportunity to grow
Marghera is the industrial area of Venice on the mainland that, compared to the city in the lagoon, perhaps suggests a secondary location in the collective imagination. “Here at Golden Goose, we like to remember that the company was born in Marghera. We like to repeat it because people think it’s a bit lame – instead it’s like saying Brooklyn to someone from Manhattan.
“The Haus in Marghera is 22,000 square meters. It took us five years to build it. It is not a productive hub; it’s a creative hub. A place for prototyping and experimentation. Are you a musician and want to record your first album? You can do it with me. Do you want to shoot your first film? You can do it with me. I don’t call it a school; I call it an Academy. If you come here, you don’t have to pay. There is a selection process, evaluating the talents and the projects that are submitted. We are looking for talent. If you pass the selection, it will be all free. For me, it’s an investment – but if I don’t invest here, where else should I invest? Where do I find tomorrow the human resources that are the most difficult, expensive, and complex asset of the entire company? Investing in talent research, in the end, is a saving for what is the human resources budget. It’s not me, but the people who work with me, the soul of this company. My job is to be able to engage people”.
