Next Step For The Ultra Luxe

How changing tastes can provide new opportunities for a 50-year-old business.

- Lynette Koh

“Sorry if I repeat myself,” says Antonio de Matteis, in Italianaccented English, several times during our chat at the Kiton store at Ngee Ann City. The second-generation CEO of Italian family-owned clothing company Kiton is apologising for his frequent use of the phrase “top 01 quality”. But we can hardly blame him for being proud of his brand’s USP – after all, which other label has a $50,000 suit (made from materials such as ultra-lightweight vicuna) as one of its icons, or can say that it makes 90 per cent of its own fabrics (with the remaining 10 per cent exclusively made just for it)? Here, de Matteis shares what else goes into making the 50-year-old brand a top choice for the world’s one-percenters.