The background of the Italian Valentino company

Unveiling the mystery of Valentino

In 1908, VINCENZO VALENTINO founded the Valentino brand in Naples, Italy. Since then, Valentino has become a brand supported by Italian royal families and celebrities.

In 1954, the coral sandals designed by MRAIO VALENTINO, the second generation heir to the Valentino family, were grandly introduced on the cover of the famous French fashion magazine VOGUE. As a model of 20th century industrial design, this sandal is displayed in the [Swiss Shoe and Boot Museum].

In 1955, Mario Valentino [MRAIO VALENTINO] launched the second historical design product high-heeled sandals [SRILETTO] on the Roman fashion stage.

In 1956, Giovani Valentino, the third generation descendant of Valentino, founded a new Valentino brand named "Giovani Valentino". This brand has established five major sales systems in China: leather shoes, leather goods, men's clothing, women's clothing, and underwear. The membership-based consumption model fully meets the needs of elites from all walks of life who pursue quality and taste life. And entered the Chinese market in 1997.

In 1985, Mario Valentino received the Special Achievement Award from Italian President Sandro PERTINI on behalf of his family, and won the country's highest honor, the Knight of the Cross [CAVALIERE], and became even more famous. Like the sun.

After Mario passed away in 1991, the Valentino family was led by the third generation Vicenzo Valentino, and the above-mentioned Giovani Valentino (Giovani Valentino) was his younger brother.

The Italian Valentino Garavani, born in 1933, is a famous fashion designer. He founded the Valentino women's clothing brand in 1962, registered another important Valentino brand in the Netherlands, and became famous in Europe. Valentino Gravani himself is considered an elite figure in the haute couture industry. The brand became an Italian luxury clothing brand, especially famous for producing high-end women's clothing.

In order to prevent conflicts between these Valentino brands, in 1978, the Valentino family and Valentino Gravani reached an agreement. The two parties would divide their forces. Valentino Gravani owned Valentino in clothing products. (Valentino) trademark exclusive rights. Mario Valentino owns the exclusive rights to the Valentino (Valentino) trademark in leather shoes and leather goods. Since Giovanni Valentino established the brand after this agreement came into being, he can produce both Footwear and leather products can also be produced as clothing, but the products must bear the full trademark name Giovani Valentino.

At the same time, in the Chinese market, only Zhejiang Babei Group has signed an exclusive agency agreement with Valentino Gravani Company, and it will be the agent for the sales of Valentino ties and men's clothing in China. Guangzhou George Shoes Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with Mario Valentino to be the exclusive agent for the sales of Valentino footwear products in China. At the same time, Guangzhou Cuiying Clothing Co., Ltd., a member of Hong Kong Ruiyuan International Co., Ltd., also received the authorization signature from Mr. and Mrs. Giovanni Valentino in Guangzhou on April 21, 2002, officially authorizing it to be Giovanni Valentino underwear. The general agent of series (men's and women's underwear, home clothes, bras, socks) in mainland China.

At this point in the article, I think all readers should start to feel as if they are waking up from a dream, and sigh: So that’s it! However, this was just the beginning of the tragedy.

Family division and brand pain

In 1987, Italian high-end clothing brand Valentino entered the Chinese market for the first time.

Today, 17 years later, what we see is the dazzling "Valentino XX" flooding the bustling downtown blocks of the city at low prices, but what we hear is the news that Italian Valentino will officially withdraw from the Chinese market .

We have an old saying in China: "A small boat is easy to turn around." From Valentino, we seem to see some of the fulfillment of the philosophy. For a large family ship like Valentino, the interior of the hull is The problem may be one of the key reasons why the boat can't quickly avoid oncoming waves.

At present, there are no less than 200 counterfeit trademarks of the Valentino brand in China, including dozens or even 100 on leather shoes. “A large part of the reason why Valentino is unwilling to take severe measures in the Chinese market is that the family divides and conquers the brand. From the above information, we can see that the development of the Valentino family at the current stage is actually made up of three parts. Support: Gravani, Mario and Giovanni. Due to the independent operation of the three parties, everyone takes the use of the brand for granted, but when it comes to brand maintenance, everyone is relatively slack and dependent. In fact, the phenomenon of family division similar to Valentino is also quite common in Chinese companies, such as Hubei's Nine-Headed Bird Company. Although the brand may not be affected in the end, the results are heartbreaking, and for Valentino We can only sigh: the family division and brand pain are the result!

Strategic orientation determines the results

"There are so many people in China, and China is developing so fast." , I think these two sentences should be the first understanding of China by many foreign friends. In fact, in these two simple sentences, we can clearly feel some commercial atmosphere. The large number of people represents a broad market potential. The rapid development will determine that the consumption power of Chinese consumers will also continue to rise rapidly. Of course, what will follow is a boom in business. Chinese companies will develop rapidly to meet the needs of the Chinese people, and at the same time, they will look abroad. It is also inevitable that foreign companies have poured into the country in large numbers to bring better products and higher-end consumption enjoyment to Chinese consumers, each getting what they need.

There is another reason why Valentino failed. A very important reason that we have to pay attention to is because of its strong brand appeal and broad market span. It is present in more than a hundred countries except China, which strategically causes it to not pay attention to the Chinese market. The mentality of trying things out is very wrong given the rapid development of the Chinese market and the realization of legalization, causing it to miss the development opportunities in this market."

The lack of understanding of the Chinese market has led to insufficient monitoring of Valentino’s entire process from brand planning, authorized production, to marketing network. For a brand with considerable brand appeal, it is easy to give some Counterfeiters leave huge opportunities.

OEM production is a catalyst for overdraft brands

Due to cheap labor and the lack of competitive brands and independent intellectual property rights, China has become a paradise for well-known foreign manufacturers to carry out OEM production. The fatal weakness of OEM production is that the initiative is in the hands of others: there are often multiple OEM manufacturers to choose from for a product, and customers have a lot of room for selection and bargaining. The company can only continue to transfer the few products from the processing fee. profit. As competition intensifies, many companies that rely on OEM production for famous brands have begun to wake up: they must learn from the successful experiences of others through OEM and create their own brands. However, building a brand does not happen overnight. At this time, "famous brands" will show the advantage of shortcuts.

As China becomes the world’s factory, processing factories that rely on OEM orders are also facing more traps: one of them is being used by speculators and becoming essentially counterfeiting tools.

These Valentino stores all claim to be authorized by the Italian Valentino company or Hong Kong Valentino, and the prices are very cheap. Price reduction and discount slogans are displayed at the entrance of all stores. A pair of Valentino Binu trousers only costs 49 yuan, while a shirt only costs 50 yuan. A salesman told reporters that these are subsidiaries of Italian Valentino, so the names are slightly different.

"But they are all Valentino, and the quality is absolutely no problem. It's just that we are made in China, so the price is cheap." The reporter then asked several consumers who had purchased clothing with the word Valentino. They all came here because of its reputation and thought they Purchased authentic Valentino clothing.

Some people in the industry pointed out that the reason why "sticking to famous brands" has become a shortcut in the eyes of speculators is mainly due to loopholes in the law itself. Why is the phenomenon of "favoring famous brands" getting more and more intense? According to industry insiders, as production technology becomes more and more advanced, it becomes easier and easier to produce counterfeit branded clothing. It is reported that the profits from counterfeiting famous brand clothing are astonishing. For example, a pair of casual pants may cost only a dozen yuan. After being labeled with a brand name, the wholesale price can reach forty or fifty yuan. And when it comes to dealers, some can even be sold for two to three hundred yuan. Yuan. Huge profits have led many agents and garment factories to take risks. They process counterfeit imported clothing in large quantities and then distribute them to some clothing wholesalers, who ship them to all parts of the country. Some famous brand companies suffer market infringement of hundreds of millions of yuan every year. Another reason is that the current relevant laws and regulations and enterprise registration system need to be improved. Due to the marginal nature of the application of the law and the differences in the legal systems between Hong Kong and the Mainland, some lawbreakers are emboldened and it also makes law enforcement work difficult.

Trademark issues reduce brand trust

A gentleman from the Domestic Trademark Department of the China Trademark and Patent Office told reporters that Valentino is a well-known trademark. If the prefix or suffix is ??added, it is a similar trademark. It is difficult for the Industry and Commerce Bureau to get approval. However, once these manufacturers apply to the Industry and Commerce Bureau, they can be used during the period before being approved. This is the time difference between "famous brand" products. Director Zhang of the Trademark Department of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce said that the use of the Valentino trademark is indeed very confusing, but there is no real trademark right holder to complain to the Administration for Industry and Commerce with a registration certificate, so it is difficult to trace.

Chen Yun provided three methods on how to identify authentic Italian "Valentino". First of all, the Chinese name font of "Valentino" registered by VALENTINO is Traditional Chinese. Secondly, authentic specialty stores uniformly use the English “VALENTINO” as their store logo. Third, on the "V"-shaped trademark, the circle surrounding the letter "v" is sealed and flat. "The products sold by the company are all imported from Italy, and VALENTINO has no plans to produce clothing in China.

The troublesome thing about trademark issues is that many companies are registered in Hong Kong or overseas. Why do so many companies go there? Registered in Hong Kong? Mr. Ou, the person in charge of an organization that handles overseas registration business, said that it is more convenient to register a company in Hong Kong. Generally speaking, as long as you can provide one shareholder, a registered address in Hong Kong, and a person with Hong Kong permanent resident qualifications Witnesses are enough. Since Hong Kong's registration of companies is relatively broad, and even the capital verification step of the company's registered capital is omitted, many people register companies and trademarks in Hong Kong and then "authorize" the mainland to use the company's name.

It is understood that there are generally three forms of trademark infringement. One is using a famous trademark to register a company with the corresponding name in Hong Kong. For such infringement, the trademark owner can sue in Hong Kong and request cancellation of the registration; When registering, add another name before the famous trademark, or register a similar trademark. When using, separate the two names and use only the famous trademark part, or deform the graphic to make it look similar to the famous trademark; the third is to use a trademark The acceptance letter deceives consumers. In fact, the trademark acceptance letter does not mean that the trademark can be used legally. Generally, it takes one and a half years from acceptance to obtaining the certificate. If the review fails, the Valentino series will be rejected. It belongs to the second type.

Because the owners of the real Valentino brand have taken a cold attitude towards a large number of "Valentino" brands, it has become difficult for the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to trace them. The emergence of a large number of fake Valentino has caused consumers to have doubts about the brand. The level of trust continues to decrease. In the words of dealers, it means that if manufacturers do not act, agents are powerless.

In response to the proliferation of Valentino brands in Beijing, Mr. Ma said that it is very difficult to fight against counterfeiting.

"Although the Italian company authorizes us to crack down on counterfeiting, there are more than 200 brands on the market that add prefixes or suffixes to Valentino, and it's a mixed bag. We can't sue for infringement. We can only let people understand what the real Valentino brand is first. There is no market for those 'similar to famous brands' in order to achieve the real purpose. However, Italian companies have made limited efforts to deal with this situation and have taken almost no measures, leaving dealers with no support from the headquarters and lack of confidence when fighting against counterfeiting. Moreover, the brand is owned by the Italian headquarters after all, and dealers care about short-term profits. If the manufacturer does nothing, dealers will naturally be unable to do their best.

Valentino After frustration

As more and more businesses began to rush to this shortcut, a farce of "Li Gui beats Li Kui away" finally emerged. At the end of 2003, the unsustainable Italian brand "Govanni Valentino" chose to temporarily withdraw from the Chinese market. When referring to this matter, a person in charge of the Trademark Office of the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce pointed out that there are as many as 158 "Valentino" brands with various prefixes and suffixes registered with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and being applied for by local companies. , in Shanghai alone, there are more than 200 manufacturers of counterfeit or imitation "Valentino".

At the end of the interview, the words of a trademark industry insider revealed the key to this mystery. He said: "In fact, the essence of Fahrenheit's chaos is still the impetuousness of the market and the speculation of lawless elements. Whether famous brands can withstand this test and whether they can maintain their quality and legal status in the chaos is the key. Regardless of wind and waves, , the brand that can provide consumers with the best quality products and services will surely be the final king."

Looking at the various reasons that led to the tragedy of the Valentino brand, it is not difficult to find that the partition of the Valentino brand itself laid the root of the disaster. The strategic neglect of testing the Chinese market caused many unnecessary troubles later. In addition, Negligence in all aspects, including authorized production and trademark monitoring, has provided the soil for the growth of a large number of "Valentino" products.

The use and extension of three different Valentino families is an overdraft for the brand. In addition, the three institutions authorize their own different institutions in China to produce, which further promotes the speed of the brand towards tragedy and accelerates the development of the brand. The Italian headquarters do not maintain the brands they own. From registered trademarks to authorization, OEM, marketing network and brand maintenance, we have not seen any relevant measures taken by the owners of the Valentino brand, allowing fake Valentino to roam the market arbitrarily. As a result, a royal and aristocratic brand like "Valentino" has gradually become an ordinary brand that can be found everywhere in the streets. Moreover, in a market where consumers are increasingly obsessed with lavish spending, consumers have lost their trust in the Valentino brand. This has I'm afraid this is something Valentino will have to make amends for a long time to come.

So, considering the current development situation of Valentino, how should we continue to move forward? For a large number of brands similar to Valentino, such as Montagut, Crocodile, etc., they are basically guilty of similar problems, but the severity is different. If you want to change the destiny of the Valentino brand, you must start the following three major projects for a long time in the future:

1. Recruitment project

The current situation of Valentino is obviously a warning to Italy It is important for the headquarters to clean up the market as soon as possible. If the three brand owners can unite in the fastest possible time and work together to maintain Valentino, the change in the brand's destiny will definitely accelerate. The suggestions are as follows: use all resources to crack down on infringing companies, and initiate criminal prosecutions if necessary; and for some production companies that can meet Valentino's requirements, consider taking "recruitment" measures and include them in its supplier team. In this way, some outstanding companies among the nearly 200 existing brands close to "Valentino" can be included as officially legally authorized manufacturers or distributors, laying the foundation for Valentino's low-cost expansion of the market.

2. Litigation project

At the same time as the recruitment project is launched, we will launch a lawsuit against the "Valentino" brand and cooperate with local authorized dealers or manufacturers. The headquarters will provide strong support and joint cooperation. We will clean up the door together and strive to complete the cleanup in the shortest time to give the real Valentino brand a healthy environment.

3. Brand awareness and update project

After the first two projects were carried out, the third project began to be officially launched. On the one hand, some of the "Valentino" brands were solved through recruitment; On the other hand, through a powerful legal litigation project with a joint team to litigate the remaining "Valentino" brands, the two measures can basically achieve the purpose of cleanup and rectification. However, after all, too many "Valentino" brands have been sold in the market for a long time, which has caused various negative impacts on consumers. Coupled with media exposure, consumers no longer know what it means to recognize the real Italian Valentino. Since we don’t know, we naturally lose trust in the brand, so we must keep up with the communication project of the Valentino brand. We just take this opportunity of large-scale rectification to officially meet the real Valentino with consumers, so that consumers can understand the true face of Valentino. , rekindling the love for the Valentino brand.

The execution of the above three projects plays a vital role in saving the fate of the Valentino brand. The problem is relatively simple to say, but it takes a long time and energy to execute, but for a former For Valentino, which has been a century-old royal and aristocratic brand, it is something worth doing anyway, and it is also something that must be done for brand development. There are still many companies similar to the Valentino problem. How to solve or avoid these problems in the process of rapid development may be something that more business leaders should think calmly about! I hope that the development of the Valentino brand will serve as a warning to other companies that are rapidly expanding. After all, the perspective and depth of reflection on lessons learned without having to pay the price yourself is different!