In Conversation with Stefano Martinetto – VOGUE BUSINESS
Wed 15 Nov
By the VOGUE BUSINESS Team
What is the best route to success for young designers today? The dream of launching the next big heritage house still drives so many emerging talents, but the challenges facing independent brands are mounting. Stefano Martinetto, CEO and co-founder of brand development platform Tomorrow London joined the Vogue Business Executive Summit to discuss these challenges and how to navigate them.
There is a strong pipeline of talent coming from the UK’s highly respected fashion schools and programmes that support early-stage creativity through talent incubators, such as the BFC’s Newgen programme and Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East. Yet, a number of London-based independent brands that were hot a decade ago have disappeared. Most recently, Christopher Kane’s business was rescued in a pre-pack administration deal, and Michael Halpern shuttered his eponymous womenswear label to focus on new projects. Earlier this year, the chair of the British Fashion Council (BFC) warned that it’s never been so difficult to succeed in the UK industry, which is facing a perfect storm of rising costs, incoming sustainability regulation and post-Brexit red tape.
“We produced an incredible amount of fantastic creatives, but when you go back and check for the huge success stories, you’ve got Burberry, Paul Smith, JW Anderson — then of course there’s Martine Rose and A-Cold-Wall [Tomorrow invests in both],” says Martinetto, in conversation with Vogue Business executive European editor Kirsty McGregor. “But you really struggle to find solidly relevant businesses. Not many are around 10 years after their inception.”
Martinetto founded Tomorrow London in 2010 with his business partner Giancarlo Simiri and backing from three other entrepreneurs, Matt Clark, Jens Grede and Erik Torstenson. The vision then, Martinetto says, was to create a global multi-brand wholesale distribution company. However, after receiving a £15 million investment in 2016 from Three Hills Capital Partners, the business pivoted into a brand incubator and accelerator — recognising a growing need for this deeper level of support. “The short-term distribution services [we were offering] were definitely good value but not sufficient; they needed way more,” recalls Martinetto.
In 2018, Tomorrow made its first investment, in Samuel Ross’s A-Cold-Wall. Today, the platform directly invests in seven brands, both financially and by providing operational services and support: A-Cold-Wall, Athletics Footwear, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Colville, Coperni, Martine Rose and Objects IV Life. “We like to call it an independent record label for fashion,” says Martinetto. Tomorrow also backs multi-brand retailer Machine-A.
There’s no specific criteria brands have to meet to be considered for investment by Tomorrow; in fact, it deliberately avoids having a “cookie cutter” approach, says Martinetto. “We look for value systems that we appreciate,” he explains. “And for creative founders with communities where those values are reflected. Relevance is the currency in which we are investing the most.”