It all started with a dream: To make Italian fashion (think Gianni Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferre, Alberta Ferretti, Max Mara, Trussardi, Valentino and Roberto Cavalli) affordable to Filipinos. And eventually, to make the Philippines the fashion capital of Asia.
It’s been 20 years – and 22 fashion retail stores of the Linea Italia Group of Companies and Marconi Fashion Group – since then and Freddy Panicucci is very much a fulfilled man. But he has not stopped dreaming. "We want to change the image that other people have of the Philippines, that it is always kulelat," muses Freddy who’s half-Filipino, half-Italian and one whole fashion revolutionary. "That we’re always kawawa, underdeveloped, etc. We’re the ones cleaning the public toilets of Europe. We want to say that’s just one image. When foreigners come to the Philippines, the first thing they’ll notice is it’s full of beautiful people. We want to revolutionize the fashion scene here. The Asian neighbors have to know, when they come to the Philippines, siguro hindi tayo masyadong mayaman pero grabe ang porma, jaforms. I know we’ll get there."
Getting to where he is now wasn’t all that easy. Returning to the Philippines after finishing college in Rome, Freddy worked as a clerk-typist at Far East Bank. Having made ample deposits in terms of experience, Freddy quit his bank job and went to AIM for a master’s degree. In 1982, he started working at a tailoring shop named Carlo Palazzi located on Pasay Road, Makati.
"I was the manager, salesman, etc.," he describes. "I was a one-man show. I did everything except sew. I’d deliver the clothes myself. It was a humble beginning but it taught me the basics about clothes – manufacture, what’s the meaning of quality, the importance of the inside material to the fit, etc. They had a master cutter from Italy and my other job was to translate because he didn’t speak English."
Back then, people went to their costurera or tailor. "Among our first VIP clients were politicians and showbiz people like Edu Manzano," Freddy recalls. "I was making suits for him. Then, an hecho derecho suit cost from P5,000 to P10,000."
Then came RTW (ready-to-wear or pret-a-porter) clothes because more and more people had less and less time to go to their costurera. Then came Freddy-to-wear and the fashion scene was never the same again.
Suddenly, Filipinos were introduced to Italian-sounding names in fashion that are much better worn than pronounced. "We put up our first Linea Italia store in 1982 at Mayfair Arcade, Makati Commercial Center," Freddy looks back with a twinkle in his eyes. "Then we opened Viva a year later."
In 1988, the Linea company opened Linea Uomo, its first men’s shop, at Park Square I, Makati. "At that time, it wasn’t politically correct for men to be fashionable," Freddie notes. "The times called for austerity."
After Ninoy Aquino was shot in 1983, the peso plunged from P11 vis-a-vis $1 to P26 vs. P1. Many peso devaluations later, Linea Italia has remained unruffled. "We’ve been able to cope," says Freddy. "No, we didn’t cut corners, we didn’t increase our prices. It’s basically a matter of attitude. If you give up easily at the first obstacle and stop, you won’t get anywhere."
The unstoppable Freddy points out, "When there’s a crisis, you’re more challenged to think of a solution. Crises are just man-made. If man did it, man can fix it. When I bring my motorcycle to my mechanic and couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with it, my mechanic would say, ‘Kaya ko ’to dahil tao lang ang gumawa nito.’"
Freddy stresses, "Every country has a peace and order problem – Italy has its Mafia. Good times or bad, we’re here for the long haul. We are what I call a determined minority. We know we cannot dress up everybody or be everything for everyone. But we want to make sure people know what we stand for. In our own little world, we believe Filipinos are beautiful people and we’re here to make them even more beautiful at the least possible cost. Like the yin and the yang, we want to give the best product and the best service at the best price."
Fact is, Italian clothes sold at Linea Italia stores and Marconi stockhouses are 10 times cheaper than the same clothes sold in Italy. Freddy explains, "Our prices are unbelievably low, like at Marconi, you can get a suit for as low as P2,000 – and it’s not just any suit, it could be a Versace. The price will not even cover the cost of the material. This is because we have these agreements with big suppliers and we buy in volume. It’s useless to have all these beautiful items if nobody’s buying them. You have to make sure you only charge what the market can bear. For a multi-brand chain like us, the market has a big say, not the supplier. If you’re a mono-brand, the supplier can say, ‘You’re using my name, we don’t care if you sell, basta this is the price.’ With us, it’s baligtad. We tell suppliers, ’If you don’t listen to the market, sorry ka na lang.’ We go back to the supplier and say, ‘If you don’t lower your price, we won’t go back to you next year.’"
To which Aldo Saglimbeni, area manager of Lilla International Group and a major supplier of Linea, happily nods as he listens in on our interview with Freddy Monday lunchtime at the coffeeshop of Shangri-La Hotel in Makati.
More, Linea Italia and Marconi go on sale twice a year, with prices marked down by as much as 80 percent. "Hanggang maubos, so you’re sure there’s always something new at our stores," says Freddy. "And once we put down the price, it won’t go up anymore – it goes lower and lower hanggang maubos."
The people who buy, says Freddy, are actually those who buy things they don’t need. "But then, if you take that away, the pleasures in life are so few," Freddy rationalizes. "If we don’t pamper ourselves a little bit now when we’re young, who’s going to do it for us later? It’s that carpe diem thing."
Linea is always on the lookout for new brands, upcoming brands and trends. Some of Linea’s best walking advertisements are its sales people. If there’s one thing (or two or three) that they have in common, it is that they all have beautiful legs. And a wispy waistline (no more than 26 inches). And of course, a tall figure that looks good garbed in a suit."
Says "legman" Freddy, "I enjoy a good pair of legs, but I look at the total image. Our people are medyo modelling our clothes. And they’re not just selling clothes, they’re selling an image, they’re selling confidence. We hire good people as we find them, not as we need them. We have a lot of veterans with us because many of them have even become stockholders of the company. I believe that if employees have a stake in the company, they will treat it like their own."
Of course, who could be a better model-endorser for Linea Italia than Freddy Panicucci himself? So what’s in Freddy’s closet?
"About 20 pairs of pants, 30 shirts and 20 pairs of boots," comes the instant reply. "But every morning, before I dress up for work, I think of my color mood. I dress against my mood. If I feel sad, I dress happy. Sometimes, before I leave the house, I change my outfit three times. So it’s not just women who are guilty of this."
And what does he do with his old, sometimes least worn, clothes?
"I give them to my driver," says the generous employer.
Freddy doffs his hat to Filipinos. "They are excellent dressers. They dress better than Americans, Europeans and other Asians. They’re more adventurous, less conformist; they like to experiment."
The future is here, and he’s here to stay, vows Freddy who looks dapper as he slips into his Italian clothes every morning after relishing a hearty breakfast of tuyo.