Par
Ansa
Translated by
Cecile Herrero
Published on
January 16, 2025
“Today, on the list of things to take on an outing, every child finds a K-Way, but if we became a luxury brand in ten years, this name would no longer be there”: this is the reasoning by Lorenzo Boglione, vice-president of the BasicNet group, who sold 40% of the K-Way brand to Permira last October.
In Milan, for the reopening of the sportswear brand’s flagship after expansion work, Lorenzo Boglione announced the next steps intended to underline the iconic character of the brand, but also to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
See you in February in Milan, during Women’s Fashion Week, for the traditional fashion show but also for an exhibition, installed at the Permanente museum and open free to the public, where the K-Way brand will be surrounded by other brands including the name has indeed entered the vocabulary, from Bic – synonymous with pen for all – to Chupa Chups – which no one calls lollipop anymore – from Rollerblade, a commercial name more used than the common “inline skates”, to Moon Boot , now synonymous with boots après-ski. And then Pongo, the iconic modeling clay brand in Italy, and Borsalino, the historic hat company whose name corresponds to the famous headwear model.
“We invited around fifteen brands which, like K-Way, gave their name to objects, and we involved an artist for each brand, in a cultural exploration which, after Milan, will tour the world, with stops in Paris, Seoul and London,” explains Lorenzo Boglione.
It is precisely in London that K-way is preparing to open a flagship store on the King’s Road, the first step in an international expansion aimed primarily at Europe. To date, the reference markets for the brand, born in Paris, are Italy, France and Belgium.
The future of the BasicNet group, which has brands such as Superga and Sebago in its portfolio, also involves new acquisitions, always of brands “with a history and an iconic product, strong and recognizable as are ours”.
“We like,” emphasizes Lorenzo Boglione, “the idea of not making a fashion product, our challenge is to always be ourselves, with our own style. A style that must necessarily remain democratic. Even with the entry of a luxury fund, nothing changes: our basic product is a jacket at 140 euros, because K-Way is and wants to remain an accessible brand.”