“I’m just a surfer who wanted to build something that would allow me to surf longer.” – Jack O’Neill, Surfer
RRD was born as a sports equipment producer mainly linked to water sports. Then, Roberto Ricci, founder of the brand, decides to risk and ride the perfect wave that pushes him up, beyond sport to fashion.
The garments he creates together with his partner and friend Roberto Bardini are technological, essential, differently tailored. The strong point us the outerwear.
We met Ricci last week in Florence during the last edition of Pitti Uomo and that’s what he told us.
How and when did the brand born?
We were born as producers of sports equipment specializing in kite and windsurfing. In 1994, we moved from the exclusive production of boards to the one also linked to the clothing industry. At that time my partner produced jackets for many well-known brands and that’s how the desire to extend our borders and reach fashion began to grow. Eight years ago we started to create the wetsuits and it is just looking at one on a mannequin that we came up with the idea of creating a coat that looked like it and for which we used the same materials (those of our DNA). The first lycra jacket was born and opened the doors to the winter-store thanks to the combination with goose down. Our first winter proposal became then the leitmotif and strong point of all our collections. The coats perfectly interpreted and interpret the combination between the technological intuition of lycra coupled with a windproof and water-proof membrane (internal material that is directly glued to the external matrix) and the attention to details and cutting of garments for fashion consumers.
The trait the union between fashion and outdoor world is authentic, it is rooted in our background. Today sport is in fashion. We have sport in the DNA, fashion becomes its declination. It is an absolute inversion of factors.
Who is your typical customer?
Our client is transversal, both in terms of age and of social group. We have very young consumers, between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, and over sixty-year-old gentlemen who wear our eco-fur coats or the more fashionable Lycra coats. Obviously, there is a big part of sportsmen – those who practice surfing, mountain-biking or skiing for the weekend – who even in the weekdays want to feel like outdoor-users and find the right compromise in our products. The authenticity of the sporting part makes the whole project credible. Undoubtedly, the essential approach to technological materials contributes to the success and recognition of our products. Our garments are clean, free from embroideries, logos or tinsel. We tries to create something simple, almost brandless (the logo always tone-on-tone) and therefore easy to use.
Tell us something about the FW19-20.
The inspiration is partly the city. We launched the city line, not strictly linked to the mentioned winter-store. These garments are lighter and easier. We have chosen to use the thermore rather than the goose down. Outside they are in lycra and a microfibre is coupled. This always gives them a winter look but with a lower weight and for this reason they are already proposed bu the retailers at the end of the summer. It is something that was missing from our collections.
Another very important part is represented by trousers and shirts. It is a sector in which we have started to propose articles in recent times and that we have decided to strengthen thanks to the excellent sell-out received. The trousers are also technological: entirely in lycra, stretched, not sewn but glued to laser. The production is sartorial, you can notice it inside them. At the same time, in the part dedicated to shirting we have Oxford fabrics which, however, are made of polyamide elastane: breathable and comfortable.
And it is probably freedom of movement the central theme of the whole collection.
Items from Fall/Winter 2019