Bruno Schiavi (born 10 July 1972) is an Australian fashion designer and businessman.

Bruno Schiavi
Portrait of Schiavi in a light-blue open collar shirt with his arms crossed across his chest.
Schiavi in 2005
Born (1972-07-10) 10 July 1972 (age 52)
Sydney, Australia
Known forPocket Sock
Labels
  • MensFit
  • Kardashian Kollection
  • One Dress a Day

Early life

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Schiavi was born on 10 July 1972 in Sydney's Inner West.[1] His father worked for Italian embassies; the family moved several times before eventually settling in Australia.[2] He attended Rosebank College in the Inner Western Sydney suburb of Five Dock, graduating in 1990.

Schiavi's university studies were in business and marketing.[3] He worked at Target for eight years, starting in the 1980s. In 1995 he and his mother launched Jupi Corporation to sell women's underwear over the internet.[2]

Design work

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In 1998 Schiavi invented a sock with a zippered pocket and sold it through Gowings.[3] This sock fuelled the growth of his company, which in 2004 had sales of AUD 3 million, mostly from Schiavi-designed underwear.

In 2003 Schiavi began working with celebrities when he had Big Brother contestants promote underwear designed by him. He has since collaborated with Priscilla Presley,[2] Brett Lee, Janet Jackson,[4] and the Kardashians. In the mid-2000s Schiavi's company expanded to Los Angeles.[2]

Many of his products, including the Kardashian Kollection, are sold for the mass market through department stores like Sears.[2] By 2013 Jupi Corporation had a turnover of $75 million, 60 percent of that from outside Australia.[2]

On 12 August 2013 Schiavi launched One Dress a Day, an online store that sells a new Schiavi-designed dress every day.[5]

In 2015 Schiavi expanded into children's clothing, developing a Kardashian Kids line for his Kardashian Kollection brand when the Kardashians had children. The new brand was a commercial success, with 86 percent of the stock sold within 72 hours of the launch in stores and online via Babies R Us. Following Schiavi's usual business model of mass market sales, the Kardashian Kids brand will be sold in Woolworths Big W stores in Australia from August 2015.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Redrup, Yolanda (23 August 2013). "Daily dress-ups: Australian fashion entrepreneur Bruno Schiavi tells SmartCompany about his new online venture".
  2. ^ a b c d e f Bailey, Michael (5 April 2013). "Cashing in with Kardashian: Aussie Bruno Schiavi". BRW. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  3. ^ a b O'Brien, Anthony (17 August 2004). "The sock that grew legs". Nine News. Archived from the original on 21 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Janet Jackson latest name on Bruno Schiavi's underwear". The Daily Telegraph. 21 August 2008.
  5. ^ Traill-Nash, Glynis (23 August 2013). "Bruno Schiavi's new website is based on concept rather than celebrity". The Australian.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Sue (23 May 2015). "Designer Bruno Schiavi likes everything about Kardashian Kids". The Australian Financial Review.
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