When a heritage Italian tailoring house with over nine decades of craftsmanship speaks about India, it does so with the confidence of a long-term interest and investment of time and efforts. As the brand showcased the art of tailoring, we spoke to its President & CEO, Stefano Canali about the brand’s 25-year journey in India—from its first boutique at Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Palace to a growing six-store footprint across key metros. From reinterpreting ceremonial silhouettes for the Indian market to cautiously embracing artificial intelligence and a 360-degree lifestyle evolution, the message is clear that beneath the traditional surface of menswear lies a quiet revolution and India is central to its next chapter

You've been coming here for a very long time now. Would you like to tell me what is your impression of the Indian luxury consumer?

We entered the Indian market 25 years ago and opened up our first store with a franchise partner in Mumbai, the Taj Mahal Hotel in 2000; we stayed put for eight to 10 years.

As we changed partner, we enlarged the franchise store network to three to four. Eventually, we were so happy with the results and now we have a network consisting of six stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. The reason why we are happy is linked to the Indian consumers who are very knowledgeable, demanding, and in sync with the Italian taste to some extent.

When we entered the market, we soon realised that it was an opportunity to create a strong bond with local consumers. We had the idea to leverage our ceremonial suit called Nail Jacket; we gave our own reinterpretation of this ceremonial suit to the Indian consumers with detailing and high quality materials that Canale is known for. We also evolved the offering of this specific shape towards a sport version and ended up proposing a sports coat or a sleeveless version of the sport coat in blends of linen, silk, wool, cashmere and more. This proposal of ours became an instant success and has been instrumental in increasing the brand awareness in India.

For the upcoming years we are ready to seize any opportunity that will arise in different cities–as new luxury locations will be built, we'll be ready to open up a store in the right location, keeping in mind that we're dealing with a population that is the largest in size worldwide.

How does the brand preserve its heritage while adapting to a changing global menswear landscape? 

Having such an important heritage for 91 years is a privilege. It implies and demands consistency in whatever we do and in the way we evolve over time. I believe that it is not a constraint but a strength. To give you example, Canale is renowned for crafting high quality, fully canvassed suits. One may wonder that how does this transfer to whatever Canale does other than men's clothing; it’s by using high quality materials and craftsmanship, and by infusing passion for details. It does take time but at the end, we present a collection that is a genuine representation of the brand’s DNA.

When we decided to launch a lifestyle collection, its strategy demanded a 360 degrees evolution of the brand–from marketing activities and store concepts to visual merchandising and the collection itself. However, the end goal was to make sure that whoever looks at the collection perceives integrity, consistency, and the presence of one colour palette. The most difficult task for a heritage brand is to reinvent itself while staying true to its core ideology. 

What are the elements of tailoring that define Canali? 

For us, it is to keep on proposing the highest quality men's clothing to the final consumer. We concentrate on a construction process that is a true representation of the tailor's activity. We start with the canvas that is hand-stitched. Then it comes to the lining and stitching it to the outer fabric. These stitching procedures are very difficult to implement because there are many asymmetrical movements made by our artisans' that ultimately deliver the high quality product. This paradigm has never changed and it’s our well-kept secret. We strive to infuse it all our products. 
 

Is there anything new that you try to initiate it in terms of maybe design, in terms of maybe processes with every collection?

I would say everything changes over time; my ultimate goal is to make sure that the skyscraper we're building on the foundation that we laid down over the past years is exactly what the market needs from a brand like us. Everything changes, from the collection, skills for functions, marketing, to even the legality of it all.

We're living in an ongoing evolution. For instance, infusing artificial intelligence into the company implies a (sort of) paradigm shift in many different functions. Are we scared by that? The answer is no but we are careful in embracing innovation. You must find out what is appropriate for your company and the right time for any evolution. 

How important is the Indian market in your global strategy?

It's a very underestimated market by the industry. We started believing in this market many years ago and we believe that there's still a lot of potential to unlock. As soon as we will have the opportunity to enlarge our retail network, we will do that because of our relationship with Indian consumers. We just need more locations to spread the word and to enlarge the reach to new consumers in other cities, or to new consumers in the same cities but different locations. The evolution I briefly mentioned before must be considered within the Indian market as well. We might come up with different services and with specific initiatives that resonate with local consumers. 

What is something that you are looking forward to this year?

The most fascinating point in this industry is that despite being perceived as pretty conservative and kind of rooted in the past, as a matter of fact, it has evolved a lot since the 80s. And it will keep evolving under the surface; we are talking about 360° change– from the way the collections are manufactured to the way they are conceived and developed.  I’d sy that under a (very) traditional surface, there is a volcano that is about to erupt; it’s going to be an ‘eruption’ of a lot of new stuff that we are going to see!