As Dubai continues to emerge as a fashion capital in a region of sustained growth and long-term opportunity, it felt fitting to bring Vogue Business Fashion Futures back to the region for a second time. For this edition, hosted in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), the event coincided with Dubai Fashion Week to welcome over 150 guests, including fashion leaders, entrepreneurs and sustainability champions, for a series of chats and panel discussions around “building in uncertainty”.
The event examined the relationship between legacy and innovation, and how long-term partnerships are shaping more resilient models of growth in the region and beyond. It took place at Thea, a French Mediterranean restaurant in d3, Dubai’s iconic global creative ecosystem, by TECOM Group PJSC.
From family business to investment-ready brand
The event opened with a welcome note by Khadija Al Bastaki, SVP of Dubai Design District, who highlighted Dubai’s growing strength as a creative capital. She also announced that Italian brand Golden Goose would be joining the d3 community, before welcoming the brand’s CEO, Silvio Campara, as the session’s keynote speaker.
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In conversation with Vogue Business and Vogue Runway deputy director Elektra Kotsoni, Campara traced the transformation of the family-founded label into a global brand with strong cultural and commercial equity. Under his leadership, Golden Goose attracted strategic investment from global private equity firm HSG, which acquired a majority stake in the company last December for over €2.5 billion.
Campara joined Golden Goose in 2013, a brand founded by husband-and-wife duo Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo in 2000, best known for its star motif sneakers. What attracted him was the philosophy behind the brand. “When I first met Alessandro, he said to me: ‘Golden Goose should be a platform of items that age with you. They get wrinkles, because those wrinkles make the items special,’” Campara told attendees. Today, the brand maintains a 60% retention rate, which Campara attributes to staying true to the brand’s philosophy in every decision.
