Philipp full, bling bling business

Do you know what a crisis means?"Attacks at the restaurant of the Parisian palace George-V, Philipp Plein, who ends up swallowing his pasta with black truffle, is waiting to answer" no "to spare his effect:" A crisis is the possibility ofearn more money.»The 39 -year -old German designer at the head of the clothing brand that bears his name not only likes rhetorical questions, but also provocation, confidences on the business of the wealthy and powerful, and" to say all that allworld thinks low ”.In the wearing universe of luxury, he detonates, and so far, it succeeds.

Launched in 2004, his company, located in Lugano, Switzerland, employs 700 people, brings together three brands (Filipp full, full sport and Billionaire Couture) and has 159 points of sale in the world.Its turnover increases at a dizzying speed: it reached 270 million euros in 2017 against 175 million in 2015 and 8 million in 2008. PP, it is a story of figures, but especially of image.The name is synonymous with mirobal parades, where trucks unload convoys of short-dressed and tattooed beauties that roll mechanics, where the catwalk, which can host jet ski, a helicopter or roller coaster, ends up transforming intoConcert, fun fair or racing - everything seems possible with pp.

On social networks, these happenings are hitting and cohabiting harmoniously with the photos of his home in Cannes called "La Jungle du Roi", his "castle" under construction in Los Angeles, his showroom with a view of Central Park in New York, his travelsIn private jet, his Ferrari, Rolls, Lamborghini, and his brown girlfriends with a high chest that follow and look alike ("I get older and they rejuvenate," he notes in front of the latest).The Dom Pérignon bottles water this life of bombing.Philipp Plein embodies a lifestyle, that of the self-made-man who unhinders without hindrance of his money.

A Cinderella SM

Still between two planes, the German is hard to catch.We end up meeting him in Paris, in December 2017, where he celebrates the opening of his new avenue George-V boutique.At the press conference where he arrives with the 90 minutes behind which he seems customary, he explains that one of his cars was sprayed when leaving the Bourget airport, which does not prevent him from debitPlatitudes in Paris, "Magic city".In the middle of his marble store, Filipp full, in jeans and black t-shirt of his vintage, harangues journalists who had nothing more urgent to do than to wait for him.He makes himself sympathetic with his chat and his German accent to cut with a knife, boasts of the performances of his online sales site, foams his repertoire of punchlines: "You can be a brand or a trend", "A Company is notA Democracy ”… (You can be a brand or a fashion, a company is not a democracy).

Philipp Plein is a man so crowded that the head to head interviews with him are done at the same time as anything else.So he is asked while he lunch with his team.He commands us from authority a "champlein", that is to say a heretical mixture of champagne and Red Bull - moreover, he does not drink alcohol because his "father was an alcoholic who tapped a mother".Philipp Plein likes confidences, especially when they underline his strength of character and nourish his legend.For two hours, he tells in detail his irresistible ascent, his Cinderella tale of which he is the hero.(He also created a T-shirt bearing the image of the Disney heroine where she appears tied up, gagged, visible panties, in a position suggesting a SM game).

Philipp Plein has grown in Munich, in a wealthy family;Pragmatic, he first considered becoming a lawyer, because "our lives are based on contracts".But his legal studies are short -lived."I find it very depressing to be a daily lawyer, go to court and be dependent on a system that does not work well.There are laws that allow other laws, niches ... Anyway, I loved my studies, but I started drawing dog beds.The relentless Logic Philipp full.

The idea came to him from his mother.She had bought Burberry cushions for her puppies, discharged into two claws.PP tells that there is a market for the resistant luxury dog bed."So I went to my room, I made a drawing, Le Corbusier style.I recorded my brand in 1998, I was 20 years old.The canine business is not so lucrative, it then turns to furnishings."I made this desk in crocodile [he shows on his phone], it was a big success.It was before Fendi Casa, Armani Casa ... I was the first and people were crazy, I could make it in all colors.Brilliant, mat.I really made money with that.»»

With skins, he puts himself in the bags, and that is the click."I never wanted to do fashion.It's just that there was so much more money to win.Look at me, try to understand what I'm telling you.[PP likes to have all the attention of its listener.] At what rate do you buy a chair?At what rate do you buy a pair of shoes?And then there is the price.1,500 euros for a chair, it's expensive.When you see a bag at 2000 euros, you say, it's okay.The margin on the bag is 10 times higher than that of the chair.And you sell it 1,000 times more easily."Philipp Plein develops its brand today according to the same logic.In 2016, he launched full sport because he considered that there was no luxury sport brand;He focuses on man with Billionaire Couture because "man is a faithful customer" (as opposed to women, "the most difficult species in the world").

Lacrim is an official fan

Philipp Plein speaks profitability, growth, marketing, but never in style.The common point of his collections is the maximalist bling.Tidy torn quadded jeans, fur coats, ostensibly expensive exotic leathers, skulls (its trademark) in rhinestones, gules of roaring tiger, gold."There are so many nails and chains that it is no longer clothes, but sound design," quips a stylist.

"He created his brand in a short time, using folk codes on clothes that hang the eye and form very Vendable collections," says Gachuha Kretz, Marketing professor at HEC.He meets the need for those who have money and want to make it known: a Philipp purchase full the place at the top of the social pyramid.Few brands dare to position themselves in this flashy luxury segment, and those that have curled democratization or vulgarity generally come back to elegant chic.

Philipp Plein, who therefore does not have much competition, pleases young people, footballers, rappers.In France, Lacrim is an official fan." I play music.The struggy side, seeing, eccentric of his clothes, it sticks with my image, "explains the rapper who quotes white jeans with a big shark head behind and the inscription" bite me "(biting me) among his favorite pieces.

The PP style is not original, but the boss assumes."No one reinvents anything in mode and either," says Philipp Plein.The product is only secondary, it changes all the time.What remains is your name on your shops, your brand image.You only sell dreams.And we invented a new way of communicating the dreams of people.»Centered on his character and his life as a Nabab.“His brand is inseparable from him.It's like Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid, "observes Lacrim, who admires his" humility "and his" ambition "."Who is Hugo de Hugo Boss?"Philipp full, you can touch him, explains the interested party (who sometimes talks about him in the third person, Alain Delon way).It is a real person who did something that seemed impossible.»»

At the head of a tribe

"He is an excellent communicator who understood everything about social networks," said Gachucha Kretz.To make himself known, Philipp Plein has taken up the idea of building a tribe in the manner of a Riccardo Tisci or an olive tree Rousteing, and has chosen to surround themselves with people already extremely influential on the net:Singers (Madonna, Nicki Minaj or Fergie), rappers (Lacrim, Chris Brown, Snoop Dog ...), luggish it-girls (Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan), popular models, notably Jeremy Meeks, a former Taurlard who has become famousAfter the publication of his judicial identity photo.

In addition to these consumer stars, Philipp Plein paid the services of very famous professionals: stylist Carine Roitfeld, the producer of parades Etienne Russo, photographer Steven Klein, the press office Karla Otto ...Fashion has long looked at this outsider who proclaims his love for money and leaves good taste.Today, we continue to talk about him as a joke, but we come to his shows, his clothes appear in fashion magazines, where he is generally advertiser.

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The fact remains that its meteoric ascent intrigues.Philipp Plein says that he started in 1998 with 20,000 Deutschmarks of his late grandfather, that he has built his empire alone, that he has never had investors, has not contracted neither debts norfrom loan to the bank.Financial analysts interviewed find the scenario of a healthy fortune."It is possible," says Luca Solca, director at Exane BNP Paribas.There are examples of designers from nowhere who have become very rich, like Armani or Versace.»»

For Eric Briones, co -founder of Paris School of Luxury, he is rather like the Donald Trump of the 1980s and 1990s: a businessman who sells a lifestyle, for whom money is the only marker of success;A personal development guru faithful to his clan which he presents as a dynasty and follower of women trophies.For the moment, Philipp Plein has not broken Angela Merkel's post.

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