by Jasmin Conner

Coming soon to theatres near you is Joe Rivetto in The Best is Yet to Come. You have seen him before in JoeBusters, StarWars and Charlie’s Angels. Besides these stellar appearances, Joe can also be seen at the Joe Rivetto Museum and the Joe Rivetto Art Gallery, both located in Cagli, Italy. You can find Joe just about anywhere, most recently in his own Italian clothing line.

The Joe Rivetto clothing line is taking fashion to new heights in Le Marche and surrounding regions. Founded four years ago, this line has obtained a loyal consumer base and is moving towards international success. Since the company’s humble beginnings in a Cagli factory, the line has expanded to selling in Italy and across the world.

“We wanted to tell a story through T-shirts,” says co-owner and co-founder Luciano Bonini.
So who is Joe Rivetto? Who is this mysterious man sporting the Afro and sunglasses, appearing in closets all over Italy on T-shirts, sweaters, pants, jackets, hats and underwear? The secret is out. Joe is not a fictional character. Joe is a real man. T-shirt designs portray Joe as an actor, superhero, crime fighter, fashion consultant and philanthropist. He has had all of these titles and more.

Joe Rivetto was a close friend of co-owner Luciano Bonini.
“What inspired Luciano about Joe was his mysterious air. He was not a common person. He was funny and nice but a very versatile person,” says Laura Barbieri, a Joe Rivetto employee.

Before founding Joe Rivetto, Bonini worked in a café in Rome called Bar S. Pietro, which is now called Joe Rivetto’s. With an educational background that ended at secondary school, Bonini is also the graphic designer for all T-shirt prints and the company logo. He decided that T-shirts, and later a movie, would be the way to share Joe’s personality and character with others.

Joe didn’t have just one occupation; he was a man of many talents, a Renaissance man of sorts. “He was an actor, a painter, an artist,” Bonini describes. “He was everything.” His various occupations and talents from the past formed the basis of the clothing line today. The T-shirts display Joe, speculated to be in his 40’s, in a wide variety of situations through a wide variety of media as a reflection of his varied life.

All shirts are produced in the Cagli factory, which employs over 20 people living in the surrounding area. While the initial vision of the owners was to develop a T-shirt line and a movie, the story of Joe Rivetto is now spreading across Italy through more than T-shirts. In 2004, the owners expanded the line to include accessories, pants and jackets to create “the total look.” With clothes for both men and women, the line has introduced Joe Rivetto as a man everyone can relate to.

The owners strategically marketed Joe Rivetto not as a brand, but a lifestyle.

“A way of expressing,” Bonini comments. “It’s like a dream.”

The premise of the line is to establish Joe Rivetto as a person whom everyone aspires to be with a life that everyone aspires to have. Each design portrays Joe in a situation generally familiar to the company’s consumer base. Each is from some element or experience from the past, such as comic strips, movies or cartoons that the owners and customers have had, heard about or were a part of. The owners are within the age group of their target market, between 18 and 40, enabling them to express their own interests and appeal to their consumers at the same time.

“When we sit down to meet, we portray designs based on our interests,” Bonini says, “We ask ourselves, ‘Does this make me laugh?’”

Without allocating large funds for advertising campaigns or having celebrities endorse the product, Joe Rivetto was voluntarily worn by Italian racer Valentino Rossi and Italian singer/songwriter Samuele Bersani at the FestivalBall.

The line is sold across Italy and in Barcelona, Spain. The company has agents in Japan, Germany, Romania and Great Britain. Joe Rivetto clothing is also sold at Barney’s department store in New York. Despite its rapid expansion in the fashion world, the company keeps its headquarters in Cagli.

Bonini does not foresee relocating. Although not known as a fashion center like Florence or Milan, Cagli has been a source of inspiration for the Joe Rivetto owners.

“It’s a perfect place because your mind is free,” says Bonini, a native of Rome.

Bonini thinks Cagli is a beautiful place to work because the atmosphere is much more relaxed. The captivating views of Cagli’s mountainous landscape, coupled with the rich sense of community and stress-free living, has become essential for a productive work environment for the owners as well as their staff. He believes the factory has had a positive impact on fashion in the community and helps promote the town.

“Cagli is enthusiastic about Joe Rivetto,” says Bonini, “The more we sell, the more people want to know about Cagli.”

Joe Rivetto also donates a percentage of all sales towards organizations or causes, such as environmental preservation, positively affecting community economics and morale.

The owners foresee a prosperous future for the Joe Rivetto line. They hope to “change the mentality” of the brand and one day appeal to the older generation. Bonini attributes their accomplishments and anticipated longevity to their individual and collective love for what they do.

“We just want to sell clothes,” he says, “We don’t think we’re the best … just lucky guys who were able to get the job we wanted.”

Story by Jasmin Conner
Photos by Carrie Cross
Video by Caitlin Rohan
Web Design by Ashley French

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