Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel and chairman of the OTB fashion group, and his wife Arianna Alessi have marked twenty years of OTB Foundation, the group’s non-profit arm. Speaking to Vanity Fair Italia, the couple, who work side by side in business and in charity, looked back on two decades of projects aimed above all at young people and women, and Rosso revealed that a biography of his life, written by journalist Simone Marchetti, is on its way.
A brave anniversary in Milan
The milestone was celebrated in Milan with an evening called The Brave Effect, a nod to the group’s name, which stands for Only The Brave. It was held in the Jil Sander showroom overlooking the Castello Sforzesco, hosted by Paralympic athlete Veronica Yoko Plebani, and closed with an acoustic set by the singer Emma. According to the foundation’s own figures, reported by ANSA and Corriere della Sera, it has run more than 380 social projects since Rosso set it up in 2006, reaching around 380,000 people around the world.
Its work falls into four areas: supporting women, protecting young people, social inclusion and emergency relief. Alessi, the foundation’s vice-president, sums up its values as concreteness, innovation and sustainability, and explains that the aim is to solve a real problem and then build something that lasts.
From Kabul to Italian classrooms
One of the projects the couple are proudest of is Brave Business in a Bus, a mobile incubator for women entrepreneurs in Kabul, created with the local organisation She Works For Peace. It teaches skills such as bookkeeping, marketing and sales, and has supported almost 5,000 women. Closer to home, the Bye Bully programme, run with Fare X Bene, has taken workshops on bullying, cyberbullying and gender-based violence to around 90,000 Italian students. The foundation has also rebuilt schools after earthquakes, helped families fleeing the war in Ukraine and funded inflatable field hospitals run by Médecins Sans Frontières.
Rosso told Vanity Fair Italia that his sense of sharing comes from his father, who ran the family farm and divided what he had with the people who worked there. Today, he says, an entrepreneur should build a business and then give part of its profits back to society.
Fashion with a conscience
It is a reminder that the most memorable style comes with substance. Whether you reach for a hard-wearing crossbody bag, a versatile shoulder bag or a bracelet you plan to keep for decades, choosing pieces made to last is a small act of courage of its own.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia, ANSA, Corriere della Sera.
