Celebrities drive demand for luxury-bag brand

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Separately, in Beijing, Valextra showcased its 2017 autumn/winter collections, featuring 80 classic Iside bags and 80 Passepartout bags in different colors and adorned with fur.

Ferrero says that it is meant to create a connection between people and objects.

"We want to explain who we are. We are less about glossy magazines and more about real people－makers and shapers of the world. It is important that the personality remains the center, not the product," she says.

Valextra now has 40 stores around the world. Italy and Japan are its biggest markets.

Its customers in Asia are considerably younger than those in Europe or the United States. And people in Asia love to give the bags as presents to family members and close friends, says Ferrero.

Ferrero previously worked with brands like Joseph and Furla. But in 2015 she decided to dedicate herself to Valextra as she saw great potential in the brand.

"For 80 years, it has been a symbol of good taste and superior quality. There's this combination of details－from the leather and the stitching to the color and the style."

Ferrero's job is to make 80 years of history relevant to modern customers.

"When I joined, I found a fantastic brand. But there was a story waiting to be told.

"It (buying Valextra) is not about just going to a shop. For a lot of people, it is about Italy."

But Italy is very different if one is in Milan, Rome or Sicily.

"We have different ways of interpreting fashion. For us, Milan is a big anchor, along with design and architecture."