What is Renzo Rosso’s Net Worth?
Renzo Rosso is an Italian fashion entrepreneur and businessman who has a net worth of $3.5 billion. Renzo Rosso earned his fortune as the founder of the Italy-based retail brand Diesel and the president of its parent company, OTB Group, which also owns such luxury fashion houses as Maison Margiela and Viktor & Rolf. Previously, Rosso owned the football club Bassano Virtus from 1996 to 2018, overseeing the club’s Serie D championship win in 2005 and Supercoppa di Lega di Seconda Divisione win in 2014.
Early Life and Education
Renzo Rosso was born in 1955 in Brugine, Italy. When he was 15 years old, he began stitching jeans on his mother’s sewing machine, and he subsequently attended a high school in Padua focused on industrial textile manufacturing. For his higher education, Rosso enrolled at the University of Venice, but dropped out in 1975 to pursue his career in fashion.
Diesel and OTB
After dropping out of college, Rosso joined the clothing manufacturer Moltex as a production manager. The parent company of Moltex was run by Adriano Goldschmied, who became Rosso’s mentor and business partner. With a loan from his father, Rosso purchased a 40% stake in Moltex in 1978 and changed the company’s name to Diesel. The company originally specialized in an alternative kind of jeans using luxury denim. In 1985, Rosso gained complete control of the company by buying out Goldschmied’s remaining shares. Diesel grew substantially throughout the 1990s through ambitious international marketing campaigns. At the end of the decade, it opened flagship stores in San Francisco, New York City, Rome, and London. Many other stores followed over the ensuing decades. In 2002, Rosso founded the holding company Only the Brave (OTB Group) for Diesel as well as for future fashion brand acquisitions. Through OTB Group, he has acquired such luxury fashion houses as Maison Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Marni, AMIRI, and Jil Sander. OTB Group also manages the subsidiary Brave Kid, a producer and distributor of premium children’s fashion that was originally founded as Dieselito in 1984.
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Other Business Ventures
In 1996, Rosso purchased the Italian football club Bassano Virtus. During his ownership, he oversaw some of the club’s greatest successes, including its Serie D championship win in 2005, a Serie C Italian Cup victory in 2009, and a Supercoppa di Lega di Seconda Divisione win in 2014. Rosso left Bassano Virtus in mid-2018 when the club merged with Vicenza.
Among his other ventures, Rosso runs a farm in Veneto where he produces and sells wine and olive oil. He also owns the Pelican Hotel in Miami, Florida. Elsewhere, through his company Red Circle Investments, Rosso makes various minority investments. His first was in the online mail-order retailer Yoox, which merged with Net-a-Porter in 2015.
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Philanthropy
In 2008, Rosso created the not-for-profit OTB Foundation to make philanthropic contributions to disadvantaged communities around the world. That year, he donated to a UNICEF relief fund to help children impacted by the earthquake in Sichuan, China. In 2009, the organization partnered with Millennium Promise to help develop a village in Dioro, Mali. A few years after that, Rosso launched the Brave Circle Fund to aid people affected by the earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He has also donated to projects in his home region of Veneto, Italy.
Books
Rosso has written some books about his life and career. His first two books, “Forty” and “Fifty,” commemorated his birthdays and focused on key moments in the history of his Diesel brand. Rosso’s third book, “Be Stupid: For Successful Living” (2011), offers a guide for navigating business both practically and philosophically. For his 60th birthday, Rosso published “Radical Renaissance 55+5,” which covers his companies under OTB Group and features photographic accompaniment.
Personal Life
Rosso has been married multiple times and has seven children. He wed his third wife, Arianna Alessi, in secrecy in 2022. Rosso resides in Bassano del Grappa in Italy. A passionate art enthusiast and collector, he often travels to art exhibitions and art fairs around the world.
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