Today we’d like to introduce you to Valeria and Ugo Campello.
Valeria and Ugo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Some time ago I was asked to write a little story about how we started Cosabella. I think the best way to answer this question is to send you the piece. It is not too long anyway. Here it is:
THE TIE OF THE BOW “To everyone it was like the unraveling of a bow. They said we were crazy. With a three year old daughter and seven months pregnant with my second child, I decided to leave Italy with my husband Ugo who had been sent to the United States for a six month work project. When we arrived in Miami in 1980, we were only supposed to stay for a few months. We never anticipated that the decision to temporarily relocate to Miami would be the decision of a lifetime, a decision that has put us in Miami for 40 years now. At that time, my life in Italy was calm and quiet. I lived happily among my work as a teacher, my role as a housewife and time spent with friends. All this while following the growth of my children and hoping in the future to pursue a career in law for which I had a degree.
As I was very happy and content at the time, I did not leave Italy with particular excitement. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity to learn about another way of life, another culture and another language…or two…since it’s also important to speak Spanish in Miami. We fell in love with Miami immediately. Its tropical climate and Latin atmosphere made me quickly forget the cold and fog of Italian winters. However, I was always at home with the children while my husband traveled for work and I began to grow anxious and weary because I’m not one to sit still for long. One of my husband’s colleagues suggested that I import clothing and accessories from my hometown of Carpi, a famous center of fashion production in Italy. I quickly followed his suggestion. My first stock of “Made in Italy” products included embroidered tops, linen sets and Egyptian cotton t-shirts. The small success of this Italian product showed me that American women take “Made in Italy” quality seriously.
To this day, nothing makes me more proud than the “Made in Italy” label on our product. And it was at the time that I first recognized how much the quality and workmanship of Italian products was appreciated by my new American friends. I realized I was able to sell more than just to friends but also to boutiques. The thought of heading my own company was far from my mind, but business grew so rapidly that I had the need to hire someone to manage sales. This was also needed as I could not yet fully communicate in English. So, I began to ask around for a good sales representative. One of the greatest fortunes I came upon was from a local store clerk named Fortune. She knew a man, Sergio Oxman, who had just arrived from Argentina and was looking for a job opportunity. She put us in contact and immediately the great adventure of ups and downs, successes and disillusionments and the birth of a “beautiful thing” began. The first loop of the bow was held in place the cotton t-shirt reorders continued to increase, while Sergio, a born salesman, began to create more and more interesting contacts. We met an Italian who, representing a large financial institution, had a project to open a large clothing department store of mostly Italian products on the border between Mexico and the United States. Our pursuit of expanding the “Made in Italy” campaign was close to seeing its first large step.
Unfortunately, right at the conclusion of our negotiations the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso derailed the project. This caused what was supposed to be our first great success to become our first obstacle. We were left with bounced checks and product sample losses, but not all was lost. This event turned into fundamental step for our future. During those negotiations we realized that lingerie made with Italian cotton was particularly elegant and refined, but could not be found in the American market. As a result, we asked for samples and these were quickly provided by a dear friend who was the owner of a large Italian lingerie company. Even if the original project did not succeed as planned, it was necessary for us to take the next step. We knew that a modest investment in bottoms could ensure us enough stock variety of styles and colors to offer “Made in Italy” quality product on immediate delivery even to the largest department store chains. For us, this idea was revolutionary. In those days, “Made in Italy” apparel available on immediate delivery was unthinkable. Yet, still to this day, it is something that only we can offer 100 percent. The bow’s second loop was tied into place. Armed with limited money in his pocket, but with his ever strong desire to offer our unique product, Sergio took our idea straight to the Big Apple (New York) for the first time. The first stock template began with only six styles in basic colors and cotton. The excitement grew as the buyers began to understand our straightforward philosophy of quality with style and color variety. Yet, very quickly we realized that working with big department store was not as easy as we thought and required following very strict guidelines.
Our first lesson came when one of our first orders was completely returned due to the lack of washing instructions on the label. Tears! Another order was completely returned because the Italian sizes of our bottoms were too small for the American market. More tears! Fortunately, we have always been flexible and sensitive to requests, making adjustments as needed. In result, more and more orders were having good reactions in stores and generating new re-orders and requests for greater variety in styles and colors. Continuously growing from our tears and successes, we officially arrived to 1983 when Ugo and I decided to formally create our own company making of an initial hobby an official profession. On the first of June Cosabella company was incorporated and I was officially a business owner. Still being one of our principal philosophies today, we set out immediately to bring our “Made in Italy” quality and refinement to American women. In the following two years we began gaining a better understanding of customers’ needs and desires, and we continued to grow exponentially, moving from our home garage to our first office and warehouse. In the meantime, thanks to the help of several new sales representatives, the activity spread out across the US and grew more intensive and always more interesting. Only one more step was needed. Ugo, who had already been helping each night with the accounting of our company, decided to make the jump, leaving his employer to follow the adventure full-time with Sergio and me. As it turned out, my decision to support his growth had allowed us to come to America. And his decision to support my growth kept us here. For our family and for Cosabella this was the tying of the bow.” ****** A bow is the Cosabella symbol always present in our logo
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think I should mention Hurricane Andrew that on 1992 present a struggle for so many Miamians. Our warehouse got completely wipe out with several loss in merchandise and furniture but luckily our house was intact. We moved the business to the house and between living room, bedrooms and garage we created offices and warehouse for us and the 6 employees working at the time. We only kept the children bedroom free from boxes and paper to get them into normality as soon as possible It took one year before we could feel living normally again and not camping. We moved to a new and bigger warehouse than before. The business couldn’t grow too much in that year, but we could keep a steady activity with existing customers until the day we moved to the bigger space. To finally get out of confinement felt like being finally released from a cage where we were keep in captivity. What a fantastic feeling and believe it or not I remember that time as the most exciting of my entire career and sometime I miss that sense of unity and familiarity that was built in that condition
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Cosabella story. Tell us more about the business.
Cosabella is still now a family owned company. Known for innovative fabric and the innovative way we use them Cosabella got special recognition for the use in lingerie and bodysuit, for the first time ever of the sheer material, known as mesh, used until that time only for hosiery. The success of our Soire meshThong which entire collection still comes in more than 30 coordinated colors created a loyal fan base as women clamored for the sheer mesh thongs with bright colors and showed no panty lines. No VPL Always on the forefront of new trends, Cosabella continuously creates innovative pieces like the supple and cozy cashmere blend “Tube” with over 14 different styling options, the “Betsy Bra” a unique cropped bustier with three quarter sleeves, Trenta Ombre in which the lace is sprayed with pigment to create a unique ombre effect, the bralette inserts in the camisoles, and the GLOW collection with photo luminescent pigments enriched into the lace to make glow in the dark underwear. Fast-forward 35 years Cosabella include now a diverse product mix of intimates, shape and loungewear. Blending American innovation and Italian artisanship, Cosabella is a global company with design headquarters in Miami, production headquarters in Italy, and a cult like following of women around the world.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Very lucky indeed! We have been very lucky to be presented with the opportunity to come to America and take this opportunity with no second thought. Lucky that our “temporary” move was in Miami which we loved at first sight, lucky we were gifted with 3 healthy and passionate kids now running the company with same drive we had and a family in Italy that accepted and supported our decision to permanently stay in Miami and taking the risk of not succeeding in this crazy adventure. Luck has been definitely an important factor but as I always tried to install in my kids, luck and opportunities comes and goes, you need to keep your eyes open and jump on it and jump on it when it come. Bad luck, obstacles can always happen and you have no control over it. I have been lucky I didn’t encounter too much of bad luck or insurmountable obstacles along the way or maybe I didn’t pay too much attention to it.
Contact Info:
- Address: COSABELLA HEADQUARTERS 12186 SW 128 Street Miami, FL 33186
- Website: cosabella.com
- Phone: 305-253-9904
- Email: csusa@cosabella.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopcosabella
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosabella.madeinitaly
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopcosabella
- Yelp: https://www.pinterest.com/cosabella
Image Credit:
Photographer: Kimberley Gordon Flowers: Kelsey Harper Makeup: Holly Silius Model: Sofia Jamilo Styling: Cat Tapper
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