Behind DARE is Riccardo Aimerito, an Italian investor with over 20 years in the fashion industry. Today the chairman and co-founder of DARE CLAN – as well as its sister company ERA-KI – Aimerito begun his ventures in 1998 by the development of the fashion brand Frankie Morello. Always keen on organic growth, Aimerito helped grow Morello to global success, giving them a voice to play in the big league.
“In nine years – starting from scratch and with no investors – we grew Frankie Morello to a 30,000,000€ turnover; which is not, you know, exceptionally huge – but it was all organic growth, which is still important to us,” Aimerito says. “We are still interested in developing smaller brands that have a strong and dynamic identity; and in bringing this concept to different areas of the world.”
ERA-KI is the consolidation of 20+ years of experience in the Cultural and Creative Industries, gathering designers, art directors, and artists to work in a dynamic and entrepreneurial environment on a global network of cross-sectional projects.
As with ERA-KI, DARE – it’s sister project – is all about cross-sectionality; fostering a global conversation that draws wisdom from the past and excitement for the future. At the core of it all, it’s also about bringing global good to local communities – and of being proud of your origins.
“Both ERA-KI and DARE are about uplifting local communities. Even if we’re an international network operating on a global scale, we’re still very interested in local cultures,” Aimerito says. “For example, if we develop a brand from Belarus, we take pride in our Belarusian culture. We develop the brand to uplift the local community, and then take our cultural heritage with us in our internationalization process.”
In DARE’s most recently added project, the DARE E-Shop, the exchange between local and global culture is consistently seen. The E-Shop features a curated selection of intriguing products with an inspiring backstory; and a space for creatives to reach out to a bigger audience.
“We recently started working with an artist from the Faroe Islands, for example, which is pretty cool, you know? We explore their local culture, heritage, and unique experience and give them a global audience,” Aimerito says. “It’s cross-cultural exchange at its best.”
Aimerito’s cross-sectional approach truly permeates all his projects. DARE CLAN brings together creatives and individuals from different backgrounds and levels of experience from all across the world. These gather in the DARE Clan Magazine; a collection of stories aiming to inspire and empower creators across the world. In addition, it is not only important to provide space and global visibility to creators and creative projects, but also to facilitate and contribute to a cross-industrial and cross-cultural creative sector.
“At DARE, we love contamination; bringing together individuals with vastly different experiences and expertise. What is relevant to us is that different creators talk and interact. We’re fostering an environment in which all of us can come together, collaborate on concrete projects, and contribute to something bigger,” explains Aimerito. “At DARE, we have a vision and a mission, but local communities will always interpret that in different ways. That’s exactly what we want. We are doing projects to uplift local communities, right, and making them grow organically… so we give our community members free hands in interpreting what to do. It is this dialectic interaction that we seek. It is in this multidisciplinary headspace that we can really innovate and make something new and unique.”
DARE CLAN also features DARE CLAN FASHION, a fashion brand looking to merge streetwear and luxury fashion by disrupting the status quo and making way for a bolder and more daring generation. Based on the same principles of intersectionality as DARE, it is a gender neutral brand forging experiences of self-expression by leveraging the strong competencies in the DARE community. Similarly, DARE CLAN FASHION focuses on growth with communities.
“Our business model is quite simple, really. We share our experiences and expertise to grow together with the communities we work with. When we generate revenue, we share it. It’s all a collective experience: shared values, shared growth, and shared successes,” says Aimerito. “Bringing DARE CLAN FASHION to Scandinavia would entail a local manufacturing and an integration of local Scandinavian values into our work. In this way, we can truly empower our local communities.”
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