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Vincenzo La Torre

Chief Editor, Style; Fashion Editor, Post Magazine


When Remo Ruffini acquired Moncler in 2003, down jackets were utilitarian basics relegated to the back of the closet. Ruffini – back then an under-the-radar entrepreneur from a family in Como’s textile and clothing trade – has been single-handedly responsible for transforming a functional wardrobe staple into a de facto status symbol that is the clothing equivalent of a high-end handbag.
The current chairman and outgoing CEO of Moncler, Ruffini didn’t set out to build an empire when he took over the company, but very early on he saw great potential in the then sleepy French brand.

Established in 1952 in a village near Grenoble, at the foot of the French Alps, Moncler began life as a maker of gear for mountaineers. Not long after, the company started producing down jackets, and in 1968 it became the official supplier of the French downhill ski team at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble.
“It was less a strategy and more instinct,” says Ruffini in an interview in Aspen, Colorado, the day before the fall/winter 2026 show for Moncler Grenoble, the brand’s skiwear label, in late January. “I felt I had to position [the label] in a different way. I knew the brand well because as a teenager I would go to school on my moped, and wore a down jacket to protect myself from the cold. But I felt I had to change the approach, the quality and the positioning. I felt that the brand deserved more, so I started focusing on product and quality because without a great product, you can’t get anywhere.”

Ruffini delved deep into the maison’s archives and was fascinated by what he saw, especially the garments Moncler made in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A true visionary, Ruffini is a product guy. He’s in his element when developing new fabrications and innovative techniques for Moncler outerwear pieces, from the chic coats for city dwellers from Moncler Collection, to the performance-driven kit of Moncler Grenoble and fashion-forward creations of Moncler Genius.
A serial collaborator, Ruffini began working with different creatives as soon as he took the reins. He estimates that he must have been involved in at least 100 such partnerships to date. Among his first collaborators were Japanese designer Junya Watanabe and French designer Nicolas Ghesquière, then of Balenciaga. It’s a unique strategy in an industry where pretty much every brand relies on a “creative director” to drive the entire vision.

“I’ve always tried not to have one creative director, and I’ve always worked with different creatives to trigger new emotions, and that was from day one,” Ruffini says. “That was the uniqueness of the brand – not to have a single creative director but many creatives within and outside the company to try to inject this energy that can be perceived as soon as you enter our stores.”
Unlike most luxury houses, which tend to target a specific demographic, Moncler caters to consumers of different ages and lifestyles. Walk around any major city on any given day, and as soon as the temperature drops, you’re likely to see everyone from five-year-olds to their grandmothers clad in Moncler coats, scarves and beanies in an effort to stay both warm and fashionable.

“It’s not about a single collection but an energy that can be embraced by all the generations, which I think is the key to our brand because we dress [both] teenagers and older clients,” says Ruffini. “It’s our strategy. When someone enters one of our stores, I always think of how a 15-year-old boy is going to be excited, or how a 60-year-old lady looking for a shearling coat is going to react.”
In 2018, Moncler started the Genius project. A series of collaborations with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Rick Owens, Jonathan Anderson and A$AP Rocky, the collections always generate an incredible amount of buzz, and have positioned Moncler as a key player in the world of high fashion. Think of Genius as a way for Ruffini and his creative partners to indulge in their flights of fancy and come up with garments where creative expression reigns supreme.

Moncler Grenoble, the brand’s performance line, has long flown under the radar. Recently, though, Ruffini has shone a spotlight on this technical skiwear range with cinematic destination shows that have set a high bar in an industry where creating a viral moment is practically de rigueur.
In 2024, the brand unveiled the range in St Moritz, Switzerland, while last year it travelled to another glamorous alpine location: Courchevel, France, before heading to Aspen this year. “Grenoble is the root of the brand and a key pillar,” Ruffini says. “Performance is our DNA. Three, four years ago I said to myself that Grenoble had to become an integral part of our strategy, and so we started focusing on this high-performance collection, which is the one that is closest to my heart, because it’s for real skiers and about high quality. We built a special factory to achieve that. We make everything in Europe even though a lot of these technologies have moved to China or Vietnam because we believe that the industrial element of our company is at the heart of our work.”

This focus on performance wear reflects a shift in the way consumers live, which Ruffini believes has become even more pronounced after Covid. As a luxury sportswear brand, Moncler has benefited from a post‑pandemic boom in outdoor pursuits, from skiing to hiking. He points out the success of Moncler Grenoble’s summer line, aimed at fans of the great outdoors like hikers and cyclists.
“Skiing has always been popular in Asia, and you have exceptional resorts in Japan and even in China now. With Grenoble we want to tap into this passion for life in the great outdoors and in the mountains, both in the winter and summer,” he says. “Now, more and more people are travelling to the mountains in the summer, and we’re trying to get closer to this world. Grenoble used to be just a winter collection, but after Covid we started developing summer ranges because we saw the need. It’s a new lifestyle, and this has become a very important part of the company.”

Ruffini’s strategy is clearly working. Amid declining sales for many Western brands in key markets such as China – where luxury fatigue has become an issue in an increasingly competitive environment – Moncler has been one of the few bright spots.
“I’m very close to China, and it was challenging at first because understanding consumers in Europe or the US for someone like me was much easier, and 20 years ago China was very different,” Ruffini says. “We try to be innovators and are very unique compared to our competitors, and we try to acquire new customers not just to sell more but to create a certain perception of the label, and we do that slowly,” he continues. “We don’t have too many stores in the region, but we want to curate an experience for our customers. I’ve always been curious about learning about new cultures, and this has given me a great deal of satisfaction, and our results and business in China are the evidence of that.”

As one of the luxury sector’s few independent brands, Moncler is an outlier in an industry dominated by conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering. “I always say, we’re the biggest one among the small ones, but the smallest one among the big ones,” says Ruffini, who in 2020 acquired Stone Island, a fellow Italian label. Its technically innovative garments embellished with the brand’s instantly recognisable logo patch have gained a cult following among streetwear aficionados and in-the-know types.
“The acquisition wasn’t planned. I’ve always wanted to have organic growth at Moncler,” he says. “Stone Island is a brand I’ve admired since I was very young. I started my career with this idea of sportswear and [founder] Massimo Osti was one of the great pioneers. Our strategy was never to acquire another brand but to grow Moncler, but this opportunity came and Stone Island is a brand I’ve always respected and now we’re trying to build a solid brand like we did for Moncler. We keep the two very separate because the brands are very different and so are the clients. We’re in no rush and I want to create a brand with strong roots and a solid base like I did with Moncler.”

Last month, Ruffini selected Bartolomeo Rongone – currently at the helm of Kering-owned Bottega Veneta – to take over as CEO from April 1. Ruffini will remain in the role of chairman. “The new CEO will allow me to focus more on customers and the creative part, and something I love very much: the industrial part and product development,” he explains. “We’re getting bigger, so I felt I needed a new person to join the team. It was a natural evolution.”
It’s been an exciting few months for the company. Late last year it moved to a new campus in Milan to bring everyone under one roof. The brand kicked off 2026 with the blockbuster Moncler Grenoble show in Aspen, held just a few days before the beginning of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, where Moncler will also play a pivotal role.

While Ruffini is not one to brag about his success, it’s clear that his laserlike focus has paid off. Who needs four or six fashion shows every other month when you can wow demanding customers and jaded media with a truly impactful event once a year? And why try to be all things to all people when you can hone in on what you do best and keep perfecting it?
This disciplined approach has made Moncler a success story that defies tried-and-tested formulas. Moncler may be the smallest among the biggest, as Ruffini puts it, but the biggest clearly have something to learn from his slow and steady approach to building a modern-day luxury brand that resonates the world over.


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Remo Ruffini, the chairman of Moncler. Photo: Handout

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Moncler Grenoble recently presented its fall/winter 2026 collection in Aspen, Colorado. Photo: Handout

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Moncler Grenoble’s fall/winter 2025 show in Courchevel, in the French Alps. Photo: Handout

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Moncler Grenoble unveiled its fall/winter 2026 collection in Aspen, Colorado, in late January. Photo: Handout

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Shaun White in a campaign for Moncler Grenoble and Whitespace. Photo: Handout

Shaun White at the Moncler Grenoble fall/winter 2024 show in St Moritz, Switzerland. Photo: Getty Images for Moncler

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Known for its A-list collaborations, the brand has worked with everyone from A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams, to Jonathan Anderson and Rick Owens


Known for its A-list collaborations, the brand has worked with everyone from A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams, to Jonathan Anderson and Rick Owens.


How Remo Ruffini made Moncler a luxury powerhouse, from Grenoble to the Winter Olympics

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Known for its A-list collaborations, the brand has worked with everyone from A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams, to Jonathan Anderson and Rick Owens

Known for its A-list collaborations, the brand has worked with everyone from A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams, to Jonathan Anderson and Rick Owens