Lorenzo Boglione, vice-president of Italian fashion group BasicNet, which sold a 40% stake in its sportswear brand K-Way to Permira last October, has commented on how the brand has become synonymous in Italy with a specific product, a wind-breaker (much like ‘hoover’ now stands for ‘vacuum cleaner’ in the UK), by saying that “nowadays, on the list of things each kid would take for an outdoor trip there’s a K-Way, but if [the latter] became a luxury brand, this would no longer apply.”

Boglione was in Milan for the reopening of the local K-Way flagship store, completely transformed after a renovation. He spoke about the brand’s upcoming initiatives, designed to underline the iconic character of K-Way, and to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The next K-Way showcase will take place in February in Milan during the womenswear fashion week. As well as staging a runway show, K-Way will feature in an exhibition at the Permanente Museum, open to the public. The sportswear brand will be joined there by other brands whose names have become synonymous with a product, in Italy and elsewhere, like Bic for pens, Chupa Chups for lollipops, Moon Boots for après-ski shoes, Pongo for plasticine, and historic hat-maker Borsalino with its signature hat.

“We invited some 15 brands whose names, like K-Way’s, have become synonymous with products, and we worked with a separate artist on each brand, producing a cultural study that after Milan will tour the world, stopping over in Paris, Seoul and London,” said Boglione. In London, K-Way is about to open a store on the King’s Road, the first step of an international expansion plan focusing primarily on Europe. Currently, the main markets for the Paris-born brand are Italy, France and Belgium.

In future, BasicNet intends to add to its portfolio, which includes Superga and Sebago, by acquiring other brands with “an iconic product and history, as strong and recognisable as ours.” Boglione underlined that “we like the idea of not being simply a fashion product, our challenge is to always be ourselves, to have our own style. A style that must remain democratic. Although an investment fund specialised in luxury has bought a stake [in K-Way], nothing has changed: Our core product is a €140 jacket, because K-Way is and will always want to be an affordable brand.”