Breakfast with Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo

Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo are the creators behind Italian menswear brand SUNNEI. But that’s not all, they are also friends of Alla Carta, two huge fans of printed media and wonderful people. And that is how I find myself a guest in their space in the Piola area of Milan, here to have breakfast and get to know them a little better. Loris and Simone are both very young, under thirty, but they are both very sure of what they want and how they are going to get it. SUNNEI immediately carved out its own target and its own space in the market, without any gimmicks. And even the collection embodies a certain pragmatism, with clothes that really seem designed to be worn. While I’m with them I also meet a bunch of friends who popped in for a group photo, just to further highlight the values of this rather unconventional brand. Ingrid Meloni has been manager of The Art Markets (TAM) since 2009; Paolo Tocci is a DJ and producer who constantly explores new sounds and languages; Domenico Romeo, art director and visual artist, concentrates on the development and representation of signs; Shinich Morita, born in Japan and adopted by Milan, is a stylist at one of Milan’s coolest hairdressers – 8; Roberto Ortu is the creative director of online magazine Punkt; Rosita Giammarino is a photographer who only wears clothes she has designed herself. And then there’s Nino, everybody’s best friend, the perfect model and even salesman sometimes, one of the friendliest faces to be found in Milan.

FF

Let’s talk about how Sunnei started. How did you meet? How did you even cross paths seeing as Loris is French and Simone Italian?
SR

We met in Milan over five years ago, because I had seen some of Loris’s photos.
LM

Yes, I had a website with photos back then.
SR

That’s what I did too, news and photos ranging from street style to the catwalk; I basically built an everyday story for people from the Chamber of Fashion.
FF

Were you in Milan too Loris?
LM

I was already in Milan in 2011; I was studying here and taking photos of my friends. My photography as very connected to my personal work which is what I liked to do and that’s how it all started. I only applied it to fashion later.
FF

So it was this shared passion that brought you together.
SR

Yes, it is the motor behind almost everything in the world.
LM

The brand wasn’t really something we were thinking about, it came much later.
FF

What was it that led you to launch a brand in Italy?
SR

I have adored buying things ever since I was little: clothes and shoes especially. Even as a child, my mum tells me that I would wear shoes to go to sleep, I was obsessed. Having spent a month in New York, where Loris actually lived for a while, perhaps it was me who pushed in this direction. After two years as a buyer, I said “Loris, I think we should make our own brand”.
FF

And why SUNNEI? How is it pronounced and tell me more.
SR

Sunnei is pronounced as it is written; it’s a play on the English word sunny.
FF

When did you start on the project?
SR

It was between September and December 2013. We mainly just talked about it, we were still working. Then, when we were on a train for Berlin, Loris said he was quitting his job and we were going to do it. I had already quit mine. And that’s how it went, we went over the ideas we had… we wanted everything to be perfect.
LM

We really wanted to hit the market in the right way, whether it was the collection or the photos for the lookbook.
SR

We did it because we really wanted it. It was lucky for us that we didn’t go to fashion school, we aren’t influenced at all by that way of thinking. It wasn’t like we were thinking “OK, let’s make a brand and put it on Tumblr”. We made a brand because we wanted people to choose it.

FF

Was it much better having two of you?
LM

It was fundamental; the project would never have come about otherwise.
FF

Tell me a bit about it.
SR

Well, basically we had a certain budget and I suggested to Loris that we should spend it all. That’s how we made the first collection. We sold it to 10 shops in Italy and we are slowly recovering the initial investment. That left us with a tiny budget that we used for the second collection.
LM

We were a bit disappointed on the commercial side of things. We took the collection to Florence, Milan and Paris and nothing happened. People seemed to be interested, they liked the project but that was it and we were getting desperate. We closed our sales campaign with absolutely nothing and then Opening Ceremony called us to put SUNNEI in their shop.
SR

From then on it was a series of fortunate events that led us to our investors, which now means we can work more calmly and set new goals.
LM

We knew the market, we knew how to communicate, we were focused on the product but we didn’t really know how to make it. So we went to every single manufacturer and told them what we wanted, even in terms of price.
FF

Your stylistic form starts with shape, it even seems that the fabric leads on from this. Is this something that will shine through in the 2016 collection?
SR

We researched uniform, the concept of repetition and equality, because we had worked with Maiocchi, a manufacturer from Como who makes fabrics for the Chinese army and technical fabrics for Prada, Jil Sander etc. in the fashion world. So we made SUNNEI Military with camouflage embroidery as a tribute to the company. We were imagining an army, with continuous repetition, very linear. And then a blue palette…
FF

Well, you are blue.
SR

Yes, we really are blue (laughs). We don’t usually like to repeat, we want every collection to be a step ahead, a journey, in photographic terms as well. Last season was somebody young on holiday in Calabria, this time round it was a journey with Bruna Kazinoti which was much colder. We’ve mixed it up for FW16/17, it’s a way of making fun of the fashion world. We called Alessandro Furchino to shoot for us, he’s very romantic and uses natural lights. Next time will be another journey. After all, we met travelling.
LM

We really want to send a different message. Just imagine everybody who goes to all the shows every day, for a month. The system is alienating. We are still small and this allows us to do something different.
FF

Presentations are always better than shows because everything gets swallowed up by the system. You can really interact during a presentation, really feel the clothes.
SR

That’s exactly what we want, to reach people. We got everyone involved; it was a bit like being at the stadium.
Laughter

Often happens we don’t even say things to each other, it’s just not necessary. As if we see and think the same things.

FF

What was the first mainstream media to notice you?
SR

We were immediately on the radar of the American streetwear scene, so Hypebeast, Complex, Selectism etc. Then the New York Times. After some time we began to get noticed in Italy too. The first people were Sara Maino and Angelo Flaccavento.
LM

The real problem is that in Italy they instantly label you as an ‘emerging designer, which means nothing…
FF

Returning to the brand again, as SUNNEI is an expression of your personal inclinations, what are your sources of inspiration?
SR

Music, travel, the energy of the people around us…
LM

I’m more connected to the imaginary and Simone to reality.
SR

Exactly, I stop people on the street to take their photo.
LM

I’m less direct, I collect photos that are less defined and more inspirational, and prints…
FF

What do you start from when you make a new collection?
SR

You know that often we don’t even say things to each other, because we already know. It’s difficult to explain but we see the same things.
FF

So you don’t ever disagree?
Laughter
SR

All the time, but because I get carried away…
LM

We both say no to each other.
SR

Loris always says no.
Laughter
FF

Today we photographed your friends, a group of people who are all connected by the energy that surrounds your brand. This edition of Alla Carta is based around the concept of the team so we want to know what you think about it.
SR

The group dynamic is fundamental for me, but I accept advice too easily.
LM

Let’s just say that he loses it a bit!
FF

Well, your Mediterranean origins certainly don’t help. Everybody knows that you’re a bit touchy and a bit proud down south.
SR

That’s the way it is. If I’m not asking for advice then I don’t want it. A group works if everybody has a clear role and performs a precise function.

FF

What would you choose as the caption for the SUNNEI group photo?
SR

“Everyday wear SUNNEI” (laughs). I’m joking. It’s not the concept of family for us, it’s what we find subjectively beautiful.
FF

So perhaps “Beauty according to SUNNEI”
SR

Exactly! They are all incredible people in terms of what they do: Ingrid with her bookshop, Paolino who encrypts and makes music, Rosita who is the definition of sensuality and only wears her own creations. They are all nerds at the end of the day, in the positive sense of the word, like us.
FF

Last time we met before this breakfast, you said that nobody really knows SUNNEI. Now you’ve told me your story, is there anything you want to underline?
SR

Come on Loris, you answer this.
LM

Yeah but you’re the 80% in these situations and I’m 20%.
Laughter
FF

We actually mentioned it earlier, Loris is the imaginary.
SR

And that’s right but I want to avoid these constructed phases. I want to say that we aren’t rich (laughs) because it might look that way from the outside. But actually we’ve also taken our van round from shop to shop, we do everything ourselves, it didn’t just fall into our laps and we work really hard every day for our brand.
LM

We just pretend to have a bella vita.
Laughter