Renzo Rosso

Renzo Rosso (born September 15, 1955) is an Italian fashion entrepreneur and a businessman. He is the founder of Diesel and the president of OTB Group, the parent company of Maison Margiela, Marni, Viktor & Rolf, Jil Sander, and more. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth to be US$3.6 billion. Rosso was born in Brugine, a village in the North-Eastern Italian region of Veneto. His parents were farmers. In 1970, Rosso began studying textile manufacturing at Marconi Technical Institute in Padua, Veneto. At the age of 15, he produced his first self-designed garment: a pair of low-waist, bell-bottomed jeans, using his mother's Singer sewing machine. He would give each pair to friends or sell them at school for about 3,500 lire. In 1973, he began studying economics at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and, in addition to helping his father on the farm, financed his studies by working as a mechanic, carpenter, electrician, porter, and mason, amongst other jobs. Diesel (brand) Rosso dropped out of the University of Venice in 1975 and began to work as Production Manager at Moltex, a local clothing manufacturer that produced trousers for various Italian clothing labels. Moltex's parent company, the Genius Group, was run by Adriano Goldschmied who would eventually become Rosso's mentor and future business partner. In 1977, having increased the company's production, Rosso wanted to leave and start a new business on his own. However, Goldschmied convinced Rosso to stay by offering him a 40% stake in Moltex and by agreeing to form a new company together, thus forming Diesel. Following the new partnership, Rosso became a shareholder of the Genius Group, which gathered brands such as Replay, King Jeans, Viavai, and Goldie. The brand name Diesel was chosen because 'diesel' was considered to be the 'alternative fuel' in the oil crisis, and Rosso and Goldschmied liked the idea of their brand being perceived as an alternative jeans brand in contrast to the prevalent casual wear brands.