All in the Family with Paolo & Barbara Gnutti
Aside from sharing genes, some siblings have a common passion for jeans.
Paolo and Barbara Gnutti’s father founded Italian manufacturer ITV Denim in 1972, and both siblings grew up surrounded by denim. But while their denim roots began in childhood, the siblings branched out into different career paths.
Following college, Paolo joined the family business. After overseeing research and development at ITV Denim for almost 30 years, he founded his own weaving firm PG Denim in 2017.
Barbara also spent time at ITV in export management. Currently, she is using her background as the founder and CEO of PR and marketing communication firm EFFE-BI SRL, which works with denim industry clients who have sustainability stories.
Carved in Blue caught up with the siblings to hear about their denim DNA, how they got into the business and what they’ve learned from each other.
Carved in Blue: Tell us briefly about your business?
Paolo: I founded PG Denim in 2017. PG Denim is aimed at a very specific market segment: a client who needs a product that after being worked becomes unique. This is the work that we at PG denim do every day—to create fashion and unique products, try to cross denim with other worlds that have nothing to do with blue world.
We are a team specialized in applications on fabrics, product development, packaging, laundry, research and development of raw materials and chemical products as well as developers of new technologies for mechanical textile systems.
We sell our fabrics all over the world, and more and more frequently, we collaborate in the creation of collections with the style offices of the most important international brands.
Barbara: I founded my own PR Agency EFFE-BI SRL in 2018 and I started to collaborate with leading companies in the denim world, all focused on ethical and sustainable projects. I exclusively collaborate with companies and brands that consider as primary importance sustainability and respect of the environment and ethics because this is, thanks to my background and my family’s trust, part of my DNA. My clients are: Rudolf Group and Rudolf Hub 1922, chemical company offering better chemistry; Tonello, company specialized in producing machines for garment finishing and wash; Cadica Group, manufacturer of fashion accessories; PG Denim, an Italian premium denim producer; Berto EG Industria Tessile, an Italian sustainable denim artisan producer; and Blue of a Kind, a jeans brand specialized in upcycling.
Carved in Blue: What was your first impression of the denim business when you were younger?
Paolo: I have always seen, from an early age going around my house, fabrics, blue trousers, hearing talks about travel, customers, fairs—a world that fascinated me immediately very much, also because I heard these talks made by my father. The spark was born when at the age of 10 or 12 they took me to a clothing fair, a unique emotion.
Barbara: My very first experience in the denim world was an internship at Diesel USA in NY in the early ‘90s—an amazing opportunity for my professional growth.
Carved in Blue: How did you start working in denim?
Paolo: The step was quite natural—family business, different roles of competence. We have been working together for more than 30 years, first in ITV and today in PG Denim.
Barbara: Exactly as Paolo mentioned. I started working in the family business about four years after Paolo, and therefore he helped me at the beginning to find my roles by introducing me to the various company departments.
Carved in Blue: Did you always want to go into the denim business?
Paolo: I immediately started my path in the world of denim, but then I had experiences in different sectors, specifically in the world of jewelry, a fairly short three-year journey, which however made me grow a lot from the side of aesthetic taste and product. Creating jewels is not like creating fabrics, but if you find the right connection between the two worlds, very interesting capsules can be born, which is what we do in PG.
Barbara: Not in my younger ages. I studied to become a kindergarten teacher and taught for three years. Then, after a car accident in which I lost some very important friends of mine, I needed a break and a change in my life.
I had the incredible opportunity to spend a year internship at Diesel USA in NY and I fell in love with this business. On my return, I left teaching and joined the family business created by my father in 1972.
Carved in Blue: Do you want your children to follow in your footsteps?
Paolo: No one forced or pushed me to choose my career path. As I always say, it was love at first sight. If my children want to take this path, it will be a pleasure to transfer all the know-how in my possession to them. I just hope that their career choice will lead them one day to turn around and review their path with joy and satisfaction.
Barbara: I will love for my children to follow their dream, no matter where this will bring them. As Paolo said, I just hope that their career choice will lead them one day to turn around and review their path with joy and satisfaction.
Carved in Blue: When did you realize you were a blueblood?
Paolo: I don’t think anyone becomes a blueblood. Without knowing it, you are already born as such, you don’t become one.
Barbara: In hindsight, I realized I was always destined for it. If I look at my veins, I see only indigo.
Carved in Blue: What is the best advice you’ve gotten from your sibling?
Paolo: The biggest tip is having supported and endured me for all these years. She always made me see things from different perspectives with different eyes. Without giving me direct advice, she made me understand—much more important than an advice.
Barbara: Paolo has always been a source of inspiration for me. (He is my big brother.) Being able to work with him and absorb his know-how has always been amazing for me. He also always taught me to work hard and never take anything for granted.
Carved in Blue: What do you think lies ahead for the denim industry in the future?
Paolo: I firmly believe that the denim industry has gone further, in the sense that everything has been standardized, the price has taken the place of the product, the quantities have far exceeded the real market needs.
We got to the point of talking about recycling denim, not only because recycling is right, but because today it is a necessity. Too many unsold garments and meters every year, and of these garments, how many should be burned and buried? No comment!
Barbara: I hope today’s situation has taught the people of our industry a lot. We need to work better, more conscientiously and respectfully both for the environment and for people. We need to produce better and have more control over the supply chain. If we all follow this fundamental working logic, we will not only be able to live better, but to effectively guarantee a future for our industry.
Carved in Blue: What does Carved in Blue mean to you?
Paolo: Carved in Blue—surely it is a summary of what I said above.
Barbara: It is a big opportunity to be connected with our community, to share ideas, to develop new strategies. Only through confrontation can we grow.