A few years back, an experienced Italian dealmaker with a string of successes under his belt tried to get Giorgio Armani and Prada’s chief executive Patrizio Bertelli to talk to each other. 几年前，一名成功撮合过多桩交易的资深意大利交易撮合者曾试图让乔治•阿玛尼(Giorgio Armani)与普拉达(Prada)首席执行官帕特里齐奥•贝尔泰利(Patrizio Bertelli)互相谈谈。

The idea was for the two big players in Italian luxury goods to merge, creating a luxury powerhouse able to take on the sector’s global leaders LVMH, PPR and Richemont. 他的意图是推动这两家意大利奢侈品行业巨头合并，创造出一个能与全球范围内的行业领导者路威酩轩(LVMH)、开云集团（Kering，原名为PPR）和历峰集团(Richemont)分庭抗礼的强势集团。

“We couldn’t even get them in the same room,” the dealmaker says. “They were so competitive they wouldn’t tolerate the idea that the other brand might think they had the upper hand.” 但这名交易撮合者表示：“我们甚至无法让他们走进同一个房间，阿玛尼和普拉达之间的竞争是如此激烈，以至于他们谁都不愿让对方认为，自己（同意商谈）是因为甘拜下风。”

This week the acquisition of Milanese jewellery brand Pomellato by France’s PPR, already the owner of Italy’s Gucci and Bottega Veneta, again raised the question of why Italy has failed to create its own luxury goods giants. 法国开云集团现已拥有意大利品牌古驰(Gucci)和宝缇嘉(Bottega Veneta)，上周又收购了米兰珠宝品牌宝曼兰朵(Pomellato)。由此再次引出了那个问题：为什么意大利没能打造出自己的奢侈品巨头？

Italy’s entrepreneurs have unrivalled success in the creation of luxury brands across generations. From Salvatore Ferragamo in the 1920s, through Giorgio Armani in the 1980s and Prada in the 1990s, to Diego Della Valle, owner of Tod’s, and cashmere king Brunello Cucinelli today. 意大利企业家在创立延续好几代人的奢侈品品牌方面取得了无以伦比的成就。从上世纪二十年代的萨尔瓦托雷•菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)，到八十年代的乔治•阿玛尼，再到九十年代普拉达，以及今日托德斯集团(Tod's)的所有者迭戈•德拉•瓦莱(Diego Della Valle)和“开司米之王”布鲁内诺•库奇内利(Brunello Cucinelli)，这样的例子屡见不鲜。

But getting them together to create a conglomerate is another matter. 但这并不代表他们能够聚在一起创造出一家大型企业集团。

Andrea Morante, Pomellato’s chief executive, who will remain in his role after the PPR buyout, agrees it is a question of temperament. 宝曼兰朵首席执行官安德烈亚•莫兰特(Andrea Morante)认为，这一问题是性格使然。宝曼兰朵被开云集团收购后，莫兰特将留任宝曼兰朵首席执行官一职。

“You need different skills to be an aggregator from being the owner of a luxury brand,” Mr Morante says. 他指出：“成为行业整合者所需的技能与成为奢侈品品牌所有者不同。”

Pomellato, a cult brand best known for its Nudo and M’ama non M’ama stacking rings, is just the latest Italian company to fall into foreign hands. 作为一个小众品牌，宝曼兰朵以其Nudo和M'ama non M'ama堆叠戒指闻名。外国品牌已收购了若干家意大利公司，宝曼兰朵只不过是最新的一家。

Just a day before its Pomellato deal PPR announced the buyout of Richard Ginori, a 300-year-old Tuscan porcelain maker. Last year, PPR chief executive François-Henri Pinault personally went to central Italy to secure the buyout of Brioni, the Italian suitmaker favoured by James Bond. 就在收购宝曼兰朵的前一天，开云集团宣布收购具有300年历史的托斯卡纳瓷器生产商理查德•基诺里(Richard Ginori)。开云集团首席执行官弗朗索瓦-亨利•皮诺(Francois-Henri Pinault)去年还亲自前往意大利中部，以确保顺利收购詹姆斯•邦德(James Bond)所青睐的意大利西装生产商布廖尼(Brioni)。

France’s LVMH, owner of Italy’s Fendi and Pucci, in 2010 bought Roman jeweller Bulgari. Venerable fashion house Valentino is now owned by Qatar. 法国路威酩轩拥有意大利品牌芬迪(Fendi)以及普奇(Pucci)，并于2010年收购了罗马珠宝制造商宝格丽(Bulgari)。声望很高的时尚品牌华伦天奴(Valentino)现已归卡塔尔王室所有。

Mr Morante, a seasoned luxury goods executive, says Italy’s entrepreneurs love their own brands so much it is hard for them to consider joining up with another one. 莫兰特是一位经验丰富的奢侈品企业管理者。他指出，意大利企业家过于热爱自己的品牌，因此他们很难会去考虑与其他品牌联手。

It is widely acknowledged in Italy that by size and success, Prada would be the ideal aggregator of the Italian luxury industry. The Milanese luxury goods group was among potential suitors for Pomellato. 意大利国内普遍认为，不论是从规模还是从成就来看，普拉达都是整合意大利奢侈品行业的理想人选。这家总部位于米兰的奢侈品集团曾是宝曼兰朵的潜在买方之一。

But Mr Bertelli, the business brains designer behind Miuccia Prada, exemplifies the Italian luxury goods entrepreneur’s fierce pride in his or her own brand. 但我们从贝尔泰利的态度便可看出，意大利奢侈品行业企业家是多么地以自己的品牌为傲。

Speaking to the FT in 2010 shortly before Prada listed in Hong Kong, Mr Bertelli said an overwhelming desire to beat the entrepreneur down the road – in his case the Ferragamo family, who were listing at the same time in Milan – was one of the drivers of his creative urge. 这位站在缪西娅•普拉达(Miuccia Prada)身后、极具商业头脑的设计师，曾在2010年、也就是普拉达在香港上市之前不久接受英国《金融时报》采访。在那次采访中，贝尔泰利表示，一种难以抑制的、把竞争对手（对他而言是菲拉格慕家族，后者当时也准备在米兰上市）击倒在地的欲望，是激发他创作冲动的因素之一。

Andrea Illy, scion of the coffee dynasty and the incoming head of Altagamma, Italy’s luxury industry association, admits that the country’s feted luxury entrepreneurs have difficulty co-operating. 意大利咖啡家族企业掌门人安德烈亚•伊立(Andrea Illy)承认，意大利颇具声望的奢侈品行业企业家在合作方面存在困难。伊立即将出任意大利奢侈品行业协会Altagamma主席一职。

But with consumption slowing sharply among luxury’s traditional European consumers, size is all important to undertake costly distribution and marketing to consumers in far-flung locations in Asia, the US and Latin America. 但随着奢侈品传统买家欧洲消费者的支出大幅放缓，业务规模已成为支撑亚洲、美国和拉美等遥远市场分销及营销高昂成本的最重要因素。

Industry executives agree a single brand needs revenues of €1bn to €2bn, like Prada and Armani, to have a chance of competing globally. 业内高管普遍认为，像普拉达和阿玛尼这样的单一品牌要想在国际竞争中拥有一线生机，其收入规模至少要达到10亿至20亿欧元。

But few Italian brands have that size. Pomellato’s 2012 revenues were €146m. Mr Illy says Altagamma is considering ways of getting smaller luxury goods groups to collaborate more on matters such as bidding for space in malls and department stores in China, where individual brands have no chance against the buying might of LVMH or PPR. 但少有意大利品牌具备这样的规模。宝曼兰朵2012年的收入仅为1.46亿欧元。伊立表示，Altagamma正想方设法增进中小奢侈品公司之间的合作，以合力处理在中国购物中心及百货商店竞购店面等事宜。在这些方面，单一品牌面对路威酩轩或开云集团的强大购买力完全处于下风。

However, Mr Morante is sanguine about the prospects for the country’s luxury brands after guiding the sale of Pomellato for its low-key founder, Pino Rabolini. 不过，莫兰特对意大利奢侈品品牌的发展前景仍持乐观态度。莫兰特是从宝曼兰朵低调的创始人皮诺•拉博利尼(Pino Rabolini)手中接过公司业务领导权的。

Mr Rabolini founded Pomellato in 1967, alongside the rise of the Milanese prêt-à-porter industry, to appeal to fashionable Milanese women who wanted baubles that were fashionable and wearable day and night. 拉博利尼于1967年创立了宝曼兰朵，那段时间恰好是米兰高级成衣行业的崛起阶段。宝曼兰朵主要面向那些希望拥有既时尚、又可日夜佩戴的小饰品的米兰女性。

Mr Morante believes the Italians will keep on producing the designer spark that creates new brands wanted by consumers the world over. Just don’t ask them to come together to talk about it. 莫兰特相信，意大利仍会不断迸发出设计火花，并催生受世界各地消费者喜爱的新品牌——只是别去强求这些设计师聚在一起来讨论这个问题。