Friday, August 31, 2007

SAMPLE PROFESSIONAL BIO #2

DINI'S LOS ANGELES

What’s in a name? With Dean Fortunato, it seems that fortunes have indeed smiled upon him. His early work as a creative professional both as actor and director, positioned Dean within a world of creative visual expression. The details of costume and set design were not lost in his work, which was later parlayed into a lucrative sandal design business, Dini’s Flip Flops.

Dean Fortunato grew up in Chicago, part of a tight knit Jewish American family, with a solid work and business ethic infused in him from an early age, from his father who built his trade in Chicago’s thriving garment district. With this philosophy, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a creative career, always devising new ways to subsidize his art with novel business ideas.

After reading an article in the New York Times about the emerging flip flop renaissance, Dean masterminded a simple but ingenious alteration on the standard issue sandal by handcrafting custom jewelry pieces to the otherwise casual footwear. He soon after partnered with mega flip flop manufacturer Havaianas, in a joint venture that would redefine the long beloved classic sandal into a chic, trendy and year round fashion statement.

The response was overwhelming and instantaneous. Within a month, Dini’s custom flip flops were the must have for over 50 retail outlets, including trend makers Fred Segal and Kitson. Since then, Dini’s maintains a database of over 5000 customers and can be found in over 1000 retail markets.

Dean’s philosophy of slow growth is essential in the fortified expansion of the company. Fortunato explains that he has no need to be the next hot thing, as he prefers to ensure a long lifespan with Dini’s quality of service and product. Preferring the slow burn over a trendy flash, Dini’s flip flops are well on their way to becoming an industry standard with their simultaneously classic and ‘of the moment’ designs.

Dean has a direct creative hand in the process, keeping tabs on the latest themes and trends, designing each new sandal personally. Being such a central part of the process forges a different, much more personal relationship with the final product. To closely oversee production, Fortunato integrated his business office into the Dini’s workroom, which is located in an industrial downtown loft in the heart of the Los Angeles fashion district.

Dean Fortunato is expanding the brand with a Childrens’ line, Dini’s Kids, and a “design your own” feature on the website (www.dinislosangeles.com). He also plans to offer a few other specialized complimentary pieces, such as beach wraps and accessories, but the focus will remain the on the long beloved, ever versatile flip flop.

While favored as a recent media darling, with profiles in Entrepeneur Magazine, and others, Fortunato remains humble about his windfall. He laughs as recalls the original profit plan for Dini’s: to pay half the rent on his then modest Hollywood apartment. When asked how that goal is coming along, he laughs even harder.

1 comment:

Rosy said...

Nice blog.....It was really interesting...
cheers,
Rosy.
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