Background & Opportunity
Rifò’s opportunity emerged from the clear gap between conventional apparel production and circular fashion. Traditional fashion businesses generally determine output, complete production, and then use distribution channels to find customers. If their demand forecast is wrong, the result can be excess inventory and overproduction. For a startup entering the market with recycled clothing, the uncertainty was even more specific. Rifò could not assume that consumers would buy garments mechanically regenerated from old cashmere, wool, cotton, or denim. It also needed to discover whether the products could attract customers outside Italy and how limited production capacity should be allocated. Rifò therefore did not make higher output its first move. In November 2017, it launched a reward-based crowdfunding campaign to test real purchasing interest in recycled clothing and the products’ appeal abroad. Sources describe the brand’s starting date somewhat differently: Corriere and LIUC identify the 2017 crowdfunding campaign as the project’s beginning, while Invitalia describes the brand as having been established in 2018. The available information can be reconciled as a project launched in 2017 and a company entering formal operations in 2018. The operating foundation was a recycled-textile supply chain within approximately 30 kilometers of Prato, Italy. Old textiles were mechanically regenerated into materials suitable for new garments, with local companies and artisans participating in production. These short-distance relationships allowed Rifò to combine recycled materials, Italian manufacturing, and supply-chain traceability in a single product proposition. They also created the operational flexibility needed for small batches and production based on observed demand. Under Rifò’s presale model, products were sold in advance with a 10% price discount. This helped the company forecast demand and manufacture only the quantities consumers actually wanted. Presales were not its only sales channel; they operated alongside direct website sales, third-party retailers, and company-owned stores. The product range also expanded beyond recycled cashmere into wool, cotton, denim, silk, and accessories. Clothing take-back enabled some materials to re-enter the system. Repair services extended garments’ useful lives, while secondhand resale prolonged their circulation further. Together, these activities created a circular structure connecting material recovery, renewed production, and recirculation. As the business developed, customers, European collection points, Prato artisans and processors, and retailers became part of the same network. Consumers purchased products and could also return old clothing; the local supply chain handled regeneration and manufacturing; and the website, company-owned stores, and third-party retailers provided market access. In 2021, Rifò obtained approximately €350,000 in Smart&Start Italia financing to expand production and invest in research on new materials. As in-person purchasing recovered after the pandemic, the company expanded its physical retailer network so customers could encounter and experience its products beyond e-commerce. Among the sales points added in 2023, 50 were in Italy and 80 were abroad. The higher number of overseas additions showed that Rifò had moved beyond early validation through crowdfunding and its website toward a model combining a European retail network with international sales points. By 2025, Rifò reported that 83% of the fibers used in production were recycled and that 95% of its partner companies manufactured in Tuscany. Across 97 European collection points, its take-back service collected 4.7 tons of used wool, cashmere, cotton, and denim clothing. It also launched 32% of its styles through presales. These indicators show that demand validation, local production, material circularity, and multichannel selling had all become part of regular operations. However, the available material does not compare inventory, gross margins, or revenue before and after presales were adopted. Later growth therefore cannot be attributed to presales alone. Financing, broader product categories, the return of physical retail, and expansion of the overseas retailer network occurred alongside the increase in business scale.
Original Problem / Model
Producing clothing before it is sold can create excess inventory and overproduction. In its early stage, Rifò also had to establish whether consumers would accept recycled apparel, whether its products could appeal to overseas markets, and how to manage limited production capacity and insufficient opportunities for in-person product experience.
Turning Point
The turning point began with reward-based crowdfunding in 2017 to validate domestic and overseas demand. Rifò then obtained approximately €350,000 in financing in 2021 to support higher production capacity and new-material research while continuing to expand physical distribution.
Core Decision
Rifò’s core decision was to replace the produce-first, sell-later model with crowdfunding and presales followed by local production based on actual demand. It simultaneously developed circular services and a multichannel sales structure.
Execution / Model / Acquisition Changes
Rifò regenerated old textiles through Prato’s local supply chain and sold through its website, presales, company-owned stores, and third-party retailers. It also introduced clothing take-back, repair, and secondhand resale. In 2023, the network added 50 sales points in Italy and 80 abroad.
Measurable Results
In 2023, Rifò’s retailer network grew by approximately 60%, from about 220 to 350. Revenue in 2024 reached €3,383,818, with 19 employees. In 2025, recycled fibers represented 83% of production fibers, 4.7 tons of clothing were collected, and 32% of styles were launched through presales.
Lessons
Validating demand before organizing production can reduce the uncertainty facing an early-stage business. However, Rifò’s scaling coincided with financing, product expansion, its local supply chain, and changes in physical and overseas distribution, so the outcome cannot be attributed to any single decision.