New book from Federico Marchetti, "The Geek of Chic," set for September release

Federico Marchetti's new book, with a foreword by Giorgio Armani, will be released in English on September 9th. The book, "The Geek of chic: an american dream italian style" (304 pages, 18.99 dollars), is published by the American publisher Post Hill Press. The book is described as an "inspiring story full of successes, mistakes, honesty and what it takes to start from scratch, with the aim of giving courage to anyone who wants to change the world".

At the beginning of 2000, Marchetti secured a multi-million dollar investment from Benchmark, a venture capital firm, and transformed it into Yoox Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP). YNAP was later sold to Richemont, the Swiss group that owns Cartier among other brands, for six billion dollars. The book's introduction states, "Marchetti found his recipe for success by combining the technical skills of Silicon Valley with Italian creativity and humanism. His approach to business draws on this Italian DNA, yet Marchetti helped bring fashion into the 21st century by building the first Italian unicorn, in a country lacking digital infrastructure and technological culture."

Marchetti's story unfolds against the backdrop of European landscapes: Milan, Lake Como, Venice, and the English Royal Palaces. His journey begins with a challenging Italian childhood. It touches on many of the most significant moments in international business of recent decades, from working in the Twin Towers to studying at Columbia Business School, to launching a startup just before the dotcom bubble. Along the way, he meets the most influential figures in the tech world, from Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

The book's introduction concludes, "Marchetti sits on Armani's board of directors as the only non-family member, attends fashion shows, and co-invests in Luca Guadagnino's films. The Geek of chic is as inspiring as it is entertaining, full of style, surreal situations, unexpected events, and sliding doors moments."

The New Yorker wrote of Marchetti that "no one has done more than Federico to bring e-commerce to fashion," and the New York Times called him "The man who put fashion online." In 2021, the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, asked him to chair the Fashion Task Force of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Marchetti and King Charles, who share a passion for craftsmanship and education, also conceived The Modern Artisan project in 2018. This initiative created an ongoing collaboration between The King’s Foundation (formerly The Prince’s Foundation) and YNAP, designed to encourage young students and artisans to create sustainable luxury using data and technology.

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