In 1978, when Italian business man Claudio Buziol registered the Replay brand under his company, Fashion Box, he surely never imagined that Replay would become the international denim and clothing behemoth it is today - with three labels, hundreds of millions of Euros in yearly revenue, and stores from one end of the globe to the other. Or maybe he did - people who make it big usually start out with big dreams.
Within just under ten years, Fashion Box went international and began making seventy percent of its 4 million Euro sales (in terms of today's embarrassing exchange rate, that's about 5.2 million American buckaroos), and two years later, after revolutionizing casual shirt-making, Replay reinvented the denim we know and love today with it's signature "Double-O Ring" denim. The Double-O Replay Jeans were pretty popular, I guess, considering they sold a million pairs in two years, propelling annual sales to 18 million euros by 1990. The Replay line soon began to meld into what it is known as today - in addition to shirts and jeans, the Replay collection boasted thousands of unique items every year and also burst into the children's wear market with it's new label, Replay & Sons, which offered chic miniature versions of its parent label's staples.
Stand-alone, single brand outlets popped up all over the globe, including Asia, South America, the Middle East, and our fair United States of America (in the from of a New York megastore). These days, Replay has branched out into the world of underwear, accessories and a budget line called We Are Replay. Replay also has licensing agreements with the Sugi, Ltd. Group of Hong Kong for the production and distribution of shoes under the Replay and Replay & Sons Label and Marcolin S.P.A. for the production and distribution of Replay brand eyewear.
Despite its decidedly non-user friendly Web site (it makes my head spin trying to navigate it), I have to admit that Replay has undeniable international clout in the world of jeans and fashion in general, and it's very unlikely you could go wrong with a pair of distressed, vintage-inspired Replay jeans hugging your posterior. The innovative denim looks and urban-style contemporary clothing pieces have become a firm favorite of the fashion-conscious crowd. To reinforce the significance of the concept of a sophisticated denim, Replay matches their jeans with classic items like the "chemise" reinterpreted in a typical Replay way, with very light and refined fabric with modern details, in white and light blue colors.