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When entrepreneurs think to start a business,
most don’t decide to go a million miles away
to do so. But startup owner Luigi Bianco of
fashion house Votary did.
At the height of the economic decline,
Luigi faced what most American’s faced: job
loss. A former attorney, Luigi’s instincts kicked
in. Going to job interview after job interview.
Finding nothing. So, he did the unthinkable:
he took a chance and headed to Europe to
learn firsthand the art of fashion design. “A lot
of people can’t do this ‘entrepreneur thing’.
Some people who don’t see money right away
tend to walk away fast. Someday’ I’m Ok.
Someday’ I’m discouraged and I don’t know
what’s next.”
Success. That is aligned in the stars for
this upcoming designer who unlike a few fa-
mous names decide he needed more than just
creative ideas and the means to delegate what
he wanted his line to achieve. He wanted to
honestly admit to having the true ability to
NOVEMBER 2012
WWW.TOMIMAGAZINE.COM
create custom accessories that live up to the
words ‘quality’. “The road to the factory was
quite interesting. When I figured out what I
wanted to do I knew it would be in the fashion
industry. When I came back to America I
thought of jackets, scarves. Like, things that
you wear over stuff. That’s what gets eye con-
tact from people. Scarves in particular.”
Fashion is a huge part of entertain-
ment. And it is also one of the main cutbacks
in a economizing budget. Along with clothes,
typical things to go are movies, vacations,
other expensive luxuries. Fortunately, Votary
still has the ability to earn money. “I wanted
to fit into a price point that would be accessi-
ble” - says Luigi. “I didn’t know of any manu-
facturers in the US. So what I did was I
searched online and found a manufacturer
who responded with what type of work I need-
ed. They had offices in New York. They took a
real interest. They saw the passion I had.”
What gives Votary a leap above the
rest is the attention paid to developing a well
made product. Most manufacturers, when
building a clothing company, tend to make
products that don't last a lifetime because es-
sentially they want you to be a repeat custom-
er and make repeat sales. “The product does
sell itself” - states Luigi. “They are really soft.
They don’t scratch at all.” -
Tonisha L. Johnson
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
A MILLION
MILES AWAY
L
UIGI
BIANCO
W
WW.VOTARYNY.COM
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