Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a family of Sicilian immigrants, Giovanni Caci's exposure to fashion design began through his brother, grandmother, and various cousins who held different occupations within the industry respectively. He did not choose to be a fashion designer at first. Rather, his decision to join LaSalle College and pursue the profession was spontaneous and impulsive. Giovanni's initial goal was to become a writer. Having studied English Literature and Political Science at Concordia University, he decided that he still wanted to be creative but also have his ideas transformed into tangible objects. Through his studies he met his mentor, founder of local talent incubator, LIGNES DE FUITE, Milan Tanedjikov, who guided him to find his unique design metaphor and helped to develop the GIO CACI project.
GIO CACI: The Ethos
Body augmentation, empowerment, durability, and craftsmanship — all of which are the foundation of GIO CACI’s ethos. The brand’s founder and Head Designer, Giovanni Caci, known to many as Gio, discovered his unique design metaphor and respect for craft, quality, and intentful design. He then realized a purpose: to develop clothing that, in part, can help the near-majority of Canadian men who suffer from mental health issues because of having low self-esteem due to discontent with their appearance, feelings of loneliness, and societal pressures. This social issue strongly resonates with Giovanni because he had suffered from such issues and was a part of the aforementioned statistic.
The brand implements into its design metaphor tropes found in the fitness world as well as integrating ideas from empowering, esoteric philosophies to improve the client’s confidence and remedy their plight. Thus, GIO CACI provides a veneer in the form of clothing called “body augmentation,” which is a type of design that creates the perception that the surface of one’s body is larger and stronger than it actually is. Inspired by the bodybuilder’s silhouette, the brand shapes its garments with those curvatures to allow the wearer to feel larger than life. GIO CACI garments and accessories are only made from the finest, locally sourced, noble materials such as leather hides and the highest-grade fabrics. These materials will ensure each product will stand the test of time while being timeless in itself. With emphasis on craft and visual expression, GIO CACI incorporates “trapunto” (Italian for quilting) into its designs, which is a form of hand embroidery developed in the 10th century. Trapunto is a conduit for visual expression similar to tattoos, and thus acts as a voice for those who lack the confidence to express themselves verbally. Any design can be converted into trapunto and implemented onto a multitude of different fabrics and hides. Such a diverse craft allows for collaboration between the client and the brand with the former presenting a type of design they want to see made into trapunto on the garment or accessory of their choice.
The brand’s clients will find harmony in the monochromatic colour palette: black is associated with both power and protection. Subconsciously, wearing these colours repel people away while also empowering the wearer. Thus, the wearer grows evermore confident whenever they wear a GIO CACI product.
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