HISTORY
PASSION FOR THE SEA HAS
BEEN THE KEY TO EVERYTHING
The brand was born between Grosseto and the beaches of the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The first watersport products carrying the signature of the young windsurfer Roberto Ricci are filled with typical Italian creativity: this is how special boards are born, unique pieces designed and made by hand and destined to win windsurfing competitions all over the world.
It was 1989 when all this happened and shortly thereafter, what was an unconscious passion for wind and waves becomes much more. In Hawaii, Ricci discovered the secrets of the surf gurus and made them a treasure of his own becoming a shaper, designing and building windsurfboards. A job done exclusively by hand, board after board, with tape measure and sandpaper, a real surfboards craftsman.
BEGINNING
The first collections are based on ideas related to technical clothing for watersports, inspired by nature at the antipodes: the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This two-fold inspiration made it possible to create garments capable of combining Mediterranean culture linked to classic beauty and the serenity of a “friendly” sea, with a more dynamic concept related to performance, essential when facing the ocean. Two very different aspects that are able to coexist and complement each other.
From 1989 to 1994, RRD made windsurfboards and beachwear clothing prototypes, but the first collection of board shorts, t-shirts and bermudas was launched in 1994.
In 1995 Ricci founded a new clothing specialized company (Montecristo Srl) together with creative director Roberto Bardini. A company destined to change the future of outerwear.
Roberto Ricci
Roberto Bardini
TECHNO TAILORING:
THE EVOLUTION OF LYCRA
The innovation and constant research that came from the world of watersports have made it possible to create clothing with a high technological value that constantly evolves, unique products which combine experience and innovation.
Each collection piece, stripped of any superfluous element and reinterpreted in a techno-sartorial key by creative director and C.E.O. Roberto Bardini, has shown the true soul of the brand’s philosophy: tailored cuts and high-tech fabrics, glamorous lines and performance of the materials are the hallmarks of the RRD style. Garments produced to perfection, in perfect Italian style capable of telling a true genuine story, embodying research and experience, attention to detail and design.
Our fabric SURFLEX® is a distinctive and evolved material thanks to the experimental research made by RRD – robertoriccidesigns.
For over nine years, thanks to the watersports herit- age of the company, also famous for the production of wetsuits, the SURFLEX® fabric has become the most used in the entire RRD outerwear collections.
WELDING
Ultrasound seams welded & taped
Essential and pure spirit are the guiding principles that have moved RRD’s creativity in search of clean, harmonious shapes. The garments are deliberately “stripped” of any superfluous element, in search of their essence and pure design combined with materials technology and colour in its truest form. The future of garments designed in a dynamic key and in relation to body movements was the beginning of the FW 13-14 collection by RRD – robertoriccidesigns.
The company’s research efforts have led to the development of technologies capable of freeing garments from traditional seams and replacing them with the latest generation of welding and taping techniques.
To do this, a special version of Lycra was used, subjected to anti-bacterial and breathable treatments, highly elastic and ideal for following the body’s every movement. Innovation and constant research from the world of water sports have allowed us to create trousers, skirts, Bermuda shorts, dresses, blazers, shirts and outerwear that fluidly follow the movements of the body, just like a second skin.
An evolving collection that expresses the extreme freedom of movement and dynamism. The production of fabrics as well as the design of the garments, embodies the TRADITION OF ITALIAN STYLE while the finishes and details are managed obsessively, bypassing any market logic but ensuring that the production process creates the best possible end product.
PHILOSOPHY
Performance combined with DESIGN and FUNCTIONALITY
A clear focus on research and development, a culture of experimentation and characterization of the final product thanks to the precise definition of its function, are the key characteristics that describe the Tuscan company RRD – robertoriccidesigns. A brand born from the sea, then studies and incorporates the technologies applied to the latest materials until condensing everything into a clothing line capable of tracing new horizons in the fashion world. The company’s DNA is based on the ability to combine study of materials according to the use of the finished product. Not an aesthetic exercise for its own sake but rather the extreme search for performance combined with design and functionality. This attitude has taken the name Perf-Romance, which links sports performance to passion, romance, and the culture of beauty. A decisive step that led the company to define its own well-defined and characterized space in the fashion world: no one before had succeeded in combining technical and glamourous approach, shapes and materials, treatments and colors in a flawless Italian style, with that creativity capable of disrupting even the laws of fashion.
