Geek of Chic : An American Dream Italian Style

An inspiring story full of successes, mistakes, honesty, and what it takes to start from zero, with the purpose to give courage to anyone who wants to change the world.

Federico Marchetti took a few million dollar investment from Benchmark, a venture capital firm, in early 2000 and turned it into YOOX Net-a-Porter Group. This was later sold to Cartier’s parent company, Richemont, in a $6 billion transaction value. Marchetti found his own recipe for success by combining Silicon Valley hard skills with Italian creativity and humanism. His approach to business harkens back to this Italian DNA, and yet Marchetti helped bring fashion into the 21st century by building Italy’s first unicorn—in a country lacking digital infrastructure and tech culture.

Marchetti’s story unfolds against a backdrop of European vistas—Milan, Lake Como, Venice, and England’s Royal Palaces. His journey starts with a challenging Italian childhood, and hits on many of the most significant moments in international business over the past decades—from working in the Twin Towers to studying at Columbia Business School and launching a start-up right before the dotcom bubble. Along the way he meets the who’s who of technology from Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

Marchetti sits on the Armani board of directors as the only non-family member, attends the catwalk shows, and co-invests in the movies of Luca Guadagnino. From the glamorous party thrown with Anna Wintour to the dazzling coronation of King Charles III—where he sits on another type of front row as the only Italian invited alongside the President of the Republic of Italy—The Geek of Chic is as inspiring as it is entertaining, filled with doses of style, surreal situations, unexpected happenings, and ‘sliding door’ moments.

Federico Marchetti, tech entrepreneur and a pioneer in digital fashion, founded the world’s first lifestyle e-commerce destination, YOOX, in 2000. In 2015, he led a merger with Net-a-Porter to create the world leader in online luxury fashion, shifting the shopping habits of millions of people. In 2018 his company was bought by Richemont, one of the world’s leading luxury groups, for a $6 billion transaction value.

In 2020, he became the first non-family member to join the Giorgio Armani Board of Directors. In 2021, the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, asked Marchetti to lead The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Fashion Task Force, which includes brands such as Chloé, Armani, Brunello Cucinelli, Stella McCartney, and Prada. He is also a trustee of The King’s Foundation.

Marchetti graduated from Bocconi University in 1993 and obtained his Master’s degree from Columbia Business School in 1999.

In 2017, his work was recognized by the President of the Italian Republic, who knighted him as a Cavaliere.