**This story is best read in English and doesn't convey well through Google Translate**

In 2005, Sonia moved to the U.S. to work for Fox Racing. She didn’t speak English.

“In Italy, with Alpinestars, I had picked up a bit of English, but it was all work related - mathematical, technical, nerdy stuff. I could explain how to construct a leather suit for MotoGP in english, but just don’t ask me to talk about the weather", she says. She picked up a lot of lingo working with the Fox Racing crew after moving to America. 

“Everything was slang. When you learn a language in a classroom, it’s a proper “How are you?” But when you’re with a group of native speakers it’s a lightning fast “wassup.”

As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, this took a toll. She was constantly improvising and it was funny but hard at the same time. Shifting an English phrase into the Italian sentence structure would result in laughs, like changing the devil's advocate to "the advocate of the devil…”

But some of the Italian words, like "patacca," which Sonia used to describe logos or patches, could mean both a medal of decoration or a piece of trash. Her colleagues didn't exactly understand what it meant, but they loved to say it, so any logo or patch from then on became a patacca.

“With a new language, you can’t be shy. You have to lose your sense of importance and dive in. I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind; it was an adventure. And there were also the song lyrics that I finally figured out. It was a revelation, a big discovery for me,” says Sonia. “There are all these English songs I had been listening to since I was a kid and had been singing "Let it be" from the Beatles. When I was young, I thought the lyrics said "Lady B" and that it was a song celebrating Brigitte Bardot. It certainly makes me laugh now!”

“I’m not a classic Italian looking person. I have blond hair and blue eyes, so people would think I was joking when I said I was Italian. We don’t say "capiche" where I’m from (like in the mafia movies), but everyone wanted to say that to me. I had to watch old movies to understand the US perspective on Italian culture, which I often found very entertaining.”

So if you get the chance to meet Sonia, for the love of all good things don’t say capiche.

How did you get started in the technical apparel industry?‍

"I was always curious as a child to understand how things worked, especially mechanical devices. I was driven to take things apart and put them back together again. Being from Northern Italy, where fashion and apparel are so strong, it was also natural for me to become curious about how the clothing industry worked…how things were designed, developed and produced. 

As fate would have it, a well-known apparel company in Italy called F.lli Campagnolo, was literally a short walk from my home. At that time not only was design and development done in house, but the full production cycle as well. It was truly a unique opportunity to learn each and every step of the process, from coming up with the design and colors, to making the pattern and following the product all the way through shipping. This full-circle knowledge and experience has been a huge help in my career since I have first hand knowledge of the entire process involved with bringing a product to market. I also learned a lot from the co-owners of F.lli Campagnolo, Dr. Andrea and his brother Giorgio Campagnolo. They were truly great mentors for me."

You were with Alpinestars and Fox Racing before The North Face. What did you learn in the motorsports industry and how did the skills from designing serious racing apparel transfer to outdoor apparel?‍

"While I already had a decade of experience in the apparel industry before starting at Alpinestars, moving into high performance motorcycle clothing required a huge step up. It was during some big changes in my life that I was approached about working for a new division of the company. Alpinestars was known for their Motorcycle boots but in late 1999 the owner of Alpinestars wanted to build out a super team to make custom leather suits for the highest levels of racing. It all sounded very exciting so I accepted the position and was paired up with another very technical colleague named Antonietta Secco. Together, we made a formidable team and we built out the Technical custom leather suit department as well as the Formula 1 and World Rally Championship programs. 

From a technical fit standpoint, there really isn’t anything more challenging than engineering custom MotoGP leather suits. The variables and the mathematical algorithms that your brain must process are all in 3D, which is very challenging. Of course the performance as well as the very life of the rider is also on the line, so you have to be absolutely committed to producing the very best product possible.  

For me, if you can mathematically master this then you can pretty much do anything. That being said, any time you move from one industry to another there is always a learning curve. Of course there are also things that you can introduce from one industry to the other. For example, when I was working for TNF, I was able to transfer ergonomic concepts based on movement studies from my work in motorsports to some of the pinnacle styles for the Steep Series, such as the original 2017 Pro-skier Brigandine Jacket and Bib, which turned out extremely well. I used this same application for many products in the Summit Collections as well."