Michele Callegari, Co Founder & CEO, Barberino's | The Jeff Crilley Show

On this episode of The Jeff Crilley Show, host Jeff Crilley sits down with Michele Callegari, Co Founder & CEO of Barberino's, to explore how men’s grooming evolved from a simple barbershop visit into a refined self-care ritual. Michele shares how he left a career in finance to build a luxury Italian barbershop brand inspired by old-world craftsmanship and a century-old family story rooted in immigration to America....

Show Notes

Men’s grooming has come a long way from the days of a quick shave and a haircut. Today, it’s about confidence, ritual, and showing up well for the people around you.

In this episode, Jeff Crilley sits down with Michele Callegari, Co Founder & CEO of Barberino's, a luxury Italian barbershop brand blending old-world Italian grooming traditions with modern styling. With locations across Italy, New York, Seoul, and now Dallas through Stanley Korshak, Barberino’s is redefining how men approach self-care.

In this conversation, you’ll learn: 
- How men’s grooming trends have shifted from rugged beards back to the clean-shaven look 
- The family immigration story that inspired the name Barberino’s 
- Why Italian craftsmanship and Mediterranean ingredients set the brand apart 
- The philosophy of "tutti insieme" and what it means for modern men’s style and presence

Learn more about Barberino’s at: https://barberinosworld.com

If you care about style, confidence, and upgrading your daily routine, this episode is for you.

Creators and Guests

Host

Jeff Crilley

Having seen the failures of the public relations industry first-hand from within the news room, CEO Jeff Crilley founded Real News PR® with a vision to equip his company with a team of media experts.

What is The Jeff Crilley Show?

Jeff Crilley is a former news reporter, who spent more than 25 years in newsrooms across the country. He’s an Emmy Award winning journalist, who decided to make the jump from news in 2008, when he founded his own PR Firm, Real News Public Relations.

Today, the firm has more than 100 clients, and Jeff continues to tell the stories of interesting people he meets along the way.

These are those stories.

Coming up next on The Jeff Crilley Show, we're gonna talk about all things men's grooming with a international expert. His name is Michael Callegari. He's in the studio, and he's the head of Barbarino's. It's a international brand. You're not gonna wanna miss this episode. Next. Many are predicting that the worst is yet to come, which is unfortunate, said one person here. Until now, they've enjoyed the reputation of being the nation's ice box. Watched a burglar in his home this morning by webcam. As a journalist of over twenty five years, stories are what make my world turn. Reporting live from The Dallas Newsroom tonight, Jeff Crilley, Fox four news. But in 2008, I took jump from my familiar life and started a PR firm from my home. We're talking about anyone with a camcorder like the one I'm using becomes a television network. We started slowly growing the company, and we now have over a 100 clients. And we've branched into the world of live digital broadcasting. I now own eight different TV studios and have a huge team. And the stories that I now get to share are sometimes the most important of my life. Life has a funny way of coming around full circle. This is the Jeff Crilley Show. Well, if you go back even thirty years ago, there was no such thing as men's grooming. Let's be honest. It was a barber shop. Right? A shave and a haircut. But then in the last twenty plus years, it's become very fashionable to pay attention to men's grooming and somebody who knows that very well is my next guest, Michele Callegari is in the studio. He's the CEO and co founder of Barbarino's. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you for having me here. Absolutely. Alright. So I I made that statement that here in The US, I don't I don't think I remember like men's grooming becoming becoming a thing, until maybe the late nineties. I mean, when did when did it become a thing? Actually, it became a things the first 2000 or late nineties, as you were saying. And I think that the first global ambassador of that was David Bacon. Yes. We we trace it back to to to this to this first global ambassador because he was really a global Yes. Thing, and he was also the first one, like, if you if you see on on on the soccer field Yes. Changing the haircut Yes. And putting tattoos on him while Yes. Before before him, more or less, like, nobody was, like, talking about, like, style, men's styles amongst also the athlete and stuff like that. So Let's talk about facial hair in general, Michael, because in The US, it's very fashionable for men to have a little bit of scruff. In Italy, where you're from, is it clean shaven? Yes. Actually, the the we we have been through like some some changes and I I would say that US was anticipating it a bit, because they they the rough beard or kind of like three, four days beard became popular kind of eight to ten years ago, and now we are seeing the trend switching back, like, to clean shave. First in The US, and now we are seeing that in Italy too. So, going back to the nineties, to the nineties look, I would say. Yes. And we see it not only in the type of booking that we have in our store, but also on the product sales categories. So we we we see like a kind of minus 15% on beer care and plus 20% in shaving. Wow. I'm speaking for myself because my wife likes clean shaving. She doesn't even like it if I have a day's growth of beard. It gets gruffy. Yes. I I I do agree with you like you see, you know. Alright. We're gonna pull up your website because you are an international company. You have some two dozen locations across the globe, and one of them is here in Dallas. Why don't you talk about Stanley Courchet? Yes. Actually, we have a kind of, as you were saying, 20 location globally. So mainly they are in Italy. Then we have one in Seoul and two in New York cities, and that represent our first step into The United States market. And from there, from the East Coast, we are gradually expanding West, and Dallas is one of my favorite towns, actually, because I love Texas, and who doesn't? It's a great town. Yeah, and so here we started, like, bringing our products here, and we our brand is present at Stanley Korsak, so for example. And and this is our the first step to establish a direct presence in the in the city as well. And talk a little bit about Stanley Korsak, iconic brand here in Dallas. Why did you decide to to have your first location in Dallas at Stanley Korsak? Because, you know, we wanted to to to to do a bold step in and, you know, Stanley Korsak is is one of the stone of American retails Yes. Especially when it comes to men's grooming, to men's in Yes, men's fashion. And, you know, like, when you especially if you if you if you want also to have a comprehensive interpretation of men's fashion and lifestyle, you you just don't cannot stop at like a pattern. Yes. So so for example, I'm I'm thinking you have you have Keto maybe that dress you up, and you have Brunello Cucinelli bring you the cashmere Yeah. And but then you have Barbarino that take cares from your neck up. Yes. And because in Italy, we have this concept that we call tutti in sieme, means altogether. Mhmm. So you cannot just like being on a nice suits and Yes. Disregard your face, actually, or the way you shake the hands and stuff like that. It just come with a altogether approach Yes. That we want to be part of with Barbarinos. Outstanding. You did a piece recently on channel eight, Good Morning Texas. I wanna go ahead and roll that piece. As always, you guys, it is so much more than just a shave and a haircut. Our first guest is on a mission to make men's grooming feel like the ultimate self care experience even for the men out there. So from all the way in Italy to Madison Avenue, and now the big d, Barbarino's cofounder and CEO, Michele Callegari. Did I say that right? Yeah. Yeah. You're pretty good at it? Okay. I was like, okay. I I got the accent this morning. He's here to share his story and where you can find him and so much more and the fabulous things that he brought on this table. Good morning to you. Good morning to you all. So glad to have you here. So you're a former finance professional. So how did we then delve into men's self care? What inspired you to wanna cofound this? It's very simple story. My cofounder and I were working in London, in finance, and then in Milan. And we were jealous about our girlfriends Uh-huh. Because we were working very hard. And when we wanted to relax, like, they could go and relax in this beautiful beautiful luxury saloon Yeah. Hair and beauty with marbles, mask cream. And when it comes to men, there was nothing like that. The places were, like, very, very old dated. No credit card. No booking online. No American Express. It hasn't evolved at all, it sounds And so we decided, let's create our own. Nice. So you found a niche and you failed it. Yes. And especially, there were no there was never a curation of product, people bringing innovation also with the with the product for grooming, for formulation, and stuff. So we decided to create our own. And we started from a small store and a a selection of couple of products, and then we arrive here in America. I was about to say you're here in America all the way from Italy. So you're doing something right. How did you come up with the name Barbarino's? Tell me a little bit more about that. That was kind of a star alignment because when I when I went home, like, I was telling to my parents, I'm gonna I'm gonna quit my job. I'm gonna we we designed this brand. We're already we're ready to start. And they told me, listen. My dad told me your great grandfather went to The United States in 1910, and he went to work on the rail the railroad in Boston. And at the time, there was no Netflix or football. So when people finish doing their job, they were going home and doing other jobs. Right. And so there was the guy who was baking, the guy who was tailoring, and my great grandfather found this wooden box from the previous tenant with two drawer, one with the scissor and the straight razor, and the other one was for the cash. Okay. And so he said, okay, this is gonna be my job. And so he learned by himself how to shave, and he became famous within the Italian American community in Boston as barberino that was meaning little barber. I love this. And so we decided, okay, this is gonna this is gonna be my name. So I just we added an apostrophe s. Uh-huh. And so we wanted to bring Yeah. It Yeah. We wanted to to to say that the same passion, attention to detail that were typical of the Italian immigrants that Yes. Came here one century years ago a century ago. We wanted to bring it back with Barbarino. Make it more modern. Make it evolved for today. I love a good name with a story behind it, and you have just that with so much history connected to it as well. Happy that in America, you keep everything. So we went to Ellie Island. Uh-huh. We recovered the register with this boat, his sign his signature, and we printed Nice. In our in our store on Madison Avenue. We printed in on the wall, so we we bring this back. You really have leaned into the theme. I love it. Let's talk about some of the stuff that's on the table. What can we expect from some of the grooming products that you guys offer? So with with Barbarino, we want to be one brand, one stop. Uh-huh. So we want to cover everything about the grooming routine of a man. So starting from hair care, styling, shaving, beard care, skincare, we got you covered. Yeah. And the common thread about our our product line is that we we we want to choose all those ingredients that are typical for of the Mediterranean area Mhmm. And give you maybe the Italian vibes of Okay. So the ingredients are coming from locally as well. Like, from Italy as well. So for example, for the shaving, we we use the bergamotaneroli. So that that is Oh, that sounds divine. Is is designed to bring you, like, the feeling to be in Sicily, whether it's the Golden Valley, you know, it's get transported. You have to shave. I mean, it's something you have to do every day. Right? So why not get transported as you do it to a place a little bit more luxurious than your bathroom? I love that. Very good. And it's so good. We have accessories as well, and all the accessories for shaving or traveling are handmade. They're all handmade by our artisan in Tuscany because this is what we we we we think Italy is all about, also is craftsmanship and and doing things with their own hands. Yes. Yes. Especially in a world that is always automated more automated and stuff. We just like the things that we can still do our object with our own hands. I feel like someone's watching right now and thinking, okay. This is exactly the stocking stuffer I was looking for, which is perfect timing actually because you have a pop up event at Stanley Korsak. Yes. Of course. It's coming this Saturday or through this Saturday, actually. We have plenty of time to go check you guys out. What can people expect when they show up? Beth, first of all, you will get with our master barber, Simone from Milano Uh-huh. Is here. And is you're gonna experience the best Italian shave of your life. So this you need to go there. It's complimentary. It's just for us to you get to know the brand, and then you will get the curation of our products. It's gonna be, in my opinion, the best men's grooming product. Yeah. It be. For sure. But then when you get the experience to go along with it, I mean, how could you not get the product? Michele, this is this is this is this is nice. I like this. I might have to keep this in mind. Dad, don't watch too closely. This might end up in your stocking this year. Thank you so much for being here this morning. You guys, make sure you check out Stanley Korshak now through Saturday to check out Barbarino's. Alright. You're not just the co founder, you're a customer. You use your own products. I do. So we brought some stuff on the set. Tell us what we're looking at here. So for example, here I brought a selection of the shaving products. So we have said that cover up all the shaving routine, like so, pre shave, shave, and after shave. Yes. And they're all traversized. And then for people who likes to shave like once upon a time with a brush Yeah. We have this That's great. Super one of the our best seller is shave soap. Beautiful. Citrus scented, so always to give you the vibe of Mediterranean lifestyle and Nice. And stuff that it works with a with a brush. And then since we were saying we we are we are coming back with a neat clean shave look, we developed face sheet mask specifically tailored for for the for the the shape of the shape of the face of a man's face, and that works very well both as an aftershave. You keep it twenty minutes on your face after you do the shave, or when you're watching Netflix Right. You choose. And you you can keep it also in the fridge. So for example, I keep it in the fridge. So if you open my fridge, have tomato sauce, face sheet mask, and stuff, because so they're very very very cold when you put on your face, and they give you a boost of hydration, and keep your skin tonic. And so this is one of our, like, big hit in the latest, like, twelve to eighteen months. Well, you know, here in The US, a guy can spend five minutes in the bathroom and a woman spends forty five to an hour in the bathroom. In Italy, a man may spend as long in the bathroom getting ready as a woman? Yeah. Let's say that when I came here, at the beginning, I was trying to fight the stereotypes Yeah. Of the Italian men that are vain because they spend a lot of time in front of the mirror, but then actually, it's true. So, I I stopped fighting there and I and I but but it's not a it's not a matter of vanity, it's it's something like deeper. I mean, it's a matter of respect of yourself, but also of the others because you want to look good for the others. Yes. Because the people you are with, like, you are interviewing me, you are important to me, so I want to be, you know, well groomed when I come here, dressed up for you and stuff. And and I think that this is kind of a mentality that we are seeing growing more and more also here in The United States, and when we we we see this desire to shift from, like, a five minutes shower and go approach to more kind of Italian or Mediterranean Yeah. Rituals around your grooming or getting set up for the day. Yes. Because eventually, is we are talking about small gesture. It's nothing like complicated. You don't need to have like like women, like 10 or 20 items on your on your on your sink. You just need those couple of things, like, to hydrate you, but especially to to to make that gesture that give you the sense of pride that you're doing something for yourself, like two minutes, three minutes before Yes. Getting ready for the day. And that sense of pride give you energy to face the day with a positive attitude. And and and with with this very this very simple gesture, you you like a better man. Yes. And it's as simple as that. And better men make up for better world. So And I think why not? I I I'm speaking for myself. I think a clean shaven man looks younger. So It does. That's why I if you if have gray in your beard, even if your hair is dark, you're giving away your age. Yes. And there's no no need to It's true. Yes. Yes. I I agree. That's why now that I'm getting older, I'm I'm getting like clean shades, so I try to compensate. I love it. I love it. Okay. We have about two minutes left, so look into the camera on the left and talk to the viewer about why they might need to pay a visit to Stanley Korschek. Yeah. First of all, like, you're gonna see the curation of our product at Stanley Korsak, and every three or four months we bring our barber our master barber from Milan with a trunk show over there, so over here in Dallas. And when when there is, you just need to show up because you're gonna experience the best shave of your life and is gonna be that kind of moment that really put a towel on your shave on your face, literally. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing your heart and your wisdom and your incredible brand. We're gonna end with his website, which is barbarino'sworld.com. The great Michael Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. You bet. It was a pleasure. That's it for now. We'll see you next time.