Goodlife Founder Chris Molnar Launching New Essentials Brand, Cacio Pepe

Chris Molnar is back.

The menswear industry veteran, whose background includes Michael Kors, John Varvatos and WP Lavori in Corso, is launching a new men’s brand called Cacio Pepe.

Molnar, who also created the men’s premium basics brand Goodlife Clothing in 2014, described his new business as a “multidimensional lifestyle and essentials brand built on quality, transparency, positivity and style.”

What that translates into is a collection of knit wardrobe staples such as T-shirts, hoodies and joggers in neutral colors with subtle branding details. The debut collection will consist of 50 stock keeping units all manufactured in Los Angeles that will retail for $75 to $195.

The launch will include an eco-friendly sneaker created by Italian sustainable manufacturer ACBC — which works with Moncler, Missoni, Zegna and others — in bio-free leather. It will sell for $245.

“It’s not just a ‘basics’ or essentials brand — there are tons of them [launching] every day,” Molnar said in describing how Cacio Pepe would be distinctive from what already exists in the market. “This is a true multidimensional brand where we’re going to have lifestyle essentials, seasonal prints and graphics and complementary footwear.”

He said Goodlife, which, at its height was an “eight-figure essentials brand,” taught him “the need to have more than just a basic T-shirt offering. Part of what I’m really excited about is taking my experience and learnings in menswear and growing this brand.”

Another differentiator, he said, is that Cacio Pepe uses organic cotton, hemp and recycled polyester and is sustainable, a word he’s actually loath to use.

“I don’t like the word ‘sustainability.’ I prefer to call it a focus on conscious consumerism,” he said. “We’re using all-natural fibers or recycled synthetics. The knitwear and accessories are going to be made in Los Angeles and the footwear will be made in Italy. The market is saturated with brands that really lack authenticity and transparency about what they’re making and where, and that’s going to be one of the differences with this.”

As part of this initiative, the company will offer a capsule of repurposed vintage T-shirts called Second Chance. The shirts will be hand-selected by Molnar and rebranded Cacio Pepe “as a way to show the sustainable thread and circularity that’s running through the brand.”

Molnar said he’s also working with a fabric mill in Los Angeles “that literally has a football field full of deadstock fabric” to find novelty knits from which limited runs can be made and offered quarterly. For example, if he discovers a “really cool roll of 80 yards of terry cloth, we’ll make 50 T-shirts out of it. There’s so much product that exists in the marketplace, you don’t need virgin materials to create product.”

Cacio Pepe will launch as an online business but will be “entertaining wholesale on a case-by-case basis.”

Molnar said he has some investors and is in the process of raising capital through a pre-seed round. He also has a partner, Brian Mazza, an entrepreneur with a background in hospitality, fitness and wellness and the founder of HPLT, High Performance Lifestyle Training. Mazza will serve primarily as an ambassador for Cacio Pepe and will work with Molnar on creating some high-profile collaborations for the brand.

In the works is a vintage capsule with Henry Lehr that will be introduced in the Hamptons this summer; a 5K run led by Mazza followed by a pasta dinner at a soon-to-be-announced restaurant partner; a deadstock release with a well-known New York City pizzeria; partnerships with a beach club in Ibiza and a hospitality group in Mykonos, and a pop-up in Portofino, Italy, in May with ACBC.

“As we grow, these partnerships and collaborations will get bigger and more relevant,” Molnar said. “These days, you can’t win just on digital, you also have to offer experiential stuff and collaborations, and hopefully that translates into success.”

Molnar said the name of the brand is an offshoot of the classic Italian pasta dish cacio e pepe, a simple dish made with pepper and pecorino romano cheese. “I knocked the ‘e’ out to trademark it, and it just flowed better,” he explained. “It’s inspired by the minimalism of the pasta dish, quite literally, but more figuratively, for how it evokes simple pleasures and the simple things in life.”

At this point in his career, Molnar could kick back and enjoy the simple things in life himself rather than creating a business. But he pointed to his family history — his father was a Hungarian immigrant who launched Hugo Boss in North America — as well as his experience at Goodlife as incentives.

In the middle of 2023, a group he declined to name bought the intellectual property of the Goodlife brand to “support the business financially and ensure its continued success.” Molnar remains as a creative adviser and helps guide the product direction but is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations.

Instead, it’s Cacio Pepe where his energies are focused.

“I’m a product guy; I have 25 years of experience. This industry is in my blood. I want to continue to make my own mark,” he said. “While the landscape has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, I love the challenge of starting a new brand from a very different place. I’m a creator and a builder at heart, and I need to do it again.”