Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Italy, and as a young man enrolled at the local Art Institute, concentrating in textile print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories. He opened his first boutique in 1972 in Saint-Tropez. In Milan in 1994 Cavalli presented the first sand-blasted jeans. By December of the same year, he had opened boutiques in Saint Barth, in the French Caribbean; and then in Venice and Saint-Tropez. Besides the main line, which is sold in over fifty countries worldwide, Roberto Cavalli designs RC Menswear as well as the youth-targeting line Just Cavalli, launched in 1998 and comprising today of men's wear, women's wear and accessories, eyewear, watches, perfume, underwear, and beachwear.