Sizzling Seller

Maurizio Vitale 's brash ways

"I decided to name my product after the biggest revolutionary in history," says Maurizio Vitale, 38, president of a booming Italian sportswear company called Maglificio Calzificio Torinese. The product, Jesus Jeans, has become a symbol of entrepreneurial audacity since it first appeared in the early 1970s. Its success, moreover, helped to transform Vitale's company from a staid maker of socks and underwear into one of the fastest-growing and most aggressive firms in Italy. Vitale's sales jumped from less than $7 million in 1970 to $65 million last year....

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