After a year, Daniel Lee still hesitates about Bottega Veneta. The designer (pictured, archive) does not speak openly about his sudden divorce from the Kering-controlled brand. He claims, however, to have left an impression: “I think people will see how the team will continue to work together”. Even today, when he has now joined Burberry,...
With the aim of achieving higher levels of productivity, Santoni has launched two Industry 4.0 projects for the technological advancement of production. Projects capable of combining artisan tradition with industrial technological progress to inspire process innovations. The projects are called Smart Shoes Manufacturing (SSM) and CARL – Craftsman-Robot Collaboration for Leather Footwear Polishing. A total...
Celine is racing towards a billion euros. Thanks to the Slimane effect, but with the hand of leather goods. LVMH group brand’s turnover rose from 441.3 million euros in 2017 to 728 million euros in 2021. And 2022 could be its best financial year ever. A growth marked by Hedi Slimane, creative director since January...
Shekudo‘s project is well-rounded: it involves a socially responsible brand that supports sustainability and women’s empowerment. Founder and director of the brand, which is Australian but manufactures in Nigeria, is Akudo Amy Iheakanwa, 33 (pictured), of Nigerian father and Australian mother. She moved to Lagos, Nigeria, in 2017 where she has concentrated her shoe production....
Cunning manufacturers have convinced the public that plastic is green, and tanning is not. And now, in the States, we are seeing an increasing share of hides ending up in landfills instead of tanneries. This is what Steve Sothmann, president of LHCA (the association representing the US leather industry) reports on RFD TV. “When the […]
Wolverine Worldwide is bucking the trend. While fashion proceeds through M&As to vertically integrate the supply chain, the Rockford, Michigan-based company has started the process of divesting (also under licence) Wolverine Leathers. Meaning, the in-house leather supplier. Because it is a “low-profit” business, the company explained. Same fate for the brand Keds. “Wolverine Worldwide Leathers,” […]
Certainly, the prestige of the brand has something to do with it, the idea of uniqueness that the Hermès name alone evokes. Just as the choice of the maison to offer (consciously) less than what the market demands, that is a strong influence. But what is striking, is the fact that many customers, rather than […]
Vietnamese shoes are also slowing down. After years of ascent in which it nibbled away market share from China, the made-in-Vietnam shoe is creaking under the blows of the critical global economy. Orders are down (-30%) and local shoe factories are laying off. To avoid delays in the global supply chain, European and American buyers...
Eli – Liu Jo Shoes takes over the production branch of Bigioni shoe factory in Montegranaro. Integrating this branch, named Eli Factory, is Eli, the company in Civitanova Marche (Macerata) created in 2016 by Maurizio Croceri and Marco Marchi, the owners of Liu Jo and Eccellenze Italiane. With this operation, Eli strengthens the production side,...
Éhonté is the brand that makes only black (leather) shoes. Based in the USA and produced in Brazil, it was selected among the Emerging Designers at the last Micam. The founder, Sergio Silva, a Brazilian who later emigrated to the States (pictured, left), created it in 2018, with his own philosophy and a clear idea...
New assurances and increasing energy prices to face at a time during which demand is decreasing. Natuzzi’s financial release for the 3rd quarter of 2022 and the first 9 months of the year show positive increments. Yet, it also shows the persistency of the tendency by consumers (already visible in April 2022), to postpone the […]
Here is the colour of the year 2023. “It is powerful and inspiring,” says Pantone, who created it with the Metaverse in mind, so much so that they renamed it the “Magentaverse”. According to Leatrice Eiseman, CEO of the Pantone Colour Institute, Viva Magenta 18-1750 “galvanises our spirit, helping us build our inner strength”. A […]
There allegedly are 5 financial partners in the run to become members of Minerva Hub’s shareholders. The value of the group led by Matteo Marzotto is of more than 500 million euro, which keeps track of the 180 million euro with which it will close 2022. A value destined to increase from both an organic standpoint […]
Piquadro grows thanks to Europe, Il Bisonte thanks to the USA. But the common denominator between the two leather goods companies specialized in products for men, is the return to physical retail points, as pointed out by Marco Palmieri, CEO of Piquadro. For Il Bisonte, on the other hand, the same point is proven by […]
English brands Mulberry and Dr Martens have a common problem: marginality is at risk. The first records a loss for the first half of the year, while the second had a 5% decrease in earnings before taxes. The results were caused by the increased prices. Yet, Mulberry recorded increasing sales in October and November and […]
From the catwalks of haute couture to the red carpet of film festivals, starting from a “simple” manual cutter’s course in San Mauro Pascoli. The story of Oronzo De Matteis, born in 1976, seems like a modern fairy tale: since he was a child, his dream of designing shoes, which became reality thanks to study,...
Russia, isolated by international sanctions, has to do without Italian leather and leather goods (and more). It’s not a problem for Moscow. Or at least not as far as volume goes: because national production is growing, along with imports from China. What the Russian Federation’s marketplace is missing is quality. And the participants of Russia’s […]
The Annual Assembly of UNIC – Italian Tanneries was held in Milan on November 25th at the ADI Design Museum. A moment of reflection and analysis that, beside from looking in depth at the current period and green status of the tanning segment in Italy (as you can read here), allowed President Fabrizio Nuti (in photo)...
The available data for 2022 is for now limited to the first 7 months of the year, and allows UNIC’ Servizio Economico to say, during the association’s annual assembly, that 2022 started off well. More than well. The value of production increased by 10.3% on yearly base, while exports increased 10.8%. all Italian districts grew...
Beijing’s Zero Covid policy stops ACLE. All China Leather Exhibition is forced to cancel its upcoming December edition, rescheduling itself to August 2023. A forced choice, the organisers explained. ACLE postponed to August 2023 The decision, reads a note, comes “as a result of the Shanghai outbreak prevention and control requirements and the joint prevention […]
