Cieffe invests in talent: Academy grows with 200 students

While the world of luxury is going through a difficult phase, the made-in-Italy manufacturing industry - which is consequently experiencing a complicated moment - continues to invest in the future. This is the case of Cieffe, a Lombardy-based company that produces high-end clothing for some of the most famous luxury brands and is working on building the next generation of talent: the company in Soncino (Cremona), a 'short-range' (within 150 km) third-party production hub, has just launched the second year of its in-house academy. The Cieffe Academy was launched last academic year in cooperation with Apindustria Confimi Cremona, with 150 students, five of whom have remained at Cieffe, where they are continuing their professional development in the areas of tailoring, quality control, research and development and product development.

In the year 2024/25, 200 girls and boys are involved - +33% compared to last year - and collaboration is being extended to new high schools and design faculties in the area. The four institutions already involved - Cfp Zanardelli, Gruppo Foppa and Laba-Academia di Belle Arti (Brescia), Iss Antonio Stradivari (Cremona) - have been joined by three others: Zea-Zanardelli Education Academies in Brescia, Ied and Naba in Milan. At the end of the programme, 15 of the participating girls and boys will be placed in the company as trainees, working alongside seamstresses, pattern-makers and the in-house R&D team. Two more students will be awarded by Gruppo Foppa with a scholarship each (one for merit, the other for income) "training on the job".

"With the continuation of the Academy experience, Cieffe confirms its concrete support for the generational transition, which is necessary to maintain those skills in high industrial craftsmanship and sartorial 'know-how' that make Italy a world excellence and that would otherwise be lost," said Marco Panzeri, Cieffe CEO. We are particularly proud, with this project, to give willing and talented girls and boys the opportunity to learn a trade and start working with the world's leading luxury brands, combining manual skills and tradition with technological innovation. Moreover, Cieffe Academy also has the ambition of transmitting to the new generations a sensitivity towards the theme of sustainable production, to which we have always paid great attention".

It is precisely sustainability that is one of the company's focuses. After obtaining certification for gender equality in the company from Bureau Veritas, although it has no regulatory obligations, it aims to publish a sustainability report in 2025. Over the years, the company has strengthened its commitment on the green front by adopting electric vehicles, installing photovoltaic panels and initiating the monitoring of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, i.e. direct and indirect emissions. This has resulted in an emissions cut of 72% of the company's consumption (149.5 tCO2eq) in 2022.

About ten years ago Cieffe, born in 1985 from an idea of Enza Gallina, radically changed its business model to become a platform that aggregates producers. Over the past four years, Cieffe has acquired three workshops - Franc'obollo, New Mood and Silvermacs - and three minority stakes (all 35%) in as many local businesses: Maglificio Peve; Manu, a company that operates in the manufacture of jersey clothing; and Spazio Moda, a shirt manufacturer.