Manufacturing, Italy and France meet in the new spaces of HModa 126

PARIS - Ten minutes by bicycle: that's how long it took the head of leather goods production at Hermès to get to the new prototyping, research & development and training hub just opened in Aubervilliers, north-east of Paris, by HModa, the sub-holding (headed by Claudio Rovere's investment company Holding Industriale) that aggregates 19 Italian manufacturers of bags, shoes, clothes and accessories for the big luxury brands.

Since most of their customers are French, HModa went 'home' to them, opening HModa 126, a 3,000-square-metre factory-showroom in the Île-de-France, a short distance from the headquarters of maisons such as Hermès, Balenciaga, Chanel and Moynat, with a double objective. The first is to save time and money by reducing travel by French style teams and Italian leather and shoemaking artisans: developing a new product requires repeated comparisons, modifications and evaluations, which until now required intense back-and-forth between the two countries. "Being close to the headquarters of the big brands is essential to be faster, more efficient, more sustainable, and to give a better service," explains Claudio Rovere, founder and president of Holding Industriale and HModa , which will close 2025 with a turnover of 300 million (+13% on 2024) and a double-digit ebitda, returning to 2023 levels. The service consists not only in the craft 'savoir faire' that leads to the creation of the prototype, but also in guiding the industrialisation of the bag or shoe, which for now will be made in Italy.

'Italy and France have a complementary leadership in fashion,' explains Rovere, 'France is home to very important brands and their creativity, Italy holds the record for manufacturing. The scale is almost 1 to 10: if in Italy the enlarged fashion sector invoices 90 billion euro and employs about 500 thousand people, in France there are 54 thousand artisans with 10 billion in added value. One understands, therefore, the alliance that arises from this complementarity'. And one also understands the second objective announced by HModa at the inauguration of the Aubervilliers hub, in the presence of the local institutions: to acquire small French companies (5-20 million in turnover) in order to secure (also) 'made in France', and thus meet the needs of those brands that want to continue producing in their homeland. The ultimate 'dream' is to make Hermès bags, one of the few brands in leather goods that has never crossed French borders. 'We want to invest a few tens of millions in French companies,' explained Rovere in the new hub costing 2.5 million euro, 'but with a prudent approach, to replicate the Italian model of aggregation of subcontractors and thus give an alternative to those manufacturers who, while wanting to continue to work in their companies, wish to cede, for various reasons, the majority of the capital without ending up in the hands of a big brand. We are only interested in subcontractors and only those who produce high-end. The focus at this stage is on leather goods and clothing companies, and there are already several dossiers on the table.

The new hub, called HModa 126, is also a 'showcase' of the group's know-how, which on the ground floor of the building displayed the 'co-Lab 19' collection-exhibition of clothes, shoes and bags, the result of collaborations between the 19 HModa companies. The message is that the group is able to create garments that require the contribution of different companies, offering a complete service thanks to the synergies between the subsidiaries.

HModa 126 - which Rovere had presented last May in Versailles at the summit to attract international investors promoted by President Emmanuel Macron - aims to have 30 employees, led by general manager Gilles Lasbordes and trained by the HModa France Academy, thanks to the transmission of knowledge by Italian artisans who will come for limited periods from HModa companies. The objective, condensed in an agreement signed with local institutions, is to offer training courses to local young people. 'The Italy-France binomial is fundamental,' concludes HModa's managing director, Cesare Luzzana, 'being close to customers today is strategic.