Vigevano district, luxury subcontractors grow with technology and know-how

Someone took advantage of a moment of crisis to change course, expand their business, and at peak times came to produce (even) 12 thousand pairs of soles for the trainers of a well-known luxury brand every day. Someone else took over a historic company that had ended up in the orbit of one of the great Italian fashion cracks, adjusted the production focus by becoming a subcontractor, and, with a growing business, began to acquire small neighbouring shoe factories in deep crisis.

The footwear district of Vigevano and Lomellina, although over the years it has suffered from the competitiveness of other Italian luxury footwear hubs, continues to represent a pole of excellence that generates 7.3% of the added value of the total industry of Pavia: "A district, formed by footwear and footwear meccano together, which is an evolving ecosystem capable of activating more than one billion euros in annual turnover, with a 28.5% increase from 2019 to 2022," explained Alessandro Spada, president of Assolombarda. Important numbers that could be further increased thanks to teamwork and investment in innovation'. Spada, together with Maria Vittoria Brustia, president of Assomac, and Andrea Ceffa, mayor of Vigevano, yesterday visited two companies in the district, Fae Project and Mosaicon Shoes.

Realities that have experienced years of growth, in stark contrast to Moreschi, the iconic Vigevano footwear company, which closed its local factory in March after a decade of crisis. Fae Project (Gravellona Lomellina), which produces moulds, soles and finished products (trainers in plastic materials, with a strong research on organic or recyclable ones) had a very different parabola: 'In 2009 we only had a small workshop and we lost our main customer, but that was the turning point,' says Renzo Bettin, sole director. 'We invested in machinery and proposed ourselves to the big luxury brands to produce soles first: they accepted. Fae Project, which continues to be a family-run business, now collaborates with many high-end brands, from design to ready-to-ship footwear: "Turnover is divided equally between soles and finished product. Now with the luxury slowdown, production has slowed down a bit, but there is always a desire for research on the part of the brands. And they appreciate that we do everything in-house'.

Mosaicon Shoes (Vigevano) makes a different product - sandals, shoes, ankle boots, in leather and fabric - and handcrafted, but with Fae Project it has in common its relationship with the high-fashion brands: 'I took over the company in 2013,' explains Massimiliano Sandri, sole director with a past in private equity, 'and I immediately closed the brand to produce for the big brands. We have gone from 1 million to 26 million in revenues, we have acquired two small shoe factories and between June and September we will take over another two. We will reach 200 employees and open a new headquarters'.

Both entrepreneurs emphasised the difficulty of finding workers locally, especially young people: 'Training is crucial,' concluded Spada, 'and cooperation between companies for the creation of an Academy in the area would be desirable.