Being competitive in the fashion industry means being certified, ready to seize the opportunities offered with the goal of growth, attentive to sustainability, but also able to guarantee one's product. This is the recipe for "functioning" according to Carlo Pisoni, owner together with his brother Rodolfo of Italcompo, a company in the Milan area that is a leader in footwear components.
What are the must-haves for progress in this sector?
"Today it works if you are able to invest in technology and if you have product expertise; there is not one without the other. Then there are some needs that need to be met: one is sustainability. This is also why we have taken the certification paths, achieving ISO 45001 in December 2023; by October 2024 ISO 14001 will come. On the materials front, there is an increasing demand for alternatives to fossil-based products. We are developing 50 percent regenerated and biobased products."
Green transition then?
"The future is about sustainable materials but it is not easy; there is a quality issue: providing a product that guarantees performance and durability. In Italy I see a strong push in this direction, also from the government. With 4.0 there was a focus on increasing productivity, with 5.0 there will be a push toward sustainability. The criteria have not yet been well defined but there is great interest from entrepreneurs."
Are incentives a good way to encourage this transition?
"Incentives for their own sake are of no use, we need to set the goal of improving production processes through new tools. We have taken advantage of those for 4.0 and the operation is still ongoing, as the process takes time to train staff and set up new working methods. It is also about making a change in mentality."
How does he see the industry trend?
"We had major growth in 2022; then in 2023, between the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Houthi attacks on the Suez Canal, high inflation rates, everything slowed down: people spent less and warehouses are full of product. Globalization has upsides and downsides: it has opened up markets for us far away, but if there is a crisis on the other side of the world, people thousands of miles away also pay for it."
