In the Marche region and beyond, the name "Sollini Gino Srl" is historically known to those in the industry. It is, in fact, a company that has been supplying the famous footwear district of the Marche region with accessories and related items since 1969. A classic Italian entrepreneurial success story based on family, work and expertise. Times change, however, and to remain competitive in the market, it is necessary to adapt. An attitude that has never been lacking at "Sollini Gino Srl," which for the past couple of years has chosen the GRS - Global Recycled Standard - certification path for its products. As the official website of the promulgating body (Textile Exchange - nda) states, this is "an international, voluntary and comprehensive product standard that establishes requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions."
Adopting this certification is a strong and radical choice that is ethically moving in the right direction but is still not without its difficulties and contradictions according to Icli Sollini, a partner and owner of the company with whom we spoke in depth: "The green mood in the fashion market definitely and exponentially exploded during Covid. It has become a real business concept. Therefore, in the company we immediately believed in the opportunity to obtain GRS certification, which aims to guarantee the ecological and other standards of the entire supply chain."
In the face of the obvious advantages and added value offered by such an attestation, the organizational and systemic criticalities of the entire operation also immediately emerged: "We market a wide range of footwear items," Sollini explains, "so we had to readjust our catalog to the parameters required by GRS. We made a sorting for each product category by renewing our group of suppliers. A huge and deep job but necessary to give continuity to the GRS standards in the supply chain." Yep, continuity, that's the real contentious point of the whole issue, the most important part of giving credibility to the GRS project, according to Icli Sollini: "The Global Recycle Standard makes sense if all the players in the supply chain abide by the rules. Right now, we sell semi-finished products to trusted customers who, however, in some cases, themselves are not certified. Specifically, the so-called "Transition Certificate" for intermediate actors in the supply chain is often missing. This frustrates our investments made so far." The reasons are mainly due to the burdens to be part of the GRS circuit; not all players can afford certain costs. Therefore, what can be the solutions? "We do not have production, so we thought of ensuring the continuity of GRS by acting as a "collector" and bringing together under one invoice the products to be shipped to the brands. This way, we would have a complete cycle and also reduce costs."
Despite the current difficulties, "Sollini Gino Srl" believes strongly in the Global Recycle Standard: "Our mood does not change," concludes Icli Sollini, "in our world the recycling operation is a value, an asset despite the complexities of the system. We will continue our path of searching for innovative products and optimizing services to consolidate a total and optimal collaboration with our customers."
