All Case Studies articles
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ArticleHow an iconic Italian footwear brand went from rags to riches
In just a few years, Valleverde’s turnover has increased more than twenty-fold, surging from €1.5 million in 2015 to €32 million in 2023. Last year, the top line was up by 28 percent compared with 2022. In 2015, Elvio Silvagni took one of the best-known Italian shoe brands out of ...
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ArticleHow Fibbl aims to reduce returns, increase conversion rates with 3D models, AR technology
The Stockholm-based startup Fibbl states that its photorealistic 3D models and augmented reality technology for e-commerce can help footwear brands using its services tackle problems with high returns while also increasing conversion rates. Founded in 2021 by Henrik Arlestig and Johan Bertilsson, two childhood friends with over a decade of ...
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ArticleHow returns can be an opportunity to boost sales
Returns represent a significant cost for online retailers and a scourge for the environment. In the US alone, e-commerce customers returned 17 percent of goods for a total value of $816 billion (€754bn) in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation. The figure is even higher in the EU, where ...
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ArticleHow Cortina wants to disrupt the sneaker market with its new SJ brand
Simultaneously in Europe and in Asia, Cortina launched the SJ brand, which it expects will disrupt the sneaker market and help it make the transition from a private label business to a brand-centric entity. The new label was showcased at Expo Riva Schuh & Gardabags, an international trade show specializing ...
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ArticleHow Starlet continues to develop its fashion line as it grapples with adverse forex
The Starlet group, a Pakistani shoemaker based in Lahore, has continued to develop its line of fashion shoes, with a foray into women’s footwear, while having to deal with the consequences of a sharp devaluation of the local currency. Between early 2022 and September 2023, the Pakistani rupee declined by ...
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ArticleHow Kidderminster Footwear weathered Brexit
Like other British exporters, Kidderminster Footwear suffered the double-whammy of the Covid-19 pandemic, which broke out in Europe in the latter part of the first quarter of 2020, and the UK’s departure from the European Union on Jan. 1, 2021, the so-called Brexit. The company states that its business, excluding ...
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ArticleHow French retailers can save up to a year’s rent on their lease
In a comprehensive interview, Tanguy Pissembon, a Paris-based legal counsel in real estate, explains how commercial tenants in France can significantly save on their rents when renewing their leases by properly using the country’s legislation.
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ArticleHow an Italian shoe maker is dealing with the change of aspirations of its workers
The footwear industry in Italy, as in many other developed countries, is having to tackle with an aging workforce and a lack of appeal for young people, which has resulted in a shortage of skilled staff. But, the situation is aggravated by growing competition for resources from well-funded brands which ...
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ArticleHow Future Fashion’s founders are working on their exit strategy
Future Fashion, the owner of the namesake omnichannel platform offering fashion brands the possibility to “virtualize and customize” their collections in 3D using SaaS (Software as a Service) technology, and Design Italian Shoes (DIS), which sells customized shoes, have entered into a couple of partnerships outlining the exit strategy of ...
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ArticleHow Serafini is relaunching itself after exiting creditor protection
After seeing €3 million of credits “go up in smoke” for having sold its footwear to financially weak resellers, the Tuscan footwear company Serafini entered a debt restructuring program agreement known in Italy as “concordato preventivo di continuità”, from which it exited early 2022. Serafini was a very successful sneaker ...
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ArticleHow a Malaysian shoemaker is hedging the China risk and trying to expand in the U.S. and Europe
Sweetkiss Shoes Footwear Co., a Malaysian incorporated footwear group known for its Dr Shooz brand, launched a new factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in July 2023 to supplement its Chinese facility, which is located in Guangzhou and has been operational since November 2012. Source: Sweetkiss Shoes ...
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ArticleWhy footwear brands are reluctant to be fully transparent about the supply chain despite client demand
Consumer demand for traceability in the footwear supply chain is here to stay but many brands around the world are still failing to pay enough attention to the trend, according to Bruno Venditti, chief operating officer of the Italian digital product passport start-up Blockvision. In an interview with Shoe Intelligence, ...
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ArticleHow after a stellar 2022, Spanish shoemakers are facing a challenging environment
Last year, the Spanish footwear industry returned to levels similar to the pre-pandemic period. Exports exceeded €3 billion for the first time, with almost 160 million pairs of shoes sold abroad. But, export growth has slowed down early 2023 and the Spanish industry continues to struggle with structural shortcomings while ...
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ArticleHow Turkey is still benefiting from Covid-19 reshoring, even if some production has returned to the Far East
Turkish footwear exports are set to break a new record in 2023, partly thanks to the reshoring of some production from the Far East during the Covid-19 pandemic. After reaching an all-time high of $1.2 billion in 2022, Berke Içten, head of the association of Turkish footwear manufacturers TASD, forecasts ...
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ArticleHow reshoring requests proved short-lived for Portuguese producers
Demand to reshore footwear manufacturing from Asia to Portugal has petered out after growing substantially in 2022, several Portuguese producers told Shoe Intelligence. Last year, as high inflation, energy prices and China’s zero-covid policies upended the global footwear supply chain, Portuguese manufacturers were approached by clients who wanted to reshore ...
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ArticleHow Turkey is rebuilding Antakya’s shoe cluster after the earthquake
Where footwear factories once stood in Antakya, the city in southeastern Turkey devastated by an earthquake in February 2023, name tags and signboards are the only traces left in the flattened and desolate landscape. But 40 kilometers away, in a town called Reyhanlı, Turkish authorities have installed container shelters and ...
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ArticleHow Portugal is planning to spend €120m to boost its footwear industry
Portuguese footwear producers are working on two projects to modernize the country’s industry with critical financing provided by Portugal’s recovery plan. The Agile, Intelligent, Sustainable and Technological Factory (FAIST) and the BioShoes4All projects rely on funds from Portugal’s €16 billion Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), part of the European Union’s ...
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ArticleHow an Italian startup is working with the fashion industry to promote upcycling
The mission is simple: to give value to end-of-life products by introducing designer collections deriving from the creative reuse of second-hand clothing and discarded textiles cuttings. Appcycled was born with this purpose two years ago. It was founded by three young people eager to promote upcycling in the fashion industry. ...
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ArticleHow Spanish espadrille makers expect to bank on their holy city’s jubilee
In 2024, Caravaca de la Cruz, the fifth holy city of Catholic Christianity with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Camaleño, will be celebrating a jubilee year that is expected to attract more than a million pilgrims and tourists. As part of the event, local shoe makers have launched a ...
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ArticleHow a group of Polish shoemakers is seeking to relaunch their industry
Created in 2019, Polska Grupa Producentów Obuwia (PGPO) is a proactive grouping of more than 50 Polish shoemakers largely based in the southern province of Malopolskie, the country’s main footwear cluster, aiming to promote their industry which has been badly hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. ...
