Today we packed up our stuff and checked out of our hotel in Verona. On our way back to Milan, we stopped at three different company sites, all which are a part of the consortium, Consorzio della Moda.
The first company we visited was a logistics company called Groupo Sinergia. Of the three companies we saw today, this was the only place that didn’t actually make product, but instead just shipped and processed orders. Our presenter at this site compared his company to Amazon which was very helpful as the language barrier made it a little difficult to understand exactly what the company did. From what I understood, Groupo Sinergia will process an order from a customer and use an algorithm to figure out the most efficient way to pick up the packages from one of the 54 warehouses in Italy and ship to the customer in a given time frame. This company has, from what I heard, cut down shipping time and processing time by overseeing all steps of the order, from packaging to transportation to even getting feedback from the customer. All of this sounded very efficient and like a great option to have, but it was also very interesting to learn of the difficulties online stores in Italy have. Many Italians see shopping at a pleasure, so shopping online is not very satisfying to them, making it hard for companies like Groupo Sinergia to profit. Therefore, this company has had to adapt to the Italian way of life and advertise what Italians would like to see, such as showing that by buying online, one does not need to travel far for something that may not be made in their little village.
Sartoria Cavour was the next company we visited, which was a tailoring company right down the road from the logistics site. This company only has forty workers but can make about 60 suit jackets in a day, which is very impressive for such a small company. It was amazing to see suits that looked very perfect almost as if they had been mass produced instead of individually sewn. Like a factory, there is a production line that starts with cutting the fabric and ends with adding the buttons. One thing that really surprised me was that most of the clients of this tiny little company are big brand names like Ralph Lauren, who just add their label once Sartoria Cavour completes every part of the suit. I also learned that in order to be a gentleman, a man needs to have at least four suits, four white shirts, four blue shirts, and a pair of black shoes – simple, obviously.
Before the third company, we stopped for lunch in this cute little town called Borghetto. Our restaurant looked out onto a pretty river that ran through the town which made our meal a thousand times better. We also had time to walk around the town, so we got pictures the at will definitely be going up on the gram later.
Our third and final visit today was to the knitwear factory MF1, owned by Mario Foroni who is a famous fashion designer. Like the tailoring company, MF1 has many famous clients like Gucci and Chanel. The design process starts with the client sending a sketch to MF1 who then sends that to a computer that compiles the pattern and determines the type of thread to use. Then, each part of the the sweater or dress or whatever is being made is individually woven with automated machines that are linked t the computers with the design. Next, the pieces are sewn together and packaged for shipping. I really liked being able to walk through the factory and see each station with each step of the process, but what I really loved was seeing the archive of al the past knitwear. The whole upstairs of what was essentially an airplane hangar was filled with everything made in the past at MF1. Also, we got to see Mario Foroni’s new line Male to Female which makes one design reversible so it is wearable for both men and women.
Overall, a great day with all the company visits!