fashion
Fashion, Luxury and Made in Italy Products:
the true value is the workforce of excellence
It is necessary to go back to promoting the ability to make “excellent products” and reverse the negative trend in terms of training and availability of people that truly know how to “work with their hands”.
Fashion, Luxury and Made in Italy Products: the true value is the workforce of excellence
For years the statistical data have shown a decline in the number of professional figures (artisans, leather craftsmen, tailors…) capable of creating exceptional products and this issue applies to Italy just as it does to other European countries that have a great manufacturing tradition. It is necessary to go back to promoting the ability to make “excellent products” and reverse the negative trend in terms of training and availability of people that truly know how to “work with their hands”.
LVMH-Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s (LVMHF) CEO Bernard Arnault on Q4 2017 Results – Earnings Call Transcript (Source: http://bit.ly/2nyiKs9)
We have been saying this since 2013: the scarce resource is the workforce specialized in the creation of excellent products.
Flavio Sciuccati, Senior Partner and Manager of the Global Fashion Unit of The European House – Ambrosetti, then said:
“…but the small cherry (or the large one… and the entire tree) is provided by the numbers (that we expertly processed and extrapolated up until 2020 as a probable scenario): what has emerged is that by cross-referencing the data regarding the world’s demand for luxury and high-end leather goods (we used all the major projections by Altagamma, Goldman Sachs etc.) demand should grow with a CAGR of 9.1% from 2012 to 2020, and therefore retail value should practically double (from around $32 billion in 2012 to the predicted $65 billion in 2020). If this figure were to be transformed into required production capacity and therefore the number of people (Full Time Equivalent) essential for planning and producing this mass of Made in Italy products…. one would go from the current 30 thousand workers employed (which includes technicians, apprentices and production employees, not to mention the “white collars”) to a forecast (or rather, requirement) of 45 thousand approximately!!!
In addition to feeling the effects of the evolution of actual demand (that had already been observed in recent months with the increase of foreign labels and designers that bring their leather collections to Italy), the fantastic (and surprising) figure mentioned above and calculated by us, will also feel the consequences of the physiological revolution in the manufacturing sector (our starting point was data from the Italian National Social Security Institute – INPS and IT service management company – Infocamere ) as well as of the technological innovation that will inevitably tend to simplify some production processes (where possible). There is, however, one inescapable fact – the demand for these Italian manufactured products will grow (and by a lot), many more people than there are now will be needed with particular professional profiles (fashion designers, prototype makers, production engineers and technicians, managers, etc.) and there will be a need for many more professional schools and so many young people will have to return to this sector with so much passion and satisfaction, both in professional and remunerative terms”
This study was presented to the institutions involved, be it sectoral or governmental, such as the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, to bring the current dangerous and even paradoxical gap in workers specialized in the luxury sector to the fore. Nonetheless, the cry of alarm has not been heeded and now Bernard Arnault, after almost five years, is making us aware of it.
Flavio Sciuccati
Partner, The European House - Ambrosetti