Lvmh chooses Salento to produce footwear
It is not just his visits to the sumptuous farm in Ostuni that attracted the second richest man in the world, Bernard Arnault, in the heart of Salento in Puglia. More and more frequently, behind these visits lies an interest in business. The French luxury giant LVMH is rooting its industrial and financial operations in the Salento footwear district, and is doing so in collaboration with one of the main local entrepreneurs, Antonio Filograna Sergio. Corriere della Sera reports it.
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Through its subsidiary Dior, LVMH has become a 40% partner in two corporate activities 60% controlled by Filograna Sergio’s holding company, Green Seagull. The first of these companies, Manifattura Salento AF, has been operating in Alessano, in the province of Lecce, since 2022, and specializes in the production of leather goods for Dior. The workforce of this company, which will gradually increase from 300 to 600 employees, has become an integral part of the project.
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The second company, Aeffe Lux, was established just a few months ago Taurisano and is focused on high fashion manufacturing. It is likely that these initiatives were the main reasons for Bernard Arnault’s surprise summer visit to Salento. During September, Arnault, together with his daughter Delphine, who is also president of Dior, and the brand’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, inspected the facilities of Manifattura Salento and another Filograna company Sergio, Leo Shoe, which is a high-end footwear manufacturer, and was previously a supplier to LVMH.
According to rumors, this business relationship could soon evolve into a new equity partnership between Lvmh and Filograna Sergio, after the collaborations already started in Manifattura Salento AF and Aeffe Lux. In particular, it seems that Lvmh is close to purchasing the majority of Leo Shoes, a company that generated revenue in 2022 for a total of 234 million euros. Although these rumors have not received official comments from ParisFilograna Sergio has denied these rumors.
However, the fact remains that LVMH is concentrating its efforts on the Italian luxury supply chain, made up of numerous small and medium-sized companies, capable of producing 70% of high-end fashion on their own, and especially on behalf of large groups. This is highlighted by the two recent acquisitions made in Tuscany by LVMH, including 70% of Art Lab, specialized in digital printing and manual finishing on leather, in 2022, and the majority of the historic Nuti Ivo tannery, in 2023.
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