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Home > Focus On
ITALIAN HIGH QUALITY LINGERIE COMES FROM THE LAVELLO CLUSTER
Its strong point? Antonio De Fata, President of the "corsetry cluster" of Lavello, in the Italian region of Basilicata (www.distrettocorsetteria.it), has no doubts: "We are one of the few remaining hubs in our sector". In the past few years, Italian lingerie and corsetry manufacturers were located in other areas as well: in the areas of Ferrara, in Emilia-Romagna, and in the area around Brindisi, in Apulia. "We are the only ones to have survived the recent crisis - De Fata continues - which has forced other manufacturers to either change their business altogether or reposition themselves on the market". Extreme specialisation has therefore become a sort of parachute for the Lavello cluster (named after the town in Basilicata where the majority of the associate companies are based), which currently includes approximately 35 firms, all SMEs, employing about 300 people.
With such niche numbers, the one element which has allowed this cluster in Basilicata to remain on the market has been its unparalleled - at least in Italy - professionalism, strengthened by over twenty years of activity. "From the point of view of competence - De Fata adds - we feel we are second to few. The problem is, however, competing on the global market when our competitors have lower - in some case much lower - costs". Lower labour costs, however, do not always correspond to higher quality. "As a matter of fact - the President highlights - it is only the value we add through quality that allows us to defend our production levels even in an unfavourable climate for the textile-clothing industry".
As a result, the current re-launch strategies planned by the cluster's managers are all geared towards employee training. The recipe is the same as the one previously used in other Italian-made textile-clothing sectors: embracing quality and shifting the production towards the top of the range, with the added value of flexibility guaranteed by the presence, within the Lavello cluster, of businesses equally able to carry through the entire production phase, or to work for third parties. "Multinationals in this sector need to outsource part of their production to Italy: we are ready to welcome such industrial initiatives", De Fata concludes. At the same time, the cluster maintains its ability to project itself outside of its national borders. The current export quotas ranges between 10 to 15% of the total production, largely destined towards Europe. The main external markets are France, the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark.
In terms of export, however, there is a need to reposition the companies on the market. In this context, Turkey offers interesting perspectives. According to a pre-feasibility study of the pilot project "Export fashion in Turkey" - aiming to promote the internationalisation of southern Italian SMEs - there are approximately eight million potential customers in the Mediterranean country for medium to high-range Italian fashion. The Italian corsetry cluster is ready to take on the challenge.
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