Anyone who has been following me for a while will have noticed this change. Lately the shoes that we offer for sale are produced on request or sold in pre-order.
But what does this mean?
I want to tell you about this new way of production and sale, because it represents an important step for us, who are trying to build a new way of craftsmanship.
Changing the production system also passes - indeed, above all - through new ways of understanding manufacturing. And I want to tell you about it in this article.
We have always done this. Until yesterday.
Our story begins with a generational clash. Here I told you our first ten years, which today are actually thirteen. The family factory was set up according to the traditional manufacturing vision so widespread in the Marche.
We were ghost producers at the service of big brands. The production was huge, even for the launch samples of the collections hundreds of shoes were produced, which today is unthinkable for me.
Normally the warehouses of all shoe factories were crowded with unsold goods that accumulated on the shelves and took up space, requiring staff only to store and manage these products which, in the end, in order to be disposed of, were sold at ridiculous prices.
The people of the Marches remember well the famous "factory outlets", those low-cost markets where you can buy shoes of the highest quality but from past collections.
This system began to show its faults from the economic crisis of the early 2000s. And it was around 2009 that my brother Gian Luca and I chose to change course and take matters into our own hands, to at least try.
There was nothing simple, because the first obstacle for us was to convince our parents to change their views. For my father, for a life as a shoe manufacturer according to these well-established methods, producing huge quantities was normal and lowering those standards was too big a risk.
I, on the other hand, demanded uniqueness. To be able to distinguish myself, I had to create something special, almost tailor-made. We started like this, first of all changing two things: the quantity of shoes produced and the way they are sold. It was possible to buy the Venus Slipper only in our stores, and at the time our e-commerce did not exist either. No intermediaries, no sales agents, no fairs.
By choice, I have never adhered to sales initiatives, which reminded me too much of those debasing mechanisms of yesterday. We never did end-of-season sales, because for twelve months our shoes had and have the right price.
It was very tiring, because we were a voice out of the chorus and most of the customers weren't used to this strange system. Social media, however, helped me a lot to tell myself, and it is thanks to this direct line that you are here reading me today. Clients and clients have understood our reasons, they are passionate about our history, they have shared our values, so today we feel we are taking a step further.
Shoes in pre-order and on request. What does it mean?
In recent months, we have worked hard and questioned our identity and our values. Among the things we care about, there is a deep attention to something precious, a word that is often used inappropriately and that for this I use with extreme caution: sustainability.
It is not just a question of attention to the environment, but of triggering a virtuous cycle that allows us to do good to everything and everyone: to the society in which we live, to our community, to the environment, to the people who work with us and to their families. It is a complex concept, which cannot be reduced only to the choice of materials used.
So we decided to produce and sell in a different way, introducing the concept of pre-order and on demand. What is the difference?
The pre-order shoes are models that are in production that you can purchase in advance to reserve your number. We produce a limited quantity of shoes of the same model; it often happens that those who had intended to buy a specific shoe in a certain color find themselves disappointed at the time of purchase, because its number has run out. This mode allows for more targeted sales - and fewer disappointments!
The shoes on request, on the other hand, are made specifically for those who buy them. Once purchased online, they are put into production and arrive at (or to) the customer within 30 days.
Making shoes on request is a question of responsibility: we have limited resources available and therefore even more precious; producing on request allows us to avoid waste of raw materials and unnecessary accumulation of goods in the warehouse.
A small step to go far, together.
It happened for the latest limited edition "Wild Field", but it is with the collection Tinctoria that I have officially tested my idea, and I must say it is working. The response of my clients fills me with pride and represents a great deal to me, who have always stubbornly chosen the opposite direction to all the others. This means that there is no single mode of production and sale, the one to which fast fashion has accustomed us. There are new ways, and today's customers and customers have keen ears and minds to grasp changes, even if they come from below and start from small producers.
What do you think?
I would very much like to know. write to alice@scarpettadivenere.it and let's talk about it together!
