NeroGiardini – king of Italian footwear

Enrico Bracalente, sole director and owner of B.A.G. S.p.A., has decided to launch a new project to internationalize the company-owned fashion and footwear brand NeroGiardini. The goal set by the entrepreneur is to make NeroGiardini, the leading brand in the Italian market with its men’s and women’s footwear, a reference point also for the European markets. In this framework of brand internationalization, B.A.G. S.p.A. has entered into an important agreement with Dorna Sports, the organizer of the MotoGP World Championship, becoming title sponsor of the Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled for the 14th August. It will also sponsor the four Spanish Grand Prix - Jerez, Barcelona, Aragon and Valencia - and the two Italian Grand Prix - Misano and Mugello. "The agreement with the MotoGP World Championship will give us tremendous visibility and will bring our brand to the world" explains Enrico Bracalente. "Moreover I would like to emphasize that NeroGiardini is the first footwear brand to be a title sponsor of a Grand Prix." This significant marketing investment is only the first step in the internationalization strategy. In fact, the entrepreneur wants to export to Europe the same model adopted in the domestic market, a model based on the excellent quality of its Made in Italy products and on efficient customer service. The decision not to allow the sale of NeroGiardini products online through e-commerce platforms finds its explanation in this context. "A choice", underlines Enrico Bracalente, "that protects our retailers primarily. In fact, with our new method, which actually replaces e-commerce, in 3-4 days we are able to deliver reorders, even of two pairs, to retailers throughout Europe. The excellence of our service consists in having the current season’s best-selling styles always available." Made in the late 1990s, the decision to maintain a Made in Italy production is one of the key factors in the effectiveness of this service, which is being developed further. A second logistics platform is being designed, and it will allow the retailer to enter into the company's warehouse virtually, in order to view the real-time availability of the best-selling products and then decide to reorder. Given such a short timeframe for reorders, this innovative service is an additional protection for the end consumer who has the chance to try on the shoes in store and choose whether to purchase them or not. Exclusively for Corriere della Sera, one of the major Italian newspapers, the German Institute for Quality and Finance has surveyed 388 companies from 70 different sectors and has ranked NeroGiardini, for the second year running, as the best Italian brand in the footwear industry for the quality of services offered to end consumers.

The educational programme “Officina Italia, broadcast by Rai3, spoke about the Vocational Training Centre “Artigianelli” in Fermo and the real commitment of NeroGiardini. The company, indeed, supplies a real vocational training, teaching young people a useful trade for their integration into the labour market. In 2010 Enrico Bracalente, sole director of NeroGiardini, entered the school and took over what was started by Don Ernesto Ricci in 1946: this is how a footwear operator course started. All young people who attended the course were employed as proof of the commitment taken and kept by NeroGiardini.

On the occasion of the press conference which made official the agreement between NeroGiardini and FIM MotoGP World Championship as title sponsor of the Austrian GP, D Repubblica interviewed the Sole Administrator Enrico Bracalente, who explained what manufacturing 100% Made In Italy products means and what the Italian style is. NeroGiardini is the new title sponsor of the Austrian GP and will be present at all the Spanish and Italian rounds of the Grand Prix to reinforce its partnership with MotoGP.

NeroGiardini, the made-in-Italy fashion brand, is set to take part in the FIM MotoGP World Championship as title sponsor of the Austrian GP, give the name NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich. The last Grand Prix having been hosted in 1997, Austria and the FIM Moto GP World Championship now celebrate a return to the Red Bull Ring-Spielberg circuit. None of the present riders on the current GP grid have ever won on the Austrian circuit; this will be a new, exciting challenge for all contenders in each of the three classes.

An extraordinary circuit finds a new sponsor, NeroGiardini, the forward-looking footwear brand, confirming the continual evolution of the Moto GP. Founded in 1975, the company has a steadfast Italian heart, as demonstrated by the Italian national flag emblazoned on all its products. NeroGiardini’s goal is to protect the culture of Italian shoemaking, and the company produces over 3.5 million pairs of shoes every year.

As well as sponsoring the Austrian GP, NeroGiardini will be present at all the Spanish and Italian rounds of the Grand Prix to reinforce its partnership with MotoGP. With 50 single-brand shops and collections sold in over 100 shop-in-shops as well as 2,500 multibrand sales outlets, NeroGiardini targets international fans of MotoGP with a decisive move towards globalisation.

The agreement was made official this morning in Milan, at the Foreign Press office, in the presence of Enrico Bracalente, sole administrator of B.A.G. Spa, owner of the NeroGiardini brand, and Pau Serracanta, Managing Director of communications at Dorna Sports, the organisation that coordinates and manages the MotoGP. Guests included Franco Uncini, the former MotorGP World champion and current head of safety at the MotoGP circuits.

Enrico Bracalente, Sole Administrator and Owner of NeroGiardini said: “We are putting various strategies into practice to increase globalisation of the NeroGiardini brand. This agreement with MotoGP will bring us tremendous visibility and will take our brand out into the world. Our sponsorship of 6 Grand Prix Championship rounds, the four in Spain and the two in Italy, and title sponsorship of the Austrian GP on 14 August will definitely guarantee excellent returns on our image to the benefit of a cross section of the public of all ages. I have been a motorcycle enthusiast ever since I was a boy, so the satisfaction of this agreement is twofold”.

Pau Serracanta, Commercial Area Managing Director at Dorna Sports commented: “It’s fantastic to see a fashion brand as famous as NeroGiardini taking part in MotoGP as a sponsor. The fame and growth of MotoGP continues to increase and the new partnership with NeroGiardini is proof of this, not just through the title sponsorship of the NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, which will take place at the Red Bull Ring-Spielberg, but also with their advertising presence at the GPs in Italy and Spain during the 2016 season. We are proud to have them aboard for this new adventure in Austria, mixing a classic circuit with a modern brand”.

Professor Francesco Alberoni attended theMicam for the first time ever and selected the NeroGiardini brand to elaborate his research into Italian fashion. An honoured visit at the opening of the International Shoe Fair. The sociologist and journalist, one of the most well-known and popular living Italian writers, was accompanied by his son Giulio at the NeroGiardini stand. Here, a two-hour meeting was held with business owner Enrico Bracalente, his son Alessandro and daughter Gloria plus members of the brand’s PR staff. "This is the first time I’ve been to theMicam”, declared Alberoni, “I want to understand where the inspiration comes from, what concepts are involved in the creation of a model and what the future trends will be. I decided to come and see Bracalente because he embodies the distinctive characteristics of the first generation entrepreneur who has had considerable success and who today, after 40 years of being in business, still manages to possess the enthusiasm, plans and foresight to compete on international markets." Enrico Bracalente thanked professor Alberoni for his visit. "The attentions of a world-famous sociologist spur us on to go ahead with our goal of growing and creating wellbeing in the Marche shoemaking district.

A report published by the daily newspaper La Nazione after the sales, has commended the integrity and professionalism of NeroGiardini’s own brand stores and retailers. The article, written by journalist Elettra Gullè, looked at various businesses in the fashion sector in Florence. The favourable appraisal read: “For shops of a certain level such as those of NeroGiardini, the rightful discounts are 20%”. Bag Spa-NeroGiardini has always looked after its customers and consumers with integrity, services and products that are made in Italy.

In the pages of the weekly newspaper supplement El País Semanal, Enrico Bracalente tells of the NeroGiardini production model and of his intention to develop its presence outside Italy, where the brand is known and is the industry leader. The translation is as follows:

At the helm of this business enterprise is Enrico Bracalente, a self-made man who promotes the “made in Italy” concept and his production model.

by VIRGINIA COLLERA
photo FEDE SERRA

The past, present and future of the NeroGiardini business enterprise all follow on from one another at Monte San Pietrangeli, a small town located in the hills. Since the post war period the Marche region has developed into the hub of the footwear industry in Italy, and Enrico Bracalente understood straight away that his future would not lie in the fields where his parents worked with such dedication. At the age of fifteen he decided not to continue with his studies to become a cutter and by the time he was 18 years old, by working overtime, he had already saved 3 million lire in the old currency, which he invested in the machinery needed to open, with his brother, a modest workshop in the cellar of the town church. The present NeroGiardini headquarters is located just a few minutes by car from the parish church of Ss. Lorenzo e Biagio – where it all started. The previous site, having become too small, is now an Outlet. “Forty years on we are the leading mid-range footwear brand on the Italian market and a well-known company at European level” sums up 58-year-old Bracalente. Business prospered, new partners joined the company, more and more brands requested the footwear manufactured. “But the first period of difficulty arrived, at the end of the eighties” remembers Bracalente. “An American group that we worked for stopped paying us, without giving any reason. Its orders accounted for20% of our turnover. We were on the brink of bankruptcy”. Self-taught, without any chance of obtaining credit from the banks and no work, Bracalente then took one of the most important decisions in his long entrepreneurial career. “I made my partners a proposal: launch ourselves on the market under our own brand and create a commercial structure to gradually move away from customers who sold our footwear under their own brands”. Season after season, NeroGiardini was finding its way onto the Italian market. “Everything was going smoothly, and so I asked the other two partners to invest in marketing to create a leading brand, to compete in a globalised market and to lead the final consumer into the sales outlet. But no agreement was forthcoming: the partners saw it as a cost rather than an investment”. He was going against the tide and time has proven him right. “Before, there were 4000 manufacturers in the Marche, now only half of these have survived”. The biggest problem in the industry is that the need to invest in marketing has not been understood. In May 1998, Bracalente acquired all the shares of Batam, and since then has had total control of NeroGiardini. The 20 shoe factories throughout the province that work exclusively for the brand produce 3.5 million pairs of women’s, men’s and kid’s shoes, 120,000 belts and 50,000 bags. A new addition for 2008 was the launch of a clothing range, now managed by his son Alessandro. His aim, he emphasises, has always been simple: to buy raw materials, transform them into products and sell them to create employment, real economy, wealth and wellbeing for the country as a whole. This Italian entrepreneur and self-made-man is often quoted in interviews as saying - in conversation with business school students that study the NeroGiardini method – that it is the entrepreneur’s ethical duty to look after the territory where he works. In the nineties, when all the talk was about relocation and China was put forward as the factory of the world, Bracalente took the decision not to move from his native region. “In Italy we are highly specialised, we have veteran workers of great worth and I didn’t want to help to destroy this value that has contributed towards the prosperity of the area. While everyone else decided to relocate, I preferred to reorganise”. An industrial zone near the company headquarters is where the jewels of NeroGiardini can be found: a modern logistic hub of 12,000 square metres. “Inditex is an example for us. It offers a real time service and we, in our own operations, do the same. If an item is successful we can produce it continuously and deliver it to our proprietary shops, to franchises and to multi-brand shops throughout the entire season. This has allowed us to command a greater share of the market.” Bracalente’s ambitious expansion projects were put into perspective by the economic depression of 2008. Until 2011 the company maintained growth – in actual fact that was its best year, with a turnover of 229 million euros – but only a short while later a downturn started being felt. The company had to reorganise itself again. “we changed strategy and decided only to continue working with solvent customers and at the end of 2014 we returned to a 6% growth.” This change of direction also included globalisation. “In 2012 we set ourselves the goal of achieving in future a 50% balance of sales between Italy and, mainly, Europe.” This is the process which the company is involved in at this present time. “We are already well known in Italy. We are a leader. The next step is to strengthen our brand in Europe. We are present in Belgium, Germany, France, UK, Holland and Russia, an important market for us, where we launched our products around ten years ago. We are growing in Spain where we have just opened a shop in Girona and, if all goes well, in the forthcoming years we plan to open more shops in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.” At the Professional Artisan Training School in Fermo, the students, aged between 16 and 18 years old, are proud of their work. They are learning to be shoe production operators on the training courses launched and funded by NeroGiardini. “We plan to double our production output, but in this area we come up against two problems: a generation of professional artisans that was retiring and a generation of youngsters that has only been absorbed by businesses in the industry in recent years because there weren’t any professional schools that could offer training.” But this is history, emphasises Bracalente. “22 young people have just graduated and they all work with us”.

In the pages of the weekly newspaper supplement El País Semanal, Enrico Bracalente tells of the NeroGiardini production model and of his intention to develop its presence outside Italy, where the brand is known and is the industry leader. The translation is as follows: NeroGiardini – king of Italian footwear At the helm of […]

Dove grey and ivory for her, navy blue and grey for him: NeroGiardini chooses warm and intense colours for the 2016 Spring Summer collections, presented in the showroom in Corso Venezia, Milan. Alessandro Bracalente, manager of NeroGiardini and son of the Sole Director Enrico Bracalente, along with press office staff played host to over 150 journalists from leading national and international fashion publications. The brand, an icon of made in Italy styling, makes no secret of its ambition to cater for all age ranges, with fashion and glamour models. A winning mix of trending fashion and a return to the Seventies, technology and fine hand craftsmanship which has always been the mission of NeroGiardini, a business that closed the first six months of 2015 with a 5% increase in turnover. Key words: harmony of the forms, comfort, sophistication and trendsetting that is never overstated. For the ladies, ankle boots with sober tones featuring new materials: lace and laser-engraved leather with studs. The English world offers innovations in the form of two-tone colours and buckles. Lightweight materials with a vintage effect give sneakers a unique style, made more spirited and practical by the addition of side zips. Elegance is also synonymous with everyday routine, not just ceremony: plateau shoes in leather or painted and more sophisticated materials such as lace and satin highlight the wearability that distinguishes the brand. The slip-on model with printed leather is particularly striking. For the gentlemen we have sneakers, ideal for the professional who requires a flexible yet elegant shoe. From morning to night NeroGiardini caters for all times of the day, whether at work and during leisure time. An evolution in the English world: francesina lace ups in suede or leather, suede derby shoes with contrasting profiles and a double buckle provide style and lightness. New structures, new materials and new colours for the NeroGiardini Junior collections. The search for uniqueness and originality extends throughout the men’s and women’s clothing collections too, with the accent on freedom and elegance, and in the accessories with handbags in saffiano, pochettes, backpacks in matelassé, men’s bags which, when matched with the belts, provide the total NeroGiardini look. NeroGiardini is the story of a made in Italy brand considered a model to emulate. Founded in 1975 at Monte San Pietrangeli in the Marche region of Italy as an artisan workshop, it is today an industry leader with men’s, women’s and kids’ collections, manufacturing 3.5 million pairs of shoes every year. The founder and Sole Director Enrico Bracalente has always made the end consumer the focus of his attention and proudly marks his products with the Italian flag, guaranteeing earnings in excess of 200 million Euros split between Italy (80%) and Europe.

NeroGiardini lace up shoes for the Italian showgirl ‪Alessia Marcuzzi!

he famous Italian actress Nicoletta Romanoff chose to wear the shoes of the new women's collection NeroGiardini A / W 2015-16 on Glamour

he famous Italian actress Nicoletta Romanoff chose to wear the shoes of the new women’s collection NeroGiardini A / W 2015-16 on Glamour

For a woman who's looking for a unique, dynamic, and gritty product that follows fashion trends. The new NeroGiardini collection for Fall Winter 2015-16 caters to a variety of end-consumers: the lady always been loyal to the brand, but also students or girls who are entering the world of work and claiming a glamorous product. Choice of a wide range of structures: the platform boots (brand icon) bikers are increasingly recruited, to the more sporty sneaker. The successful combination of research, product know-how, design, fashion. The heel, never exaggerated, available in different heights, makes casual and elegant choice put the Woman NeroGiardini asking yes convenience, but also security and confidence.

For a woman who’s looking for a unique, dynamic, and gritty product that follows fashion trends. The new NeroGiardini collection for Fall Winter 2015-16 caters to a variety of end-consumers: the lady always been loyal to the brand, but also students or girls who are entering the world of work and claiming a glamorous product. […]

Talking to TG5 newscast, the sole director Enrico Bracalente explains the two years' professional courses "Artigianelli", through which the company is continuing its training of young shoes artisans.

Talking to TG5 newscast, the sole director Enrico Bracalente explains the two years’ professional courses “Artigianelli”, through which the company is continuing its training of young shoes artisans.

The sole administrator Enrico Bracalente talks to the microphones of TG3 Marche Region newscast, concerning the Russian market: difficulties are objective, but the company is satisfied. We are ready to invest in Russia, a market in which NeroGiardini is strongly focusing..

Enrico Bracalente, NeroGiardini sole director, talks at Studio Aperto newscast during theMICAM fair: the company aims a return of a "double-digit" growth, thanks tohuge investments in Italy and abroad.

Enrico Bracalente, NeroGiardini sole director, talks at Studio Aperto newscast during theMICAM fair: the company aims a return of a “double-digit” growth, thanks tohuge investments in Italy and abroad.

Turnover up by 5%, the development of the sales network, the expansion of the headquarters in Monte San Pietrangeli, training and hiring staff after participating in the shoemaker course held by the Cfp “Artigianelli” of Fermo (from September it will be a three-year course). B.A.G. Ltd, owners of the NeroGiardini brand, are continuing to conquer market shares thanks to the strategies adopted by their CEO Enrico Bracalente, who is investing in internationalization. Made in Italy, product quality, client services, and paying attention to the end-user, have always been the basis for the entrepreneur’s project to expand. Men, women and children footwear is in constant development (the Autumn-Winter collection dedicated to the 20-35 year olds will be debuting); the segments dedicated to clothes and accessories is also growing. There are 60 one-brand stores (both direct and franchising), about a hundred other shops in shops located in particular in large retail stores, and over two thousand multi-brand stores.
NeroGiardini closed its first 2015 semester with a revenue of € 103.7 million, 5% more than the same period of 2014 (a year ago the turnover from January to June was € 98.8 million). These figures were shown to the press this morning in the B.A.G. Ltd Headquarters of Monte San Pietrangeli, by Enrico Bracalente. His son Alessandro and daughter Gloria, were at his side, both work full time in the company.
“We’re facing a global market with determination and certainty, thanks to a young and trustworthy team of collaborators – stressed Enrico Bracalente -. We closed 2014 by reaching a turnover of € 204 million. We want to continue to grow and consolidate, the numbers of the last semester confirm that we are right: I am +5% satisfied”.
Over the last two years, NeroGiardini has been expanding solidly towards foreign markets, which, today represent 20% of its turnover. “The nations of reference – added Bracalente – are: Belgium, Russia, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany. The export sales network keeps growing month after month: we want to cover the whole of Europe. Each salesperson is assisted by an account executive for Spain and Portugal, France, Benelux, Austria and Germany. In Belgium we created an agency of representation that covers the entire Benelux area.
As far as Russia is concerned, the 1000m2 warehouse dedicated to retail, will be operative in a month’s time. Our historic Russian agent who has been with us since 2006, has now become one of our partners and is leading an operation that will allow him to offer our clients services. Numbers are growing also in Spain and in France. And at the same time we are also aligning investments in advertising”. In order to monitor and support the agents in markets abroad, the B.A.G. Ltd has created an internal office of qualified and multilingual staff. And still remaining abroad, the third one-brand store is about to open: “After Prague and Frankfurt – said Bracalente – in September we are going to open the first NeroGiardini flagship store in Girona, (Catalonia), Spain. And we are also starting to open shops in shops abroad too: ten with Pittarosso in France and two in Belgium. And this is just the beginning”.
As far as the proposal of expanding the headquarters in Monte San Pietrangeli is concerned, the project has been presented: “There will be new areas allocated for another 20 offices and for a showroom dedicated to the clients. The work will begin as soon as we receive the relative authorisations”.
Bracalente has called for a press conference to take stock of the situation of the course for shoemakers financed by NeroGiardini and managed by the Professional Training Center, “Artigianelli –Don Ricci” of Fermo. Father Sante Pessot, director of the Cfp “Artigianelli” also articipated at the conference. The numbers are important: the first two courses were biannual (2012-2014 and 2013-2015) with 22 students that graduated. Every one of them have been hired by the NeroGiardini group. “The third biannual course – explained Enrico Bracalente – started in May and there are 17 students participating. The number of people enrolling is increasing, and this is a tangible sign of the value of the project. There is, furthermore, an innovation: from September the course will last three years. It is the right recognition on behalf of the competent bodies, of a school curriculum created to help young people aged 16 to 18 years and that today will be of interest to those students who have just finished junior high school”. The three-year course, reserved for fourteen and fifteen year olds, will last a total of 3,168 hours. At the end of the three year course they will receive a third level regional qualification, recognized at a European level.

No to relocation: in his speech at "L'Aria d'Estate" on La7 tv channel, NeroGiardini Ceo Enrico Bracalente strongly insists on the importance of the italian production. In the Nineties the company already decided to maintain the production in our country and to continue a tradition, that started almost fifty years ago. The real Made in Italy value, says Bracalente, must be protected as well as the human capital, which is one of the most important key points of NeroGiardini: it's fundamental not to create a product in Italy and then dismantle it, to re-create the same abroad.

No to relocation: in his speech at “L’Aria d’Estate” on La7 tv channel, NeroGiardini Ceo Enrico Bracalente strongly insists on the importance of the italian production. In the Nineties the company already decided to maintain the production in our country and to continue a tradition, that started almost fifty years ago. The real Made in […]

A new year of the two-year course Operator for Shoe has begun. It is supported by NeroGiardini at the Professional Training Centre of Fermo. Good luck to you guys!

The students of the second biennum of the course Operator for shoe supported by NeroGiardini at the Professional Training Centre of Fermo made final exams overcoming the theoretical and practical tests and obtaining the qualification recognized throughout Europe.

To save time with customs and not to risk with the advance payments and balances,it's better to bring footwear closer to the target market. That's NeroGiardini idea: the company is looking for a warehouse in the Moscow region. As the sole administrator Enrico Bracalente says: "It would be an own goal to go against such an important and big market like Russia. Generally we are invited to look at the United States only, but some of the most important buyers are russian, and that's why we will continue to invest in this Country" NeroGiardini is ready to satisfy the needs of those small russian shopkeepers who will arrive in the new storehouse to buy even a few pairs of shoes. It's not a shame try to face the crysis, while it's embarrassing not to do anything. In this case, the made in Italy brand is designed for Russia only, with important goals in 2015. Every fourteen pairs of shoes produced in Italy, one will be worn in Russia. To convince customers here targeted collections are produced: are Italian people supposed to wear shoes with sheepskin lining during winter time? This production for Russians only. Italian companies are also ready to adapt to the vagaries of our climate.

To save time with customs and not to risk with the advance payments and balances,it’s better to bring footwear closer to the target market. That’s NeroGiardini idea: the company is looking for a warehouse in the Moscow region. As the sole administrator Enrico Bracalente says: “It would be an own goal to go against such […]

Exceptional restyling for our store of Milan, Corso Venezia!
From April 23rd we wait for you in an exclusive location: 240 square meters and 5 windows to discover the Woman, Man and Junior Collections and live with us a real italian shopping experience!

Exceptional restyling for our store of Milan, Corso Venezia! From April 23rd we wait for you in an exclusive location: 240 square meters and 5 windows to discover the Woman, Man and Junior Collections and live with us a real italian shopping experience!