A voicemail has just arrived on Ilasio Renzoni’s phone. “He’s a Chechen client, from Grozny, he can’t make a bank transfer”, says this entrepreneur from Porto Sant’Elpidio. Like so many others in this small town on the shores of the Adriatic in the Marche region, the historic cradle of Italian footwear, Mr. Renzoni owns a business making high-end boots and pumps. But since the entry into force of the sanctions against Russia, his daily life has become quite complicated, because the region is notoriously dependent on the Eastern market. In 2021, Italy sold 4 million pairs of shoes in Russia and Ukraine, for a turnover of 385 million euros. The Marches alone supply a third of this production.
“The Covid-19 had forced us to adapt by developing online sales, but, with this war, we find ourselves with the goods on our hands, unable to ship them”, laments Ilasio Renzoni. Usually empty at the beginning of May, its hangar is now cluttered with stacked boxes, where you can read addresses in Russia and Ukraine: “This year’s fall-winter collection. » Leather boots or ankle boots, for the most part, lined for the harsh Russian winters. Its usual customers buy between 5,000 and 10,000 euros worth of pairs of shoes. The six companies that work for the Ilasio Renzoni brand, all located in the industrial area of Porto Sant’Elpidio, are currently at a standstill.
The destiny of the Marches, heir to a long tradition where local craftsmen supplied leather slippers to the Papal States or the Kingdom of Naples, is intrinsically linked to footwear of excellence. Diego Della Valle, emblematic boss of Tod’s, the Italian fashion group, was born there. The know-how of high-end shoe manufacturers is recognized throughout the world. The strength of the region is the presence of the entire sector: from training to design, including the dyeing of leather or the production of soles and heels. “If you design a new shoe for me, it’s ready in two days”, proudly summarizes an entrepreneur from the region.
“Economic damage”
At the end of April, the luxury shoe fair was held in Moscow. Thirty-one Marche companies were present, out of an Italian delegation of forty-eight exhibitors. The regional chamber of commerce paid for the stands. For many local entrepreneurs, it was unthinkable not to make the trip, even if they went through Serbia or Turkey.
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