New investments for more added value

Centro Moda

Where ideas change leather

A team of technicians develops fashion items while studying technical and production aspects, starting from the raw material. The results proposed to world-wide tanneries in the “Performances” book

A “laboratory” or, more precisely, a “laboratory-atelier of ideas” able to think like a tannery and to develop new items ready for industrial production in the season the tanner think more suitable.

This is a short description of the activity carried out by Repico newly-born Fashion Centre.

The project became feasible in November 2006 and grew on an idea of Stefania Annunziata, president of the chemical company: the offer of a really tangible service to the tanning world. In fact the Fashion Centre aims at conveying stylistic and creative inputs on leather, starting from the analysis of the raw material, of the problems connected with its origin, of quality and type.

A team of technicians develops fashion trends and stylistic suggestions as a result of their participation in world-wide events and exhibitions, of their collaboration with a few creatives and, last but not least, of their close collaboration with their customers in the Italian and foreign tanning areas, in order to get their expectations and forerun their demands.

A “laboratory” in the most traditional meaning of the word, committed to elaborate suggestions and ideas on leather and looking for the right harmony between fashion and technical contents, always bound to a proper use of chemicals: the developed items will be gathered in the “Performances” book published every six months regardless of seasons, and presented directly to the tannery which will be free to develop a few articles in a more or less immediate future, for summer, winter or season’s fashion, according to its colour palette.

The first “Performances” book is going to be published by March 2007. However every season will be stressed by Repico’s well-known book dedicated to colours. Mauro Guariso is superintendent of the Fashion Centre and joins information between the Italian branches and the headquarters; he collaborates with Luigi Iuliani, who co-ordinates the technical committee and the headquarter in Milan. They both work on the six-monthly volume that will be circulated among their customers. The technical committee is composed by Stefano Bianco, in charge of Repico sites in Turkey, Rosalino Cavaliere, in charge of the laboratory in Veneto region, Salvatore Casale, finishing consultant for the branch in Solofra, Marco Bigeschi, in charge of Santa Croce.

The committee meets every six months to decide their fashion program, to find out projects on new articles and to schedule all the work.

The material developed by the Fashion Centre is promoted and circulated by the various area managers: Stefano Bianco (Turkey and Portugal), Luigi Iuliani (China, Argentina, Korea, Bangladesh), Gaetano Vernieri (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya), Michele Giaconi (Portugal and Argentina), Attilio Comin and Mauro Guariso (Italy in general). Moreover there is a designers’ pool who intervene in the graphic-creative development of the project and have a few products – footwear, bags, garment, belts – manufactured with the leathers created by the Fashion Centre, in order to show their real possibilities in application and the results that can be achieved on the finished product.

Now the company is defining how to circulate these creations: in addition to displaying them in the international fairs where the company will exhibit over the year, the most popular solution is the itinerant exhibition in Repico’s various branches where customers can view their results calmly.