The district of leather and footwear in Tuscany is a reality of international importance, the excellence of the made in Italy, which has been able to react very well to the economic crisis, assuring employment. Florence has focused on luxury leather goods and thanks to this, it has won the challenge!
The district of luxury leather goods
The Florentine district is specialized in luxury leather goods. It is a classic district, which presents all the craftsmanship and industrial processes and that has managed to ride the crisis head-on.
Citing the data published by Il Sole 24 Ore (source: Centro Studi IntesaSanpaolo), among the 20 most dynamic districts for volume growth, the high-end leather goods sector in the Florence district stands out and is at the top of all the production specialization areas in Italy: with 3.8 billion exports in 2017, it has almost doubled since 2008. A result of considerable level achieved thanks to the activity of both factories owned by the major luxury brands and contractors.
The luxury leather goods of the Florentine area produce bags and wallets of the most famous world brands: Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Bulgari, Ferragamo, Fendi, Tiffany, Cartier, Dior, Celine, Montblanc, Givenchy and Chanel, just to name a few.
The footwear district
The industrial district of Santa Croce sull’Arno, between Florence and Pisa, is one of the most important European areas for leather tanning. It specializes in the production of footwear and leather products and is the only district whose specialization covers the entire leather production chain: in practice, from leather tanning to the finished product, mainly footwear.
Geographically, the district covers an area of about 330 square kilometers, with small to medium-sized businesses. The main production concerns leather, footwear, and leather goods. Interesting is the fact that about 40% of total production is exported.
The big names and stylists consider the Santa Croce district the fulcrum of the creation of leather. The future for the district today focuses on training and research system, ie university courses, a chemical-tanning technical institute, and the professional institute for the operator of leather processing.
