All New business models & startups articles
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ArticleEmerging designer: Sustainability is Sneark’s signature style
Acutely aware that every year some 15 billion pairs of sneakers are produced and that a mere twelve months later the vast majority end up in landfills or are incinerated along with other household waste, Lello Romano, an architect and designer with a particular penchant for footwear based in Agrigento, ...
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The Pottero footwear brand is launched
The footwear brand Pottero said that its sneakers are available to pre-order. The launch is “a chance for investors and streetwear enthusiasts to support a contemporary, creative brand before it enters mass markets,” said the Dubai-based brand created by David Grippman. Currently available in a minimalist black and white design, ...
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ArticleEmerging designer: CB Made in Italy seeks slow and steady growth
While their store in Via Santo Spirito in Florence may just be a mere 40 square metres (430 square feet), CB Made in Italy is brimming with ideas and plans for the future. The brainchild of Cecilia Bringheli and Sibilla De Vuono, CB Made in Italy offers a limited number ...
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ArticleHow an Italian 3D scanner manufacturer has stormed the footwear industry
The startup Covision Media decided to initially focus on the footwear industry to commercialize its 3D scanner developed in Bressanone, near the northern Italian town of Bolzano. The company, which was founded on Feb. 9, 2024, after having spun off from the technology group Covision Lab, currently has a slate ...
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LaLaLand joins forces with Elastium in 3D printed footwear
LaLaLand Production & Design, a Californian leather goods and footwear manufacturer, has joined forces with Elastium, a startup producing 3D printed footwear, to accelerate mass production through the No-Minimum-and-Maximum-Order-Quantity (No-MMOQ) business model which combines 3D printing and convential manufacturing. The first product launched under the collaboration is Elastium’s 3D ...
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ArticleUnflock launches a crowd funding campaign for its sneaker cover
The Italian startup Unflock launched on Sept. 15 a crowdfunding campaign through the Kickstarter platform to raise €42,000 to finance the launch of a cover to protect and personalize the soles of sneakers. Inspired by the “simplicity and functionality of smartphone covers” Unflock’s sole cover aims to reduce the replacement ...
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ArticleTwelve emerging brands in the spotlight at Micam
Scheduled to run from Sept. 15 to 17 at the Fieramilano Rho exhibition center at the outskirts of Milan, the 98th edition of the Micam footwear fair showcases again twelve up-and-coming footwear brands as part of its Emerging Designers selection located at the Micam X space in Hall 1. Often ...
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ArticleEmerging designer: Socque rocks the classics
The Covid-19 pandemic that broke out towards the end of the first quarter of 2020 in Europe, and the subsequent related lockdowns, prompted many to make major life changes. Laure Chareton’s and Camille Cour’s response consisted of launching a high-end women’s footwear brand. After a decade of helping others run ...
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ArticleHow an Italian online platform aims to give more visibility to local fashion stores
JustinShop is an Italian startup that created an app allowing users to book fashion items, such as a piece of apparel or a pair of shoes, with the option to receive them at home by courier or pick them up at a nearby shop. This may not seem new for ...
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Belledonne raises €1m in funding
Belledonne Paris raised €1 million from external investors to finance its expansion. Since its launch in 2018 thanks to a crowdfunding effort via the Paris and Montreal-based platform Ulule, Belledonne has been self-financed. The brand has also benefited from the support of Au delà du cuir (ADC), the leading French ...
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ArticleHow Belledonne is achieving sneaker success by revisiting retro styles
With a claim as bold as “We do sneakers. We do them well”, Antonin Chabanne and Mikael Leo, who established Belledonne Paris in 2018, were setting their sights high. Since their company name derives from the Belledonne range of mountains in the Dauphiné Alps of southeast France near Grenoble ...
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A/Impact invests in the Italian sustainable sneaker brand Id.Eight
A/Impact, a venture capital firm, backed by Avanzi - Sostenibilità per Azioni and the asset manager Etica SGR, investing in social and environmentally responsible projects, has decided to invest €350,000 in Id.Eight, a Florence-based sneaker brand that uses waste materials. The funds will help support the brand in its internationalization ...
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ArticleFessura plans to raise €2.1 million in a crowdfunding
Fessura, a sneaker company based in Italy’s Marche region, is proceeding with a crowdfunding due to close on Jan.17 on the Mamacrowd platform. The maximum size of the transaction was increased to €2.1 million from €1.6 million “to give the opportunity to the many investors who have expressed interest in ...
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ArticleEmerging designer: The Peshawari chappal: Çaplait!
A cultural appropriation clash at the highest levels of the international fashion world led — apart from a retraction and relaunch of the offending item — to a fresh career direction for a British-born Pakistani entrepreneur, the creation of a new niche industry preserving traditional local skills in his parents’ ...
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ArticleVeldskoen Shoes diversifies into the travel industry
Veldskoen Shoes, a South African footwear brand, is expanding into the travel industry through a partnership in the U.S. with Rhino Africa Co, a safari company. The partners have launched Veldskoen Travel, a digital travel service “designed to provide unforgettable travel experiences to Africa,” it said in a statement. “Veldskoen’s ...
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ArticleMicam continues to showcase 12 emerging footwear designers
Scheduled to run from Sept. 17 to 20 at the Fieramilano Rho exhibition center at the outskirts of Milan, the 96th edition of the Micam footwear fair will, as always, showcase twelve up-and-coming footwear designers. Selected by a panel of some of the leading names in the Italian fashion and ...
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ArticleHow Portugal is planning to spend €120m to boost its footwear industry
Portuguese footwear producers are working on two projects to modernize the country’s industry with critical financing provided by Portugal’s recovery plan. The Agile, Intelligent, Sustainable and Technological Factory (FAIST) and the BioShoes4All projects rely on funds from Portugal’s €16 billion Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), part of the European Union’s ...
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ArticleC-Suite interview: On-demand production is key to Alohas’ success
Alohas’ revenues surged from €100,000 in 2015 to over €27 million in 2022, an extraordinary growth rate that has transformed in a few years a Catalan startup producing summer shoes into an international brand. The company made the quantum leap during the Covid-19 pandemic, when most of the footwear industry ...
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ArticleHow a new collection has prompted Safety Jogger to review its supply chain
Safety Jogger, the leading brand of the Belgian footwear and apparel company Cortina, launched in November 2022 a workwear collection as part of its brand extension policy and the initiative has led the company to reconsider its sourcing policy and reduce its reliance on China. At Expoprotection, an international exhibition ...
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ArticleiHeel presents an extendable heel for women’s shoes
iHeel, an Italian company proposing an extendable heel for women’s shoes, is obtaining a lot of interest from end users, resellers, distributors and e-commerce companies, according to Veronica Crisafulli, the company’s co-founder along with Alessandro Filosa. The pair has been working for three years on the heel’s prototypes and invested ...
