MILAN — Gruppo Florence could also be known for its rapid expansion and M&A method, but there may be far more than meets the attention, in response to chief executive officer Attila Kiss.

“We will not be simply collectors of a few of the perfect examples of Italian manufacturing firms; it’s time now to shine the sunshine on our industrial and innovation projects,” Kiss contended. “Our goal is to remodel the system and the pipeline into something more modern while defending the worth of excellence.”

Gruppo Florence was established in October 2021 with the goal of developing a platform to produce high-quality Made in Italy products to major luxury fashion brands, leveraging competitive prices, guaranteeing prompt and versatile deliveries and solutions, while safeguarding the technical and cultural know-how of small and medium-sized family-owned Italian firms.

Since then it has grown to own controlling stakes in around 24 firms, including Metaphor, which produces high-end knitwear; informal outerwear manufacturers Emmegi and Giuntini; Ciemmeci, an organization that makes a speciality of the production of leather and fur pieces; Confezioni Elledue, a specialist in casual outerwear based in Tuscany, and footwear specialists Lorenza Calzaturificio and Novarese.

As is customary for Gruppo Florence, which Kiss said has reached sales of 600 million euros, the founding families and controlling shareholders have agreed to keep up minority stakes in the businesses they run.

“Sure, the group has acquired so many firms in such a brief period, but this is not any longer the news,” said Kiss, who desires to shift the eye to what’s behind the scenes. “The true news is, what happens inside the group?” he said.

The launch of a recent website on Monday is in keeping with this objective. It is split into 4 chapters: Officina, Auxilium, Academia and Enzyme.

Officina highlights the foundations of the project, its extensive production capability, from prototyping to quality control of different business units, starting from apparel, shoes, leather goods and “intermediate workmanship,” or accessories and details used to create exclusive products.

“The pipeline is starting to struggle to maintain up with the brands and their increasingly more sophisticated requests,” explained Kiss. “Due to the dimensions of those smaller firms, they’re exposed to risks and we don’t need to lose this precious know-how.”

Hence, Auxilium, or help, that Florence provides. Sustainability, for instance, has turn out to be a key issue and a serious obstacle to beat for some smaller firms, which “are under enormous pressure to comply” but don’t have the tools, the expertise and the means to navigate through the “a whole lot of various forms each brand sends their technique to trace production. They often don’t have the funds to show to outside consultancy. We have now an in-house team that monitors almost 1,000 suppliers,” Kiss identified.

Auxilium contributes to economic, social and environmental sustainability through the control of the whole production pipeline, and special projects in partnerships with the international brands. “These brands cannot map out their objectives in sustainability without the pipeline’s contribution,” observed Kiss.

Academia looks to the longer term, creating training initiatives, working with schools and connecting the scholars with the businesses, while offering recent technology.

Enzyme is an open community of innovators, entrepreneurs and inventive talents that work to remodel the posh pipeline, spurring progressive solutions through collaborations to check and expand recent initiatives, experiment materials, technology and products, explained Kiss.

The positioning will speak to potential clients and partners, and folks who will probably want to work for the group, stimulating potential and future collaborations, he continued.

“We pair with entrepreneurs who understand that we work as a bunch, which allows them to be faster and guarded,” said Kiss. “There may be constant interaction between the entrepreneurs, who’re curious and dynamic, and the managers. We would like to create a bunch that is extremely flexible. Crafted Luxury Group describes our vision to dedicate resources to brands offering sustainability and digital transformation while preserving the tradition and manufacturing skills.”

Gruppo Florence is controlled by private equity fund VAM Investments, Fondo Italiano d’Investimento and Italmobiliare and has sales within the region of 600 million euros, said Kiss.

Former Bulgari and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton executive Francesco Trapani is chairman of Gruppo Florence and of VAM Investments.

“We don’t do turnarounds; the businesses within the group are all healthy,” stated Kiss.  

Gruppo Florence can also be earmarking investments of around 20 million euros, of which around 50 percent is destined for the expansion of the operations, production and industrial spaces; 4 million euros shall be channeled into technology, and 5 million euros within the strengthening of the production and logistic plans to support a better level of service.

With the goal to expand production and construct recent plants to maneuver some steps internally, improving the welfare of employees and the economic performance, and investing also in machines, the group is planning quite a few real estate projects.

These include: the expansion of the production area of Giuntini, in Peccioli, near Pisa; of the Mely’s knitwear company’s site; recent headquarters for outerwear company Elledue; the expansion of jersey producers Manifatture Cesari and Pigolotti; recent headquarters for Parmamoda, specialized in women’s lightweight apparel, and a recent production site for footwear company Taccetti.

The group expects to rent 200 recent employees, searching for tailors and quality control technicians, operations managers or IT and legal specialists, to call just a few positions. 

As reported, in March Kiss revealed through the Future for Fashion conference in Florence that the corporate’s “destiny” is an initial public offering. Speculation has recently been circulating that personal equity fund Permira was eyeing an investment in Gruppo Florence.