A Case Of Mules

The return of Sergio Rossi to limelight was revealed to us when we visited its ateliers in the ÉmilieRomagne region in Italy.

- Sophie Rosemont

Sergio Rossi is a name that requires no introduction any more. And even though the brand had been, in a manner of speaking, collecting dust in the beginning of the 21st century, it has, for two years now, come back to life, thanks to its Living Heritage project. It resulted in the brand looking into its history resulting in the creation of some irresistible model for today. This has resulted in a turnover of 62 million euros in 2017.

This comeback is explained when we go back to San Mauro Pascoli, the birthplace of famous Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea in the beautiful region of Émilie-Romagne. A few paces from the seaside city of Rimini, the legendary landscape chosen by Fellini for Amarcord. This is where Sergio Rossi was born in 1935. It was also in San Mauro Pascoli that these shoes were created, in a factory spread in 10,000 square metres with 7,000 square metres for commercial and creative offices. This factory is one of the most well executed in the domain of Italian shoemaking, which fell victim to a rapid drop in activity at the turn of the millennium, before it was reborn from its ashes in 2016.

SUPERSTAR MODEL

The label has found its sheen again and it is, first, thanks to its CEO, Riccardo Sciutto. When, at the end of 2015, the financial group Investindustrial bought over all of Sergio Rossi from the Kering group, and as of the spring of 2016 he was in full control of the brand. And extravert and enthusiastic person, Sciutto decided to release, “this beauty from the sleeping forest” of oblivion which the mark had stumbled into some years ago. “My drive comes from the story of my family,” he said.