“An opening that rewards the work of all the people who work in the company and that I dedicate to my father, who would have called me crazy for this investment, but inside he would have been proud and happy with this second boutique in Milan”. Giuseppe Santoni is divided between the Marche headquarters of the company, founded in 1975 by his father Andrea, who passed away a few months ago, and Milan, which Santoni has chosen as a second home: the showroom and boutique in the quadrilateral are in via Monte Napoleone, all of them ” signed ”by Patricia Urquiola.
In each shoe the meeting between the intelligence of the hands and the artificial one
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to travel as we did before Covid for almost two years – underlines Santoni -. Certainly some movements were excessive, but it remains necessary to meet the managers of the individual markets in person, to speak with those who live in the cities where we open, to have direct contact with realities other than ours “. Technology has helped to remain operational, but above all, explains the company’s CEO, it has forced a change in attitude towards digital and innovation in general. «Ours is an artisanal product and each shoe, for men and women, requires dozens of steps of skilled, indeed, intelligent hands, and hours of painstaking and passionate work – he says -. Things that the other intelligence, the artificial one, will never be able to do. However, we can apply technology in other ways, precisely for the things that we humans will never know how to do as quickly and efficiently “.
Double-digit growth is expected in 2022
In 2021, Santoni’s revenues grew to return to pre-Covid levels (83 million) and double-digit growth is expected for 2022, which will bring turnover to 93 million. “These are conservative estimates, made on the basis of the sales campaigns of the spring-summer collections, which closed well beyond the budgets,” explains Santoni. The two stores in Milan are “different twins”: the assortment of footwear and accessories is similar (but not identical) but the Galleria boutique – one of the most fascinating and identifying places in the city – makes an unprecedented use of technology.
From this season each product has an NFC tag
«Together with Patricia we have imagined and created a large curved ledwall, a sort of scenographic backdrop visible already from the window – concludes Santoni -. An element that invites the customer to interact. In front of the ledwall there is a small table: just place any article on it to see, transmitted on the ledwall, its world and its history, because from this season all Santoni products are equipped with NFC tags ».
