Digital format, real ideas for the Sole24Ore Luxury Summit, an annual event to take stock of the Italian fashion industry, which has totaled about 3 thousand online registrations and from which cautious reasons have emerged to look to the future with optimism. The data indicate a V-shaped recovery, the best of the scenarios hypothesized by economists after a crisis: 2020 ended with a decline in revenues of 20%, for 2021 an increase of 12% is expected. An average that hides the difficulties of the SMEs in the supply chain, which in 2019 had reached 100 billion in turnover, recalled Cirillo Marcolin and Carlo Capasa, presidents of Confindustria Moda and the National Chamber of Fashion at the opening of the Summit, which began with a speech by the director of the Sole 24 Ore, Fabio Tamburini.
The emergency phase can be overcome in concert with the Mise and by joining the Pnrr (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 4 May), but we can and must look further, because the fashion industry, from textile companies to the brands that show o present in Milan and at Pitti in Florence, from accessory companies to artisans who also work for French fashion houses, is at the forefront of the current issue, environmental and social sustainability. The pandemic has also accelerated digitalization, projecting everyone into a new normality where the quality of made in Italy has an additional tool in digital to make itself appreciated in the world, starting with the younger generations, who already appreciate made in Italy today and who they will be the consumers of tomorrow.
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Accenture’s quantitative approach
Looking beyond with tools that are more current than ever: «Digitization and sustainability are two paradigms that are strongly impacting the fashion industry. They have a considerable importance, taken individually, but it is only through their combination that this sector will be able to mark a change of pace – underlined Andrea Ruzzi, Head of Fashion & Luxury at Accenture for Europe -. Technology today offers the tools necessary to achieve sustainability goals, as an enabling factor also for new business models: think of digital identity in the blockchain – to support re-commerce scenarios – or NFTs (Non fungible token), “digital only” products’. However, for sustainable transformation there is an element that is still underestimated, Ruzzi warned, and it is the adoption of a quantitative approach that involves all company functions: “It is only in this way that technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, by entering the vital and control nodes of the value chain, connected to the application system in which company transactions are managed and recorded, they make it possible to take sustainability choices to a higher level ».
Cisco’s virtual technology
The past year saw some new experiments that were at the center of the Luxury Summit. “Cisco supports the digital development of fashion companies at 360 degrees and digital and sustainability are two sides of the same coin,” explained Gianmatteo Manghi, CEO of Cisco Italy. Among the technologies developed by the company are the virtual showroom, security to protect applications, wifi and artificial intelligence to offer services to customers. And the virtual showroom is one of the solutions that Cisco has created for Salvatore Ferragamo. “With the emergency – said Micaela Le Divelec Lemmi, CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo – we found it difficult to maintain contact with customers for this reason we have sought new ways that would marry the physical with the digital and we will continue on this path. even after the emergency. Technology can play a very important role not only in maintaining the high quality level of Made in Italy, but also on issues of reducing the environmental impact, I am thinking for example of the logistics of raw materials and artifacts “.
The consumer according to Kpmg
“In the last year, the speed of growth of online sales has been equal to that of five years and the consumer has changed profoundly, becoming a omniconsumer»: According to Massimo Curcio, associate partner of the consulting and analysis company Kpmg, it is a customer more linked to the local dimension of the purchase, more sober, especially in Europe, who has made his home a hub, and who is moving more and more fluidly between the physical and digital dimensions of shopping. “Data will be increasingly important to profile and follow the movements of the new consumer.”