Italian fashion clusters achieve growth, in spite of leather
Further analysis of figures for the first nine months of 2024 have led Italian financial services group Intesa Sanpaolo to attribute export growth of 2.3% for the country’s top ten fashion manufacturing districts.
These ten districts, which include the leathergoods manufacturing cluster near Florence and the leather-making cluster in Arzignano, achieved exports with a combined value of €33.7 billion over the nine-month period in 2024. This represents growth of 2.3% compared to the same period the year before.
However, Intesa Saopaolo’s analysis attributes all the growth to three clusters devoted to goldsmithing, those in Arezzo, Vicenza and Valenza. Arezzo goldsmiths contributed more than €5.3 billion to the total and achieved growth of almost 120%.
The news is less positive from the leather clusters. The banking group said leathergoods production in Florence was the second-biggest in the list of ten, bringing in export revenues of €3.6 billion, but this cluster’s revenues contracted by 21.5% year on year.
In Arzignano, exports of leather gave revenues of €1.7 billion, down by 2.4% year on year.
