Holding Industriale takes over Gab and opens a leather goods hub in Florence with a zero kilometer supply chain – Corriere.it

Protect the supply chain and enhance it in the eyes of the big brands. Holding Industriale (Hind), a Turin-based company that has been investing in sectors of excellence since 2011, is placing the Made in Italy of Tuscan fashion in Campi Bisenzio in a 20 thousand square meter hub. This is the former Tintoria del Sole which will become the headquarters of Gab, a company specializing in leather processing for the major luxury brands, and its seven subcontractors, reinforcing the project for an integrated zero kilometer supply chain. Gab, 25.5 million in revenues, was acquired in August 2021 by Holding Moda, one of the five subholdings with which Hind makes industrial investments by acquiring and then growing small and medium-sized Italian companies with an equity value between 5 and 30 million EUR; the others are dedicated to food, automotive, automation and communication. To date, there are twenty investee companies for a total of 800 employees and the turnover has reached over 210 million euros. We will move the Gab headquarters, currently in Calenzano, to Campi Bisenzio, and then all the employees, partners and subcontractors who now collaborate with the company in the neighboring kilometers, explains Claudio Rovere, founder and president of Hind. Solar panels and a large catering center for all workers will be installed. The first 7,500 square meters will be inaugurated in mid-December, while the rest will take place in the second half of 2023. We are talking about an investment of 4.5 million euros and with a precise expansion plan: today there are 106 direct and temporary employees of Gab: we want to add another 30 direct ones at the end of the year and bring subcontracting to 350 people.

The hub will also find space for an academy to teach the artisan know-how that foreign brands like so much: It will become a center of excellence – reveals Rovere. Our luxury brands appreciate us for what we do in Calenzano and what we will be inaugurating in December is a way to convey our savoir faire. The academy is already working with classes, such as the students of the Institut Franais de la Mode in Paris who come here on business trips. Gab deals in particular with bags, suitcases and leather accessories. Enclosing the entire supply chain in a single perimeter, according to the president of Holding Industriale, only gives greater value to the products of the Tuscan company in the eyes of the big luxury brands. The big fashion houses are no longer satisfied with an audit that goes to inspect the supplier, they rather prefer those suppliers where they can touch, see that there is a coherent production capacity and that the workers work in a place with rules, security and Made in Italy quality -. In the end, the brand feels secure – adds Rovere – and the territory benefits from reshoring, that is, a return of production to Italy rather than seeing it remain in Eastern Europe.