236.000 manufacturing talents are wanted for Made in Italy luxury by 2024. The sector, which with 115 billion in turnover, it represents 7% of the Italian GDP and 9% of the global luxury market, today it employs 400.000 people in Italy, but according to Altagamma estimates, the needs of companies risk not being satisfied for a figure that is worth more than half of the current workforce. A paradox, if you consider that Italian workers are also coveted by large international luxury groups (Lvmh produces footwear in Italy), and that in our country youth unemployment is almost 30%.
This will be one of the missions of Matteo Lunelli, new president of Altagamma, the foundation created in 1992 by Santo Versace which brings together 110 top-level Made in Italy brands, a sector which, despite the crisis, shows no signs of slowing down and where investments represent 14% of turnover. “We have to make families understand – said Lunelli, President and CEO of Cantine Ferrari, unanimously appointed head of Altagamma until 2022 – that there is a strong demand for this type of profession, little communicated but which in the end is the excellence of Italian know-how. Today many kids want to be chefs because food has become cool: we have to make sure that it is the same for all the workers in the world of luxury".
An increasingly varied world, which in the last term alone with Andrea Illy brought 34 new brands under the aegis of Altagamma, bringing the total from 76 to 110. Fashion always commands with 28 brands, but all are represented, from luxury hospitality with 15 large hotel companies, to Food & Beverage (above all Beverage, including President Lunelli's Ferrari) with 20 brands, yachts with 8, jewelery with 5, cars with 7, with the recent entry of Lamborghini. The CEO Stefano Domenicali, until a few months ago in contention for the role of boss of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, was appointed director, together with, among others, the CEO of Campari Bob Kunze-Concewitz and for the first time a representative of the financial world, the president of TIP Gianni Tamburi.
President Lunelli illustrated in Milan the guidelines of his three-year mandate which will unravel a universe, that of luxury, which is worth 1.300 billion euros globally and of which Europe is the first producer and the first exporter, with 400 companies and two million employees. “Italy has always played a central role – said the producer of the fine Trentino wine -, just think of one fact: adding up the tradition of the 110 Altagamma brands, the total years of history turn out to be a good 9.000”. The three main challenges for this great legacy, which must above all know how to renew itself, are internationality, sustainability and contemporaneity.
“To support the strategies of the partners – explained Lunelli – Altagamma will expand its network of relationships. The big challenge is that of the Chinese and Asian markets, which in a few years will produce 10 million new luxury consumers”. Then there is sustainability, which is not just the trend of the moment, the Greta effect, but a real need that increasingly younger customers feel, demanding maximum engagement from companies, especially those from the top range. An aspect that has both an economic and a reputational impact. Finally, the contemporaneity: “It is estimated that within a few years, 100% of luxury transactions will be influenced by digital. It doesn't mean that everything will be purchased online, but that the products will in any case be discovered and evaluated via websites and social networks”, concluded Lunelli.
