Full of Character

Doucal’s celebrates its roots in the Italian region of Marche in its communication strategy.

DOUCAL’S

FULL OF CHARACTER

Traditional and yet so modern: Italian shoe brand Doucal’s provides the shoes for modern Italian elegance. In the following interview, CEO and Creative Director Gianni Giannini talks about how the family business has become internationally successful – and what digitalisation has to do with it.

Interview: Martina Müllner-Seybold. Photos: Doucal’s

Your region, the Marche, is home to countless shoe manufacturers. Yet only few have managed to develop into a brand comparable to Doucal’s. Would you be willing to share your secret to success?

Gianni Giannini, CEO and Creative Director of Doucal’s: We are incredibly proud of our Italian roots, yet we are quite un-Italian in one important aspect. We maintain a consistent, recognisable style without abandoning our roots for the sake of chasing a trend. Our father laid the foundations for this approach by modelling the brand on English counterparts.

I would argue that one of the strengths of Doucal’s is that its shoes are so perfectly in tune with the zeitgeist and embrace the look that brands like Circolo 1901, Lardini, Stile Latino, Tagliatore, or Paolini are advocating. A shoe as casually elegant as a Doucal’s is a perfect match for this new ready-to-wear style.

It is remarkable that you should mention these brands in particular, because some of them are genuine friends with whom we exchange ideas quite extensively. They send me their colour charts and we coordinate our shoes accordingly. But that is not the only secret. Our shoes not only offer a certain outward look, but also offer comfort inside. That is essential nowadays and requires a willingness to embrace innovation. We have, for example, hidden a layer of memory foam in our shoes. It makes you feel comfortable every time you slip them on and allows you to walk around all day, even in our super-light moccasins.

Finding new talent for the shoemaking trade is a huge challenge. How do you address it?

Fortunately, we addressed this issue early on. I have always insisted that we need a whole team of young people. After all, a single young person surrounded by significantly older people will never be happy, nor will he or she be able to implement new ideas. So, we brought in a lot of young blood. A project with the University of Ancona attracted special attention. We developed a pair of glasses that records every move made by an experienced shoemaker. With just one touch, you can play back these films in the glasses and learn how to execute the skills perfectly. This project is absolutely unique and illustrates how successful we are in combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technologies. And it is by no means the only field that we have systematically digitised. Our modern approach is being passed on by word-of-mouth.

Not all Doucal’s customers know that you also offer a women’s line. Who is it aimed at?

I am convinced that female customers are no longer all fashion dolls looking for decorated high heels or sneakers. There are many modern, successful women out there who ultimately want exactly the same thing that our male customers appreciate: distinctive quality, comfort, intrinsic value and, as a result, modernity. The feedback we receive from end consumers confirms this notion. So, we believe that we can still generate plenty of growth in this particular segment.

Brothers Gianni and Jerry Giannini led Doucal’s from Montegranaro into the world.