Growing demand designed for Italian leather merchandise spurs capacity growth for DiGio Leather

Italian leather upholstery manufacturer DiGió Leather Sofas has expanded its factory on Altamura, Italy, to create additional convenience of meeting growing demand.

The plant, found in southern Italy’s Murgiano furniture district, has almost doubled its footprint from 250,000 to 462,000 square feet, bringing capacity from around 140 containers per month to 235. With additional development lines, capacity can be further risen to 500 containers per month as require dictates. The expanded factory features different state-of-the-art equipment, including laser beam leather cutting machinesThe growth addresses increased demand in the last six months, regarding to DiGió President of Revenue Steve Lush.

“There are many factors driving this, the main being our expanding products, including the recently launched collaboration with Kathy Ireland Worldwide,” he said. “The company resonates with suppliers and customers, and the merchandise has began to hit dealers’ flooring surfaces and is retailing very well.”

Beyond product, Lush cited logistic and supply chain issues that contain elevated demand for Italian-sourced goods.

“We are currently owning a five-week production routine, so total period from buy to receipt at the dealer’s warehouse is around nine weeks,” Lush said. “This can help our customers move their inventory better.

“Furthermore, ocean freight prices from Italy possess remained remarkably stable, with only a slight increase,” he added. “Sea freight from Italy is running less than half of current Asia costs. And clearly, there is absolutely no tariff on merchandise from Italy to the U.S., nor will there be a risk of a tariff later on. ‘Made in Italy’ applied to carry a significant premium, but the effect of the tariffs and sea freight rates include helped this difference to nearly disappear.”

Lush also noted a stable trading marriage between the USA and Europe provides even more stability for source chain managers.

“I’ve had quite a few dealers tell me personally they continue steadily to diversify their developing basic, and that Italy is an extremely attractive option,” he said.

Furthermore, a “made in Italy” story appears to resonate at retail, where almost all of DiGió’s dealers have in-store signage or tags identifying the Italian item.

“I do believe that there is some cache associated with Italian design and top quality of workmanship, and this helps to offer the product at retail,” Lush explained. “And the feeling of pride the Italians ingest their product is evident in the finished things. Consumers can see the standard of the leathers, the sharp tailoring and the focus on detail.”

DiGió was founded found in 1990 by Giovanni Sforza, the company’s general supervisor and stylist, and is owned and operated by the Sforza relatives. DiGió targets container-direct service for goods at middle- to upper-middle price things. Those include top-grain natural leather stationary sofas retailing from $1,199 to $1,799, and top quality top-grain household leather sleeper sofas from $1,799 to $2,299 retail range.

While leather is the primary focus, fabric is a growing the main assortment.