In need of craftsmen, the luxury industry is creating its own schools and training courses

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS

Published
Oct 23, 2023

Faced with a shortage of specialised craftspeople in the luxury sector, both companies and institutions are launching all kinds of training courses, schools and other initiatives. The aim is to stem the tide by preserving and passing on to younger generations the skills that are at risk of disappearing, yet are at the heart of the luxury industry. Italy has become a true factory hub in Europe, with its many SMEs that are the keepers of these age-old skills and governments are also announcing various initiatives to preserve the professions. For example, the Italian government has decided to create a Made in Italy high school, due to open in September 2024. 

According to a survey carried out in 2022 by the Comité Colbert, 85% of luxury houses are facing serious recruitment problems in their production sectors, with almost 20,000 vacancies to be filled.

Altagamma, which brings together Italy's luxury goods companies, estimates that over the next five years, luxury goods companies will need to employ 346,000 professionals in top-level trades, including more than 40,000 in fashion and leather goods. A majority of craftspeople are preparing to retire without having passed on their know-how, because their trades are devalued in the eyes of young people and their parents, or are relatively unknown.

The Italian Chamber of Fashion (CNMI) estimates that 90,000 people will be needed in the next three years to replace these craftsmen and fill the new positions required by the industry. It can take ten years to train a technician.

This has prompted the brands to take action and accelerate their own training programmes. On October 17, LVMH announced the creation of a "centre for excellence in the trades", which will house, among other things, a training area and practical craft workshops for the general public. The number 1 in luxury goods, which created its Institut des métiers d'excellence (IME) in 2014, now has no fewer than 288 continuing education programmes around the world.

In the same week, the Bottega Veneta label launched its Accademia Labor et Ingenium, an academy that will be based on its leather goods workshop in Montebello Vicentino and a space located in the same region in the north-east, near Vicenza. The aim is to provide a comprehensive training programme for 50 students, under the aegis of five of the company's master craftsmen, as well as refresher courses for the label's employees. Other houses in the Kering Group have taken the same path, such as Gucci, with its School of Love in Tuscany, and Alta sartoria Brioni, which trains the label's tailors.

Hermès and its 'Ecole des savoir-faire'

In order to preserve its craft heritage, Hermès has set up its 'Ecole des savoir-faire', a training centre dedicated to leather goods, its core business, and accredited by the French Ministry of Education. Last year, it was accredited by the Fédération française de la maroquinerie (French leather goods federation) to also deliver professional qualification certificates (CQP) in cutting and stitching. Meanwhile, at its meeting on October 18, Assopellettieri, the employers' confederation representing Italy's leather goods companies, announced its intention to open its first dedicated leather goods school in Tuscany in 2024.

Luxury shoemaker Tod's set up its Bottega dei Mestieri school ten years ago to train its own craftsmen. But according to the group's boss, Diego Della Valle, a stronger project is needed to make these professions attractive to young people. He has therefore just proposed the creation of a real "master craftsman" diploma. "We need to ensure that people approaching the professional world see a career as a craftsman as their first choice, rather than a fallback option," he recently explained to the local press.

Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre has teamed up with the Michelangelo Foundation, a Geneva-based institution that supports contemporary craftsmen, to launch 'Homo Faber Fellowship', a unique programme designed to promote professional integration by bringing together young graduates in applied arts and crafts with master craftsmen. The first edition, which has just got underway, has resulted in the creation of 20 duos. The programme, which involves the transfer of skills within the workshop, as well as entrepreneurial training and professional support, runs for seven months in different European countries.

The industrial groups specialising in luxury goods production that have sprung up in recent years, bringing together top-of-the-range manufacturers to serve the major fashion houses, are not to be outdone. Gruppo Florence, for example, has set up a "diffuse academy" for its 26 companies. A first sewing course, called 'Le Mani della Moda', began in June with the Tuscan company Ciemmeci Fashion, followed in October by a second edition.

Days to discover the manual professions of the luxury industry

For its part, Holding Moda, the fashion division of Holding Industriale (Hind), which brings together eleven companies, created the Accademia Holding Moda in 2020, dedicated to craft apprenticeships and the industrialisation of processes and products. This week, it is promoting the new 'Storie di Futuro made in Italy' initiative, run in partnership with LaFabbrica, an entity specialising in educational projects, to offer a pathway to fashion careers in secondary schools.

Raising awareness of these manual professions among the very young is a real challenge, which is eveidenced by the many initiatives that have been launched in this industry in recent years. These include the "Sow me" event organised by LVMH, the "Savoir pour Faire" campaign launched by the Comité Stratégique de Filière Mode & Luxe in 2019, and the "Les De[ux]mains du Luxe" event inaugurated last year by the Comité Colbert to introduce secondary school students and their families to the world of luxury. This year, the second edition will be held at Station F over four days, from December 14 to 17, i.e. an extra day, and will involve 30 companies compared with 20 last year.