Luigi Voltan

The "Luigi Voltan" shoe company began in the Italian Village of Stra in 1898. It was started by Giovanni Luigi Voltan (1873-1941).

In 1898, Stra was a little country village of the venetian hinterland affected, like many others, by the agricultural crisis. Emigration seemed to be the only alternative to unemployment. Mr. Voltan left for Boston. At that time, shoe manufacturing was a significant industry in Boston. The United States footwear production was very much industrialized; it was characterized by division of the production cycle, and mechanization of the manufacturing phases. Mr. Voltan was hired by a large companies. He worked in different departments and mastered the serialized production process, concluding that these techniques needed to come back to Italy.

Returning to Stra gave him many advantages over more traditional Italian shoe makers who were still bound to manual production. Sewing machines for leather and hides put on the market by Singer were beginning to spread throughout Italy, but these same machines were a simple help for the factories instead of a main factor for the productive process. The few shoe factories in existence at that time were extensions of the crafts shops rather than production lines.

Voltan started a workshop in his native village, using American and German machinery. In 1904 he employed between 400 and 500 workers, producing 1,000 shoes a day. The mechanization of some phases of the cycle allowed him to cut costs, which lowered the price for consumers. It was a strategic choice. He created his own retail sales network so that he could sell directly to consumers and thus undercut his competitors. He opened shops throughout Italy prior to the First World War. After Giovanni Luigi, his son Emanuele ran the company, and his nephew Giovanni together with his two sons Emanuele and Marco.

The quick growth of the Voltan footwear factory was an example for others, and it was the basis for the development of the Riviera del Brenta footwear district. If things had not gone this way, the Voltan factory would have been one of many new industries in Italy.

[Giorgio Roverato - docent of Economic History at the University of Padova.]

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