Holding Industriale (Hind), a holding company that invests in sectors of Made in Italy excellence to promote processes of growth, internationalization and generational change, has inaugurated the new headquarters of GAB, a company specialized in the design, industrialization and production of leather goods for international luxury clients, in Campi Bisenzio, in the province of Florence.
GAB, which will be acquired by Hind in August 2021, has experienced significant growth in headcount and turnover, reaching 106 employees by the end of 2022, with 20 new hires and a 50% growth in turnover to €25.5 million.
The company's new 19,000-sq.-meter headquarters, the result of a total investment of about €4.5 million, will house most of GAB's subcontractors to promote Km0 production and control all phases of operations to achieve ever better production levels. The entire area houses the main building, which will be GAB's new headquarters, and two subcontractors, for a total of 250 skilled workers (including GAB's direct employees).
The focus on the supply chain is a strategic aspect for Holding Moda, which aims to establish lasting partnerships with its supply chain, made certifiable through "The Ghost Makers" platform - developed in collaboration with Intertek - in order to verify its ESG compliance with respect to the criteria of the luxury maison and to promote the culture of sustainability in the supply chain.
Inspired by environmental criteria, the new production facility is the result of a major redevelopment of the former Tintoria del Sole site.
The regeneration of the existing buildings, in addition to the high social and symbolic value of the intervention, avoided the generation of a significant amount of non-recoverable waste, and the use of new materials resulted in an estimated saving of 260 tons of envelopes, in a circular economy of reuse, recycling and eco-design.
The new facades of the buildings were also designed to maximize the contribution of natural light in the production areas, benefiting the well-being of people and the environment.
Photovoltaic panels (with a maximum capacity of 300 kW) have also been installed, while industrial parquet flooring made exclusively from recycled materials has been used internally.
With the aim of strengthening the new highly specialized manufacturing hub, Hind will continue to invest in the area and the supply chain with a new hiring plan to populate the facility with more than 350 employees by the end of 2023.
Synergistically, the hub will also house an in-house academy designed to train new workers to combine the know-how of traditional craftsmanship with new digital technologies in the world of leather goods, already adopted by Holding Moda and GAB in 3D prototyping and the metaverse.
This new initiative complements the other training activities developed by the Holding Moda Academy, which was created with the aim of promoting generational change in the Group's other companies and in the supply chain, as well as those in collaboration with institutes of excellence, including Polimoda, the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, for the placement of young talents.
Founded in Turin in 2011, Hind is a holding company that invests in sectors of excellence in Made in Italy. The holding company's investments are divided among five sub-holdings operating in various sectors, including fashion, communication, food & beverage, automotive and robotics.
The subdivision dedicated to fashion, Holding Moda, was created in October 2018 and has a pro forma consolidated turnover of €176 million and a specialized workforce of around 700 employees. The holding includes Uno Maglia (jersey), Alex&Co. (leather apparel), RBS (outerwear), Albachiara (women's wear), GAB (leather manufacturing), Project (denim), Valmor (footwear), Famar (men's and women's wear), among others.
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