Maurizio Croceri
Liu Jo CEO and shareholders
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The joint venture dedicated to footwear dates back to 2016 and led to the birth of Eli srl. A company that, after only 4 years of work, achieved a turnover of 36 million euro producing one million pairs of shoes in 2019.
Eli comes to life with the aim of creating a profound synergy between the unmistakable style of the famous, renowned and very Italian Liu Jo brand and the expertise and manufacturing tradition of a footwear district of excellence, like the one of the Marche region.
Today, Eli manages the design, development, production and distribution of the Liu Jo branded footwear collections.
We talk about it with Maurizio Croceri, CEO and shareholder of Eli company.
What has there been in your life before Eli srl?
“I grew up in one of the most important footwear production district in the world, the Marche region. Here, I learned about the hard work of entrepreneurs and artisans capable of designing and manufacturing products destined to become icons of Italian excellence in the world. Since 2003, after a path of professional corporate growth, I started my adventure in the world of fashion accessories. And in 2007 the career as an entrepreneur with my own company, with owned and licensed brands”.
What is your leadership style, what personalities inspired you?
“In terms of leadership, I strongly believe in teamwork, so I consider it essential to surround myself with professional collaborators, of course, but who first of all are driven by passion, who have ‘heart’ and know how to think ‘further’.
My father is, without a doubt, among the personalities that inspired me, teaching me through sport, Judo in particular, the spirit of sacrifice and how to best use energy.
I am also attracted to all those who have been able to overturn consolidated models, revolutionising the system and placing the customer at the centre. Apple is exemplary and the great figure of Steve Jobs who, with his ‘lateral thinking’, has shaken up design and functionality of the world of devices by improving it in all respects. As he himself said: ‘What separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance’.
Jeff Bezos is another prominent personality who, with the
multiplatform e-commerce Amazon, marked the beginning of a new era for online commerce. I would also mention his quote: ‘Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering’. Ultimately, Michele Ferrero with his mantra: ‘Always do different from others, have faith, hold on’. Facing, thus, things with determination and tenacity, daring when you believe in something. And I would also talk about his secret: always consider Valeria … who is Valeria? ‘Valeria is the owner of everything, the CEO, the one who can decide your success or your end. You must always respect her, never betray her, and fully understand her. She is the end consumer, the one who decides what to buy every day, to decree the success of an idea and a product”.
Is there any major brand story you love to keep in mind?
“The efficient Toyota model, revolutionary in the overall vision of the processes, whose key lies not in the individual elements that characterise them, but in their way of constantly working united and cohesive. A real system”.
How is your typical day scheduled?
“Work is life for me, so it doesn’t have a beginning and an end, I don’t have schedules. I wake up very early in the morning, and pay great attention to the market trend and its evolution. I try to grasp signals and treasure them to improve and implement every aspect of my entrepreneurial activity”.
When you are not working, what are you passionate about?
“I am passionate about people. Confronting and communicating with others is essential to me. I love sport and travel, always sources of inspiration and opportunities for new encounters”.
How do you take care of your training and personal growth?
“I believe that you are born entrepeneur, but I think it is essential to always be up to date. I thus read a lot, study, deepen topics of interest… but, once again, the source of greater knowledge for me is in the comparison with people, from whose experiences I always try to draw food for thought and improvement”.
Speaking of meetings, how did you get to meet Marco Marchi, president of Liu Jo?
“The first meeting took place in 2015. At that time, I was head of a company dealing with licensing and private labels. A business that was doing very well. But it is exactly when things go well that it is important presuming a crisis. So I imagined that within 5 years that market segment would suffer (by the way it did). I realised, then, that it would be a great opportunity to connect my experience to a brand in the Premium segment, such as Liu Jo, demonstrating its full potential.
Marco, born in Carpi (Italian district of excellence for
clothing) has an incredible history and experience behind him, both as a man and as an entrepreneur. He was able to create a brand giving value to it, thanks to his incredible intuition and particular vision of the business”.
How is Liu Jo’s business model structured?
“A good product is at the core of any business. Starting
from its creation up to distribution. What matters is that customers find the product they want.
Moreover, a good product is, above all, the result of an essential combination of a winning idea, competent and capable people able to produce it, materials of excellent quality.
The strength of the partnership between Liu Jo and Eli is the deep synergy between the headquarters in all business processes”.
How does the creation of a collection occur and how do you manage the development of models?
“Creativity, design, the choice of materials and processes that guarantee competitiveness in terms of aesthetics, quality and performance, allowing us to stand out and be globally recognised are the values that characterise our collections.
To achieve these objectives it is essential to shorten the production chain, monitor the sell out and focus on a constantly evolving business model”.
Please specify the type of products you make and the target you refer to.
“The project was founded to enhance femininity in all its forms and for all ages. Both girls and women are the brand’s target, ranging from active mood (sport collection) to more chic (my Liu Jo Essential) and glamorous (Dress)collections.
In a few months it will also be possible to customise sneakers on our website: starting from a white model you can choose colour shades, applications of studs and small parts, laces, charms, writings and initials”.
What are the models in which the artisan and manufacturing aspect emerges most?
“The highest line of the My Liu Jo Essential collections, a Made in Italy proposal in which we pay the utmost attention to the artisan aspect. It consists of passe-partout models that live regardless of the season and that are declined in a wide palette of colours and materials”.
If I were one of your stylists, what tips would you give me?
“Not to think about making a collection, but about developing a vertical project that has all the elements to be successful. I find it useless to waste energy by creating huge collections. I prefer to focus attention on a few structures, test our novelties on focus groups that give us clear feedback on trends and desires, and only then produce footwear around which to build strong marketing and communication. This way of working allows you, among other things, to be able to provide an excellent service to the sales network. There must obviously be a beautiful and flawless product at the basis of everything. This is why we also equipped ourselves with an internal laboratory that allows us to think much faster on the various proposals we want to develop”.
Where do you produce and how do you choose your suppliers?
“We have a widespread production in the world and we select suppliers with care, based on the needs of the specific product. Ours is an extremely focused strategy. We deliberately avoided equipping ourselves with an internal production structure in order to be very fast and flexible in our approach to the market.
This idea also enables us not to have production limits”.
How many people do you employ?
“Eli has around 50 internal employees, 20 external consultants employing, in general, between 300 and 500 people indirectly”.
What distribution strategy do you apply?
“Multichannel. Also in this case I believe that we cannot but be flexible taking every possible path so that the consumer can easily find our product. We carefully analyse individual sales channels, evaluating their potential, in order to always propose an adequate offer, conveyed by trained people or by a thorough communication, which explains the birth and meaning of each project”.
On which market squares do you sell?
“The Liu Jo Shoes project develops 60% on foreign markets and 40% in Italy.
Foreign countries have a growing trend that is increasing season after season.
Western Europe currently represents the main market share. At the same time, we are experiencing significant growth in the former USSR area.
Asia (Korea in particular) is certainly the place with the best prospects for the future. New development projects have started in Africa and Central/South America with the SS21”.
What is the sales channel that is giving you major satisfaction?
“Online, which is growing in double digits. Also in this case, having well-defined and non-dispersive collection structures, studied in every detail and industrialised with extreme care, helps to make the most of this channel and reduce returns. If a customer appreciates your model and your fit and finds it constant over time, it will be easier for him to order the next pair online. Also Wholesale, where thanks to the trust of some partners, among the most important players in the sector, we are growing significantly in terms of quantity and quality”.
Digital revolution. What are your initiatives?
“Always looking towards innovation and digitisation, the last important investment was the Private Showroom: a tailor-made virtual area that the customer can access, with the support of our sales network, to build a personalised proposal for his own consumer.
It represents a new way of interacting with the product, which can be seen and analysed in detail, thanks to a system that can be accessed comfortably in the company, from home, wherever you want. In this way, a new time-optimised and even more efficient relationship with the brand is created. We, for example, presented the latest collection entirely on this platform through a real show lasting about half an hour in which experts, testimonials and influencers such as Chiara Ferragni intervened. We managed to reach 1400 people in one shot. An extraordinary result that led to a growing sales campaign and a denser, faster and more optimised network of meetings with buyers”.
Sustainability theme. Is it important to you?
“Today it is one of the strongest and most pervasive values for us. Creating a product that respects the environment is not only a duty, but a necessary ethical choice that every company should pursue to protect and preserve the planet we live on.
This is why we are working on new products made of certified organic materials and regenerated from sustainable raw materials. A combination of glamour, comfort and environmental protection. A first step in the long path of sustainability, which will pave the way for many other green projects”.
What initiatives do you have in the pipeline for the future?
“We are already working on all-round collaboration projects with YouTubers and Influencers.
In synergy with them, respecting the brand values, we are
imagining product capsules dedicated to their followers, where they can recognise themselves and feel part of the project itself. We want to give all, young and old, Liu Jo lovers a unique brand experience.
In terms of communication, we are working on a strong strategy that develops in a widespread manner on the reference markets.
Moreover, the clothing line for girls is on the market, coordinated with the collection of accessories, created in collaboration with the YouTuber Me Contro Te. The first time we worked with them we made 4 million contacts and in half an hour their line sold out without relying on intermediaries”.