Monday, March 24, 2008

"Ibiz" - From Laborer Lunch Bag to Chic Hand Bag

The ANNOTICO Report

 

There was a time when Florence was the place for leather,but then people sold all their shops to foreigners make big money.
That was part of Italy's richness, and it's gone. Italians were good with their hands. It was part of what made Italy special. Now, to start something like this, it's quite impossible. How to even begin with all the bureaucracy today  It can't be done.

 

Interestingly enough, Ibiz was founded by Fulvio and Simonetta Nepi as a part time hobby when they were college students in 1972, making what were the equivalent of laborer's lunch bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young trekking foreigners, who couldn't resist  a Nepi original for 11,000 lire - about $10.

Elisa, the daughter elevated the "Ibiz" brand by designing classic womens hand bags in brilliant hues, and the world started to take notice.

LETTER FROM ROME

Handbags - By Hand

The Tribune's Christine Spolar finds one of the few remaining family leather shops in Rome,   where daughter takes over from father with an eye for style

ChicagoTribune

Tribune correspondent Christine Spolar  is based in Rome.

March 24, 2008

ROME-  Elisa Nepi knows, with every stitch and soft-leather skin she touches, that she and her family are holding tight to a fast-disappearing art.

She and her father are among the few in this city who still hold the key to a family-run studio for leather craft. Every day, the two sit, with hammer or needle in hand, and pound out a living.

Italy was once known for such handmade leather goods. Today, as Chinese imports flood the market and Chinese immigrants fill factories commissioned by Prada and other designer shops, the Nepis' small shop is a reminder of the back-alley enterprises that once thrived in Rome and Florence.

"There was a time when Florence was the place for leather," said Nepi, a bright-eyed 31-year-old. "But then people sold all their shops to make big money. They sold those shops to strangers. ...

"That was part of Italy's richness, and it's gone.  [Italians] were good with our hands. It was part of what made Italy special . Now, to start something like this, it's quite impossible. How to even begin with all the bureaucracy today  It can't be done."

The store at Via dei Chiavari 39, near the famed fruit-and-flower market of Campo dei Fiori, was born before Nepi was. Her parents, Fulvio and Simonetta, were college students in 1972, landing back home in Rome after a summer vacation on the island of Ibiza. Wandering one day, they noticed a small olive oil store up for rent for the equivalent of $40 a month. On a whim, they plunked down the rent and figured, between sociology classes and study, they could fashion themselves as leather craftsmen.

Within a few months, the young couple realized that their skill could be much more than a hobby.

Fulvio, now 57, spent his time working the natural rawhide leathers wildly popular in the 1970s and then selling them on the street. He made his mark stitching what were essentially sturdy lunch pails for Italian laborers, bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young foreigners. Thousands of Americans who were trekking through Italy for the first time, in the breakthrough era of cheap airfares, often left with a modest Nepi original for 11,000 lire - about $10.

The Nepis rented the one storefront and eventually bought the slightly larger one next door. Their store, named Ibiz, evolved as something akin to an extra living room for the Nepis' two children, and a place where neighbors came to chat and passersby could buy an authentic if somewhat predictable leather bag.

Until the day their daughter Elisa did something totally unpredictable. She failed her university entrance exam.

Suddenly, the young woman who had expected to study physical therapy"she liked to work with her hands" had lots of time on her hands. She turned to Ibiz with new purpose. She learned how to tramp the pedals of the store's old sewing machine and master the finer points of stitch. (No simple task there: The 50-year-old machine was once owned by a costume-maker who stitched sandals and belts for the movie "Ben-Hur.") She embarked on leather-buying trips with her father, who knew the best tanneries in Tuscany.

Nepi soon realized she loved the work, but she also wondered whether she and the store had a future with leather craft.

Six years ago, designer bags were all that Italian women wanted. Even sales among young tourists were in decline. Nepi made a deal with her parents: She would take over the store and take on the challenge of trying to survive as a Roman artisan.

The younger Nepi wandered the fashion streets of Rome - she still walks down and around Via del Corso every Sunday - and noticed how women of every age rely on handbags. She thought they wanted classics and colors " modern colors that could go from day to night. Bright blue, maybe. Orange, well, why not? Details on an Ibiz handbag had to be distinctive" bits and pieces of real handiwork - but n ot overwhelming. Gold chains, she said, were never an option.

Nepi followed her father's first idea: Good leather would always sell. But she had a fresh and keener eye for what makes a high-quality Italian borsa. Supple skins only from Tuscany, which she and her father believe produce the most elegant leather in the world, were a necessity.

The storefront expanded into chairs " made-to-order pieces for the discerning buyer" even as handbags held priority. Belts, wallets and key chains were salvaged from handbag remainders. Durable cotton thread, nothing else, bound all.

"Every morning, I come in and I check the bags. I think: When people enter the store, what they see is mine," Nepi said. What they also see is a remarkable display of workmanship. In a city of over-the-top price tags, Ibiz has found a way to produce handbags in brilliant hues" yellow is a color of this summer" and of notable quality and value.

Others have noti ced. Ibiz now is part of the Japanese shoppers' circuit and listed in top tourist guides. This year, Ibiz rates a mention by some tony American guides, including the discerning Context Travel. Nepi is learning to gauge how and when shoppers buy. The Japanese can take two hours to choose a bag. Americans "far fewer in number because of the falling U.S. dollar and a disastrous exchange rate" take about 15 minutes.

When asked how long she expects the good times to last, Nepi shrugs. She can only vouch for the handbags - and those, she bets, will be around for another generation.

"Twenty-five years, at least," Nepi said. "That's when the cotton stitch might go. The leather should last."

Tribune correspondent Christine Spolar is based in Rome.       cspolar@tribune.com

 

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