"I love Italian shoes."
That's the name of a new initiative from Italian shoe-makers aimed at buffing up flagging sales abroad.
But shoes are not the only Italian products to have lost their shine of late.
The small and medium-sized companies that produce a wide range of the country's trademark, "Made in Italy" goods say they are suffering like never before. They blame bureaucracy, the strong euro and a wave of cut-price imports from Asia.
From manufacturers of bathroom fittings to luxury textiles, globalization has left many Italian companies -- and some of the country's most powerful politicians -- hankering for a return to the days of protectionism.
Italy's share of global exports in its traditional sectors slumped almost a third between 1987 and 2000 to 13 percent, while China's stake virtually quadrupled to 15 percent.
Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has led an outspoken campaign against the surge in imports from Asia and recently urged the EU to cut red tape to help boost the region's competitiveness.
"If rules continue to be made on poultry [for example], Europe will end up like a chicken ... in other words, in the pot of a Chinese cook," Tremonti said after hosting a meeting of his European counterparts in September.
While many Italian firms say they are struggling to beat China in terms of costs, they say they still win hands down in terms of quality and style.
"We want to make the consumer aware of the elegance, quality and style of Italian shoes. The Italian shoe is a shoe to love in the true sense of the word," said Rossano Soldini, president of Italian shoemakers association ANCI.
However, Soldini says foreigners' love affair with Italian elegance has been hit by the surging euro.
CYCLICAL STRIFE
The euro has jumped around 30 percent against the dollar since the start of the year, whacking all sorts of exports.
"There was certainly a major slowdown in US demand," said Pietro Fanticini, a cheese-maker from Parma who exports 60 percent of his produce.
"The worst was the initial impact when it was unclear how long the euro would hold up against the dollar," he said.
But critics say Italy's problems run deeper than over-regulation or currency fluctuation, and lie principally in a lack of innovation over the years.
Analysts say Italy's cottage industries -- once a backbone of production -- are predominantly in slow growth sectors and little adapted to a changing economic environment.
"Countries that have seen most growth are those which are focused on modern products -- electronics and information technology," said Fedele De Novellis, an economist at Milan-based research group REF.
Italian big business has also appeared slow to modernize.
Carmaker Fiat, Italy's largest private industrial employer, has seen its market share sink to record lows thanks largely to its failure to invest in new products.
Fiat's Western European registrations fell 12.5 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of the year and it is only now getting new models onto the market to tackle the crisis.
INNOVATION NEEDED
Clothing retailer Benetton still has growing exports but it has been overtaken by more innovative rivals like Spain's Zara which has been quicker to pick up on trends and get them onto the rails of its stores more quickly.
EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said Italy had rested too long on its laurels, accustomed to a level of relative affluence after decades of industrial expansion.
"There is scarce planning for the future. I note a certain psychological inertia," he told reporters recently.
That's something Italy is belatedly trying to address. The government has earmarked between 5 and 6 billion euros (US$5.8 to US$7.0 billion) next year to boost growth of which 2 billion euros will go on infrastructure and innovation projects.
As European Commission President Romano Prodi -- a former Italian prime minister -- put it: "The route to revitalizing our economy, to reinvigorating our industrial system lies in rediscovering our capacity and hunger for innovation."
Diego Della Valle, chief executive of Italian luxury shoe and bag maker Tod's said closer relations with Asia were the way forward and that he was looking at the possibility of opening a factory in China.
"We cannot wait for them to colonise our market," he said. "Between the two nations we can forge excellent relations which can lead to synergies."
Whatever the solution, the difficulties are not unique to Italy.
"All of the Western world has to face the challenge of cheap labor costs in other markets. These are the new rules of the game and Italy must learn to adjust to them," said Vincenzo Guzzo, an economist with Morgan Stanley in London.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2