中文That’s right. Italian leather group Pasubio has recently acquired high-end textile company Luilor in its entirety.
This is not its first “crossover”. In May last year, it just acquired two leather enterprises. This time, it directly ventured into the “cloth” sector.
Why would a leather maker desperately want to get involved in textile manufacturing?
But it is clearly not content with “just selling skins”.
Last year, it established a platform called UNICA. The acquisitions of leather and fabric factories are all aimed at “loading goods” onto this platform. Luiluol is an Italian family-owned textile enterprise that has been in business for 36 years, specializing in high-end jacquard fabrics and functional fabrics. It employs 80 craftsmen and exports 70% of its products to Japan, the Netherlands, and Northern Europe.
The CEO put it quite straightforwardly: combining leather and fabric technologies to offer a wider range of material choices in the automotive, fashion, and home furnishing sectors.
Customers used to come to me for leather, but now they come to me for the full set of “leather + fabric”. Do you need leather paired with fabric for your car seats? We can handle everything for you.
Second, why do we have to use “leather + fabric”? Because customers don’t want to separately seek out the current luxury goods industry, they are becoming increasingly “lazy”.
It’s not that we are really lazy, but we want to save trouble. When a car brand is making interior decorations, they need leather seats, cloth door panels, and suede ceilings… In the past, we had to find three or four suppliers, and negotiate contracts with each one, manage quality, and monitor delivery schedules.
Now Pasubio says: I can do it all. Pi is my specialty, and Bu, after acquiring Luilor, can also do it.
This is the “one-stop solution”. For brand owners, the fewer suppliers there are, the lower the management cost and the more uniform the quality control.
That’s the plan Pasubio is playing.
III. “New Business Model” for Traditional Leather Factories: Pasubio’s recent move is actually a microcosm of the traditional leather industry.
In the past, a leather factory was just a leather factory, and it was enough to focus on its own business. But now, it’s not the case. Market competition is fierce, customer demands are getting higher and higher, and the profit from selling leather alone is getting thinner and thinner.
What should I do? There are two paths: one is to go high-end, learn from Hermes, and focus on craftsmanship and scarcity.
The other path is to move towards a “platform” strategy, like Pasubio, by integrating through acquisitions to transform itself into a multi-material solution provider.
Pasubio chose the second option. It is not the largest leather factory, but it aspires to become the most comprehensive material supplier.
IV. Can domestic leather factories learn from this?
To be honest, it’s not easy.
The acquisition logic of Pasubio is clear: it buys small, beautiful enterprises with technical thresholds that are based in Italy. Luilor’s jacquard technology and SK!N’s leather craftsmanship both embody “craftsmanship”.
This is not something that can be bought with money. The centuries-old craftsmanship tradition and industrial cluster advantages of Italy are difficult to replicate in other places.
But the approach can be learned: shift from “selling materials” to “selling solutions”. It’s not necessarily about acquisition; deep cooperation and joint development are also viable options. The key lies in whether you can help customers solve their problems in a “one-stop” manner.
Pasubio’s ambition goes beyond being just a leather factory.
What it aspires to do is to build an empire of materials spanning leather, cloth, and functional fabrics.
Whether this path can be successful depends on the subsequent integration results. But the direction is right: what customers want is not just a skin, but a solution.
Whoever can make things easier for customers will win.
