March is among the busiest months for the ancestral footwear factories on the eastern coast of Italy. Aside from spring deliveries, they are gearing up for the resort season. They need to start preparing as the Northern Hemisphere begins to defrost to develop product lines you can wear throughout summer.

They may be busy, but no one’s complaining. It was a different story altogether the same month last year. The pandemic hit Italy hard, and many of the factories faced the danger of closing down.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte came up with a strategy to help factories proceed with their production in phases by the beginning of May 2020. These factories accepted the challenge of gaining less than usual while living up to the high expectations that come with every tag that read, “Made in Italy.”

These factories may be busy as usual these days, but it doesn’t mean that they’re totally off the hook of the problems brought about by Covid-19. The past year taught them a lot of valuable lessons in business and people. This is because these ancient factories rely more on the workers than technology, making the process labor-intensive with far beyond average results. To maintain the value of the products, there is a need to maintain high-quality people and pass the skills to the next generation.