Mario Moretti Polegato, chairman of the Italian shoe manufacturer GEOX Group, who lectures on intellectual property and entrepreneurship at universities around the world, visited Japan to give a lecture at Waseda University.

Chairman Mario is the third generation of a wine-producing family in Treviso, northern Italy, and while taking over the family business, he founded a shoe brand in the early 1990s as a result of a certain incident. Sales as a casual shoe manufacturer quickly expanded. Treviso's unique branding strategy, which has produced global brands such as Benetton and De'Longhi, has also attracted attention.

The GEOX Group listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 2004, less than 10 years after its founding. Chairman Mario's entrepreneurial skills and his qualities as a business leader who has led the company to rapid growth have attracted attention, and he has been invited as a visiting professor at various universities since the 2000s. He has given lectures and conferences at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy, MIT in Boston, Cambridge University, Columbia University, Peking University, the University of Hong Kong, and Moscow University. "It all started in the desert of Reno, Nevada, USA. I was visiting Reno for a wine exhibition, and while I was walking around, my rubber-soled sneakers got so sweaty and uncomfortable, I decided to poke a hole in the sole with a Swiss Army knife I had for travel. That's how it all began," Chairman Mario recalls with a smile.

These "breathing shoes" were so comfortable and breathable, with breathable rubber soles and waterproofing, that they were patented in 100 countries around the world. "At the time, I wasn't thinking about selling shoes; I was thinking about selling an idea," says Chairman Mario. But after three years, no companies were interested in the patent, so he decided to set up his own shoe manufacturer in Venice. What started as a shoe manufacturer with five friends and a few university students has now established itself as the industry leader in Italian casual shoemaking.

The company currently operates 1,250 stores in 115 countries, and sales in fiscal 2014 were 109.6% higher than the previous year, reaching approximately 120 billion yen. Approximately 20 million pairs of shoes have been sold worldwide, 7 million of which are sold in Italy, meaning one in eight Italians owns a pair.

"Our success is driven by three key factors: technology, Italian fashion, and comfort. While our collections are urban-style, we strive for everyday urban comfort. While we currently hold a 95% domestic market share for rubber-soled shoes, we plan to expand our technology into leather-soled shoes and apparel," says Chairman Mario. Having earned doctorates in agriculture, veterinary medicine, chemistry, business administration, and economics in Romania and Italy, Mario himself is actively involved in collaborative projects with students from European universities, utilizing the latest technology. He also runs the designer line Patrick Cox, and his broad perspective on fashion and his business activities, such as working with children with Down's syndrome in Italy and Spain, are the reasons he is recognized as a lecturer.

The family wine farm owns seven breweries and sells over 30 million bottles a year, and this solid history is the secret to Geox's success, but the chairman said, "One idea is worth more than one factory. There are many people around the world who want to invest in innovation. Japan's technology and planning capabilities are attracting attention from all over the world, and we have high hopes for the power of the younger generation."

Text: Noda Tatsuya