When Milan, Florence, Paris, and London are on the itinerary, can you guess what the subject is for a study tour? Art, history, cuisine? Mais, non! Olin students in Prof. Martin Sneider’s Luxury Goods Industry course were studying the business of global brands from Gucci to Chanel and Burberry. Undergrad students on the tour sent us virtual postcards and photos. This is the first in a series from Christina Ruggieri, BSBA’14.
One of the highlights of our group’s stop in Italy was a visit to Zagliani in Milan.
Zagliani is a very small, niche provider of handbags and wallets specializing in exotic skins like crocodile and python. 
The bags were unbelievable – and with unbelievable price tags to match! However, after learning more about how much care and artisanal craftsmanship goes into the making of these bags, the high prices (almost) start to become justified.
Based in the historic exotic skins fashion district of Milan, Zagliani embraces this heritage and creates every item 100% by hand using age-old craftsmanship methods that have been tied to the area for decades. In addition, its practices are completely sustainable given its ownership of several crocodile and python farms in Africa and Asia. The end result is a showroom full of absolutely gorgeous bags that we were lucky enough to see!
Not only was Zagliani’s exotic product offering unique compared to the other designers we visited, but Zagliani was also by far the smallest-scale luxury goods provider that we had the opportunity to speak with.
This provided an interesting, alternate perspective in comparison to the giants that we saw like Louis Vuitton. It was surprising to learn that the company has been around since 1947 but is still such a tiny niche player in the grand scheme of the luxury market. We learned that they have remained small by design, however, so as not to dilute its brand and uphold a standard of extreme luxury.
In remaining small (Zagliani distributes exclusively through Barney’s in the U.S. and operates a singular retail store in London), Zagliani has created an air of exclusivity about the company and has become known as being absolute experts in the realm of exotic skin bags. Limited production and distribution have made Zagliani items hard to get and therefore very popular amongst trendsetters and ultra-wealthy consumers.
Zagliani was arguably the most exclusive brand our group visited, and its stark contrast to the other companies we visited, beautiful headquarters, and hospitable employees made it my favorite visit of the trip!
Itinerary in Italy included visits to the Gucci Museum, Gucci flagship store, Ferragamo Museum, Zagliani, and Loro Piana headquarters in Quarona (pictured at left).
