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    • HERITAGE

    Take a bold main character who, after working for twenty years, decides to risk everything and create his own company in poor and devastated post-war Italy.

    Add a growing family which links its children and grandchildren’s destiny to the factory.

    Spice up with generous amounts of joy and sadness, success and fail.

    Stir it up with a spoon of passing time.

    Put in the oven for 70 years and voilà, you’ve got the story of Novarese.

    Since 1946 – when Nazareno Gismondi created his first workshop – the footwear market has completely changed. Materials, techniques, machinery, professions and, above all, clients’ requests. The world has become extremely fast, and if we wanted to remain valuable, we had but one choice: Becoming faster ourselves. We could have done it by lowering our quality standards, or by giving up on that creativity we were always proud of.

    But resignation was never part of Novarese’s DNA: We accepted the challenge and decided to grow. We opened our departments to new technologies, without letting them overcome us; we studied the corporate organization and made it more effective; we took the very essence of our hand-craft tradition and invented new ways to express it; we observed our partners to understand their needs and anticipate them. Doing all of that was intense, but the results, both in performance and customers’ satisfaction, are greatly repaying us. It’s true what they say: Changing is risky, but not changing is far more dangerous.

    Timeline

    1946

    Nazareno Gismondi establishes Tecla Varese

    1965

    Luigi Gismondi, son of Nazareno, joins his father in managing the company, which changes its name to Calzaturificio Tecla di Gismondi Nazareno e Luigi

    1975

    The Company becomes Calzaturificio Novarese di Luigi Gismondi

    1980

    Collaboration with international brands begins

    1992

    Novarese launches Rizzente, a luxury footwear brand. Unfortunately, the project is not as successful as expected, and it ends three years later

    1996

    Partnerships with fashion brands increase, both with production partnership and production licenses

    1999

    With the third generation of Gismondi – Luigi’s sons and daughter Andrea, Marilena and Mauro – the new Calzaturificio Novarese S.r.l. is born

    2005

    Novarese launches D-S!DE, customizable sneakers brand

    2010

    The company creates O’Keeffe, luxury footwear brand which merges Irish design with high Italian manufacture quality, and uses Good Year Flex patent for sole construction

    2013

    Samuele Trippetta becomes part of the company team

    2016

    Novarese moves to the new headquarters. The company starts a Lean Management project, in collaboration with www.vit.institute

    2019

    New company image, new website and company profile

    Would you like to know more?

    For information about shoe patterns and productions, or to make an appointment, call us or send an e-mail. We may not look like it, but we love talking business. Especially when it’s our own.