Ferragamo and Monnalisa

First to start of with a couple of my little curiosities.

Such a beautiful sunset over Florence.

Now to business.
It was a real pleasure meeting with the division merchandising manager of leather goods at Ferragamo, the following day was visit to their four hotels were also quite interesting, though I can't say I'm too impressed by them. The talk gave an insight into the works of merchandising at Ferragamo, where it's more about how to build a collection. First we got a quick quiz on Ferragamo, wanna try? See how much you know about it. :)
1) Where was Salvatore Ferragamo born?
a. Bonito
b. Firenze
c. San Gimignano
2) At what age did Salvatore create his first pair of shoes?
a. 19
b. 14
c. 9
3) In which country did Salvatore's success begin?
a. US
b. Italy
c. Japan
4) Which was Salvatore Ferragamo's nickname?
a. Shoemaker of the stars
b. Shoemaker of dreams
c. The genius of shoes
5) With which shoe did Salvatore win the Oscar of Fashion in 1947?
a. Vara
b. Audrey
c. The invisible sandal
6) How many steps does it take to craft a pair of Ferragamo shoes?
a. Over 100
b. Over 180
c. Over 200
7) Which innovative materials did Salvatore Ferragamo use in crafting his shoes after WWI?
a. Fishing line
b. Cork
c. Rafia
8) The Salvatore Ferragamo company last year celebrated its?
a. 50th anniversary
b. 80th anniversary
c. 100th anniversary
[find answers at the end of this entry]

The only reason I said that the hotels are not that impressive is not because of their lack of good services or lack of grandeur feel, but their unbalanced value/cost ratio, of course this is only personal opinion. If you look at the the photos and compare them with the next entry that I am about to write on Il Salviatino Hotel, you will see the great difference, but then then, they are on a totally different level. The Salviatino could not be judged, or compared, to mere mortals....
The 4 hotels are basically back to back on the city side of the Arno river in Florence, with different names: Suites, Hotel, Gallery. But in general, the rooms are small and might be claustrophobic for some people. I didn't like much of the decorations and interior design, though their breakfast rooms are quite comfortable. I can't recall well enough what sequence we went along but you will get the idea. For one of their junior suites, it costs 1000 euros per night, the grand suite costing 1200 to 1600 depending on season.

Lounge area of the Galleria and the entry of one of the 4 hotels.

Interesting elevator more like a living room :)

I love this next picture btw.....!

Curios tables in "Lounge Brown" (no, it is not the real name for this room)

Compared to "Lounge White" (no, it is not the real name for this room)

Great view from the grand suite.

Breakfast room.

Decorations with bottles of different olive oils from different region, except they are not real (and you are not supposed to know....)

Monnalisa - How many have heard about this brand? Well, it is really well known in the luxury children's wear  industry, and Suri Cruise being one of their testimonials, you can't get much more luxury than that. They specialize in girl's wear but have been for a while venturing into boy's wear, with a new hitchhiker line coming out soon. The owner was a energetic man in this late 50's? 60's? I couldn't guess, with him jumping around the room while talking, you could have said him to be 20 without the white hair. He does business and his wife is the head of the creative department. If you have seen Monnalisa clothes, you will see that their are very mature, considering that their target is children, but then again, the consumers are usually moms and grandmothers, dads too now on a rise.
One the day of the visit, they were enormously generous as to offer an apertivo, buffet lunch with awesome desserts to end at the owner son's little villa (kind of, I never got what it was really).

Then it was a tour in the factory, where the 3 stations of fabric processing is guided through. The most amazing would be the protocol machine for inspecting, stretching, ironing, and stabilizing the fabric. It is their first step. Then it is the inspection of  color consistency, where one slice of fabric is to be cut off and sewn strangely together on different sides. For trousers, the requirement isn't too high, but for more complicated pieces of clothing such as jackets, the color consistency has to be very strict. If not, the whole scroll of fabric would have to be sent back to the supplier and recorded on credit. The third step consists of a lady personally going through the whole scroll and identifying the exact position of defects and how serious. I imagine I might lose my eyesight if I were put on this job all day long....

[Answers: a.b.a.a.c.c.abc.b]