A start-up brings Made in Italy artisan fashion to the world

They are all less than 30 years old and already boast international CVs Giovanni Friggi, Lorenzo Colucci, Carolina Du Chene and Vittorio Tatangelo, co founders of the Ad Hoc Atelier platform, an online marketplace that hosts only ethical, made in Italy and transparent brands. The start-up, born in 2020 during the first lockdown, promotes high quality products handmade by small local artisans. The mission is purely local: to go and find independent Italian brands, to make them known to the whole world. “We select and aggregate the best independent artisans and brands made in Italy – explains Giovanni Friggi, one of the founders of Ad Hoc Atelier to Adnkronos -. To date, there are more than 100 artisans on our marketplace who sell their creations in 16 countries. We support them in the sale, put their products online and sponsor them on foreign markets, especially in Germany, Austria and the Middle East “. Entering Ad Hoc Atelier is completely free” we only work on sales commissions – says Friggi -. On behalf of the artisans we follow all the phases: presale, sale, logistics and customer service. We have digitized all these processes and we are receiving excellent feedback from the artisans who thank us for the work we do, because with many we have reached very interesting figures in countries where they had never sold before. “The result is tangible.” In May 2022 we have more than quadrupled our turnover – observes Friggi – and transacted + 400% compared to the previous month, against a doubled marketing expense. We have managed to sell the creations of our artisans in more than 25 countries and the boost was given by the introduction of Arab countries in our marketing strategy. “To select an Ad Hoc brand Altelier follows six criteria: low impact, craftsmanship, Made in Italy, ethics, sustainability, and ‘made by women’. “An important fact is that 69% of the entrepreneurs of our brands are led by women – Friggi underlines -. It is an aspect that we value a lot, especially in a country like Italy where entrepreneurship is more masculine than feminine. This is an aspect we care a lot about. “The products that are the most popular on Ad Hoc Atelier” are Friulian and travel bags – explains Friggi -. But also all customized products, with the initials, logos or customer names embroidered by hand. The next challenge will be to include the home decor category to become more and more horizontal on crafts, from ceramics to tablecloths … these are products that we are envied all over the world “.