Made in or Made of: the Dual Soul of Italy

A necessary evolution that involves the concept of “Made in Italy,” which cannot ignore the value of territoriality, but at the same time needs to broaden its gaze, vision and mission to respond to market logics and globalized marketing.

But when and why did we start talking about “Made of”? In public and academic debate of recent decades, as a response and reaction to the transformations of globalization and the increasing delocalization of production chains, the concept of “Made of” has begun to make its way to update, integrate or partly overcome the classic idea of “Made in,” highlighting qualities such as design, know-how, culture and creativity, rather than just the territorial origin of production. And while “Made in” is seen more as a mark of origin and certified quality, its natural grammatical evolution is linked to a marketing and storytelling concept that enhances Italian creativity and style regardless of the physical place of production. However, both contribute to building added value, albeit with different communication and market needs in the context of a globalized economy: “Made in Italy” creates a strong link between brand, territory and production community, reassuring consumers about provenance; “Made of Italy” allows companies to compete globally while maintaining Italian identity even in delocalized supply chains by focusing more on intangible values, storytelling and a series of all-Italian symbols.

A way of seeing and living Italianness also as a mission, to take up the words and thoughts expressed by the Deputy Minister for Business and Made in Italy, Valentino Valentini, during a day on this very theme, organized by Altagamma in Rome: «There are two visions of Made in Italy: there is the famous one on which many lay their laurels, and, as I see it, there is the exhortative one. Italian excellence is not improvised; it is built day by day through concrete actions. Leonardo da Vinci said: “Details do not make perfection, but perfection is not a detail.” And where Italy wins is exactly in the details, in the care taken to make the product, in the boutique experience and in the storytelling that manage to unite past and future. Our greatness is manifested in attention to detail, in the ability to see infinity in a button, eternity in a seam. Looking ahead, our vision must be one of an Italy that thinks big because the world sees us that way. Our task is to be custodians and innovators, to defend and, at the same time, innovate, to know how to preserve the essence of our identity, but to also be able to embrace, understand and anticipate change.

This is what high-range does. Made in Italy does not mean saying how good we are, it is a mission that translates into our ability to transform substance into beauty, work into art, business into culture.» The focus on Italianness as value, reputation, identity, the transmission of know-how, aesthetics and excellence, thus falls within a new descriptive perimeter. A narrative that focuses on the imaginary and on reputation, aims at a dynamic vision of Italianness in global markets, in design and thought, even in multinational production contexts, going beyond the physical place of production.