Galli is exhibiting at ITMA for the first time, confirming its commitment to providing innovative and customised solutions to its customers worldwide.
Galli S.p.A. is a company with a long tradition in the leather goods machinery sector. Founded in 1979, the company has gained extensive experience over the years, becoming a benchmark for the production of high-quality machinery. Known internationally for its ability to provide innovative and customised solutions to a wide range of customers, from small artisans to large luxury companies, thanks to its constant focus on innovation and product quality, Galli S.p.A. is able to offer high-performance machinery that guarantees unparalleled performance and efficiency. Thanks also to the presence of its sales and technical offices around the world, the company is able to provide timely assistance to its customers, guaranteeing high quality service and long-term satisfaction. We met Carlo Galli, CEO of the company of the same name, at the trade fair.
Was this your first time at ITMA?
“Yes, this was our first time and I must say it was a very interesting experience. We wanted to try something new, an experiment that we allowed ourselves to do. Actually, we had already planned to participate two years ago, when we heard about ITMA Italy. So we decided to sign up straight away, as soon as registration opened a year and a half ago, and we said ‘why not?’ We decided to start with a twenty-square-metre stand to let people see us and understand what our appeal is in this market’.
Is participating in trade fairs still important in your opinion?
“I have always expressed my support for trade fairs. Personally, I believe that attending these events is a unique opportunity to get to know your target market and understand how it works. Moreover, trade fairs are the ideal place to observe the technologies present and to get an overview of the world in a single day. Although it is true that you cannot present your company in detail, I think that attending is an essential experience for entrepreneurs. In fact, the comparison with other players in the industry can help them identify new market opportunities and improve their business strategies. This type of event is a unique opportunity to expand the professional network and to acquire new knowledge and skills useful for business development.
Have you developed a machine specifically for this event?
“I believe that it is fundamental to present yourself at your best in your field, proposing solutions and machines that can be adapted to specific client requirements. In our case, we have not changed, but have maintained our usual identity, even at the ITMA. In recent months, we have decided to participate in several trade fairs to test the market response to our proposals, and the result has been very positive. Thanks to this experience, we have been able to see that our solutions can also be appreciated outside our reference sector, i.e. the leather sector. Obviously, we have to consider that at ITMA we are talking about technologies that are completely different from those we use for leather processing. However, we have found that there are some common threads that link us to other sectors and allow us to offer innovative and customised solutions for each customer. In summary, attending trade fairs is a unique opportunity to test our solutions and to assess their feasibility in other sectors. Thanks to this experience, we have acquired new skills and knowledge that are useful for improving our proposals and expanding our business’.
What is your opinion on how more and more companies feel the need to have machinery suitable for processing leather, even if they work mainly with textiles?
“What I think is needed in general today is knowledge, so if a company like us, which has 40 plus years of experience in the leather goods world, also makes itself available in textiles, a solution will be found. Therefore I believe that today a customer who approaches us has the opportunity to explore something different or to make that right mix of the two technologies. What we need today is to innovate, to customise more and more, to create something different. So those who attend trade fairs want to have the opportunity to explore something they had never seen before. In some cases the contacts are the same, namely the big groups. Those involved in purchasing or technical development in the textile sector might know or have a colleague doing the same work in the leather sector, and vice versa. For this reason, there is likely to be an exchange of experiences that promotes development. Until July, we have also been very busy with trade fairs, both in Spain – where we organised an open house in collaboration with one of our most important distributors – and in the United States, where we had not been present since 2019.”
Let’s talk about exports: which are your target markets?
“Our strategic focus has always been Italy, as it is the world’s leading player in the leather goods sector. France and Spain follow in second and third place respectively, without this implying a strict ranking. Such markets are, however, of great importance for our business. We also operate significantly in Germany, the USA and Portugal, covering different geographic areas globally. In particular, we maintain a constant
presence in India, a country that is particularly close to our heart. In any case, we are progressively orienting the company towards the luxury and high-tech markets, thanks to the adoption of innovations that allow us to consolidate our leadership position’.
Does the participation in trade fairs highlight and present a valuable opportunity for you to show your best, or do you feel that further activities are needed to penetrate new markets?
“Currently, I believe that trade fairs are no longer sufficient to fully represent the identity of companies, as visitors have little time to fully understand what is being exhibited. In just 30 minutes or even less, it is almost impossible to communicate the entire philosophy of a company like ours, which has a history of 40 years. Nevertheless, trade fairs are an important opportunity to present oneself and make the company’s investment in the market known. A company that has been attending trade fairs for twenty or thirty years is a clear sign of its desire to be present on the market and to understand new demands. In this sense, trade fairs are an indispensable showcase for making the company known’.
What aspects do you focus on during the thirty minutes that you have to present your company, so that visitors understand who Galli is and what it does?
“The four points we focus on are: service, service, service, or technology, technology, technology. Although our company is small, at ITMA we compete against multinational giants with huge amounts of capital. Our added value, in my opinion, is not so much the beauty of the technology we produce – that is taken for granted today – but rather the service we offer. Over the past three years, we have focused exclusively on investing in service, internal and external training and support, because we believe that knowledge is the key element in providing a high-quality service experience.
What were your main objectives for participating in the fair? Did you achieve them?
“To understand whether the world of textiles and leather goods have points/ clients in common. With only one trade fair it is difficult to understand this, but it gave us the opportunity to see points of connection.”
What were the products or services that aroused the most interest among the trade fair visitors? What was the feedback received? “Being the only company exhibiting that type of product (hot stamping on leather), visitors were curious to see something different from the textile world.
How do you rate the overall experience at the fair? Were you able to make new contacts and strengthen relationships with existing customers and partners?
‘Will there be any future developments as a result of your participation in the fair? The fair was a very good showcase with lots of visitors and a lot of curiosity. There will be no developments in the short term but it will certainly bring some new contacts/new business in the future’.
Carlo Galli