Johann Rupert's Richemont invests $11 million in Italian leather hub to serve Cartier, Montblanc and three other maisons

Johann Rupert's Richemont has invested more than 10 million euros ($11 million) to expand its leather goods production facility in Scandicci, Italy, nearly doubling the size of the site and deepening the Swiss luxury conglomerate's commitment to Italian craftsmanship even as the broader leather sector faces significant headwinds.

The Swiss group inaugurated the new wing of Pelletteria Richemont Firenze on Monday in the presence of local authorities, marking the latest phase of a renovation program that began last year and is due for completion in March 2027. The factory, which has operated in Scandicci for 20 years, serves five of Richemont's maisons: Cartier, Chloe, Dunhill, Montblanc, and Serapian. The group controls roughly 25 brands in total.

The facility's footprint has been expanded from 5,000 square meters to 12,000 square meters to consolidate all phases of product creation under one roof, from initial concept and design through to prototyping. The new configuration gives each maison its own dedicated workspace alongside shared services, including an advanced cutting center and equipment for physical testing of materials and prototypes. A research and development unit is also part of the expanded setup.

The site has also installed a photovoltaic system that covers more than 50% of its energy needs, a detail consistent with Richemont's stated sustainability commitments across its supply chain operations.

Staffing levels at Scandicci have grown from 150 employees in recent years to 250, with the company indicating that number could reach 300 in the coming months. The facility works with approximately 100 Italian suppliers, the majority of them based in Tuscany, supporting more than 2,000 specialized workers across the regional supply chain.

"This significant investment in Pelletteria Richemont Firenze underlines the group's long-term vision, our deep admiration for local artisanal traditions, and our unwavering dedication to quality that defines every stage of our work," said Domenico Olivieri, industrial director of Richemont's fashion and accessories division.

The investment comes at a difficult moment for the Italian leather sector. The Scandicci district south of Florence, which once counted more than 600 workshops at its peak, has seen the number of active operations shrink to roughly 320, a structural contraction driven by rising compliance costs, labor competition from French luxury houses, and the difficulty smaller operators face in absorbing new European Union regulatory requirements. Richemont's bet on the district runs counter to that trend, echoing a similar pattern of large-group consolidation seen from rival Kering, which has committed hundreds of millions of euros to expanding Gucci's ArtLab prototyping campus in the same corridor.

Rupert, who founded Richemont in 1988 after spinning off the international assets of his family's Rembrandt Group, controls the company through Compagnie Financiere Rupert, which holds all of Richemont's non-tradable Class B shares. The South African billionaire, ranked among the five wealthiest individuals on the African continent, had a net worth of approximately $16.1 billion as measured by Bloomberg as of mid-2025. Richemont posted record sales of 22.4 billion euros in fiscal 2026.

The Scandicci expansion is part of a broader pattern of Richemont anchoring production expertise in legacy European craft centers rather than chasing cost efficiencies elsewhere. The group's jewelry and leather maisons have long treated proximity to Italian and French artisan knowledge as a competitive asset that cannot be replicated at lower cost.

A second phase of the Scandicci renovation is scheduled for completion by March 2027.