"My father started the Santoni brand in 1975, when I was seven. He opened up the company in the house we lived in. We lived upstairs, and he worked in the garage. He started with nothing except his vision and passion for high-quality shoes.
Life was good at that time. One of his early initiatives was to develop the brand in the US. He did that first, because he had experience in that market in his previous job.
He was very much involved in production, and at the start he physically worked on the production line. But when we got more employees, he stepped back to control and organise the business as a whole. He managed things like leather selection, the daily production goals, and so on.
I grew up in the company, so I've known how to make shoes since I was a child. I worked on the line and built up my experience and know-how there. I joined the company properly in 1987, after I finished school, working as an export manager. I travelled the world, looking for new customers.