Luxury group LVMH has taken a majority stake in one of Italy’s most prominent leather manufacturing groups, Nuti Ivo, biz.com writes Leatherbiz.

LVMH has made the investment through its Métiers d’Art division, a specialist part of the luxury group that it founded in 2015 to help it secure access to high-end leather and other raw materials and, in its own words, “to protect, develop and ensure long-term access to artisanal savoir-faire on a global level”.

Nuti Ivo was founded in Santa Croce sull’Arno in 1955 and has since expanded to encompass the Nuti Ivo, Lloyd, Everest, Papete and Deluxe tanneries in Italy and also has partnerships in Paraguay, Morocco and Hong Kong. The group now employs more than 300 people.

Chief executive, Fabrizio Nuti, was elected as the president of Italy’s national tanning industry association, UNIC, in 2020. At the end of 2021, he gave this interview to World Leather, outlining the ways in which he felt the industry had changed since Ivo Nuti, his father, established the group in the 1950s.

LVMH’s chief strategy officer, Jean-Baptiste Voisin, who is also the president of the Métiers d’Art division, said: “Our obsession is to establish lasting partnerships and create value. I am therefore extremely pleased and proud to announce today the entry of Nuti Ivo into LVMH Métiers d’Art.”

He described Métiers d’Art as “a contemporary community of entrepreneurs and artisans, who communicate and exchange experiences and savoir-faire, while maintaining their own identities”, but who also have the “substantial infrastructure and operational support” of the LVMH group at their disposal.

The chief executive of Métiers d’Art, Matteo de Rosa, said he looked forward to the opportunities that integration Nuti Ivo into the division would unleash. “We are expanding our savoir-faire and product offering while ensuring traceable and sustainable sourcing,” he said.

Commenting on the new agreement, Fabrizio Nuti said: “Becoming part of a group like LVMH Métiers d’Art is a natural evolution. It serves as an incentive for us to grow and improve in all areas of our savoir-faire, guaranteeing a future for our history and our company.”