How This Direct to Consumer Brand Disrupted the Handcrafted Footwear Industry
Executive Summary
Velasca co-founder Enrico Casati describes connecting Italian shoemakers directly with customers, earning supplier trust by paying when promised and building content around the people making the shoes. He also discusses forecasting with workshops and opening stores after customers asked to try products in person. Notes cover selected business passages of the full public auto-captions, checked against official Shopify show notes published March 31, 2020. The interview was recorded in late 2019 and uploaded to YouTube again on March 28, 2024. Figures describe that historical period, not current business results. A garbled, currency-unspecified store-rent figure is omitted.
Key Takeaways
Launch in a downturn
Velasca was born out of Italy's economic crisis. Craftsmen who had seen revenues fall about 30 percent in a year were more open to a new model, since production companies do not want to drop below a certain level of output.
Trust with makers
Even as a small buyer, Velasca always paid at the agreed 30 days after delivery. Casati says that matters hugely to makers used to late payers, and that size is not the only thing that matters, trust also does.
Help the makers plan
Once trust existed, Velasca moved from ordering month by month to applying forecasting and planning tools with the makers, which affected how those workshops ran too.
Human-to-human content
The brand avoids the exclusive, perfect-picture look of traditional fashion. Its editorial photos, videos and animations follow the shoe from the maker's bench to the customer, and its magazine works as a relationship builder instead of a search-focused blog.
A web agency selling shoes
The team was structured more like a web agency than a shoe company. Facebook, from 2012, gave them numbers-driven analytics plus a way to create demand with pictures, at far lower cost than TV or print.
Physical stores followed customer requests
Casati says customers wanted to touch and try the shoes before buying. The company opened in Milan and later expanded stores, keeping pricing consistent online and offline. The captioned rent amount is unclear, so it is not used here; the useful point is that repeated customer requests helped guide the retail test.
Stay close to customers
Casati replies to at least 10 customer emails a day, treats customers as first designers, and says the first two years are exciting because you do not know what you are doing yet.
The Conversation Breakdown
Launch in a downturn
⏱ Untimed topicVelasca was born out of Italy's economic crisis. Craftsmen who had seen revenues fall about 30 percent in a year were more open to a new model, since production companies do not want to drop below a certain level of output.
Trust with makers
⏱ Untimed topicEven as a small buyer, Velasca always paid at the agreed 30 days after delivery. Casati says that matters hugely to makers used to late payers, and that size is not the only thing that matters, trust also does.
Help the makers plan
⏱ Untimed topicOnce trust existed, Velasca moved from ordering month by month to applying forecasting and planning tools with the makers, which affected how those workshops ran too.
Human-to-human content
⏱ Untimed topicThe brand avoids the exclusive, perfect-picture look of traditional fashion. Its editorial photos, videos and animations follow the shoe from the maker's bench to the customer, and its magazine works as a relationship builder instead of a search-focused blog.
A web agency selling shoes
⏱ Untimed topicThe team was structured more like a web agency than a shoe company. Facebook, from 2012, gave them numbers-driven analytics plus a way to create demand with pictures, at far lower cost than TV or print.
Physical stores followed customer requests
⏱ Untimed topicCasati says customers wanted to touch and try the shoes before buying. The company opened in Milan and later expanded stores, keeping pricing consistent online and offline. The captioned rent amount is unclear, so it is not used here; the useful point is that repeated customer requests helped guide the retail test.
Stay close to customers
⏱ Untimed topicCasati replies to at least 10 customer emails a day, treats customers as first designers, and says the first two years are exciting because you do not know what you are doing yet.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Reliability before bargaining power
Velasca was a small buyer but paid at the agreed time. Casati says doing what the company promised was a way to earn workshop trust.
Planning together after trust
Once relationships were established, the company moved beyond month-by-month orders to forecasting with makers. The commercial relationship became a production-planning relationship too.
Content from maker to customer
Photos, video and editorial work showed the shoe's journey and the people behind it. Casati wanted the brand to feel human rather than distant and exclusive.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Pay suppliers exactly when you said you would.
- ✓Check whether shoppers keep asking to try the product in person before opening a store.
- ✓Read a set number of customer emails every day.
- ✓Share a realistic forecast with suppliers rather than changing orders without warning.
Notable Quotes
“we always did what we said we would do”
“our customers are our first designers”
“unless you understand your customers their needs their wants the product Market fit”
The One Thing to Remember
we always did what we said we would do