Golden Ideas
Shoemaker Golden Goose thinks greater ideas are thought together.
The company, best known for its successful Superstar sneakers and intentionally distressed styles, held its first “ideathon” on Thursday, a 12-hour marathon involving 60 of the company's corporate and retail employees from all geographies who came together to brainstorm on innovation and responsible projects with a sustainability bent.
The event, named “Move Forward Ideathon,” is part of the shoemaker's Forward Agenda, its responsibility plan until 2025 unveiled earlier this year and built around four pillars, including care for the people and engagement with communities.
To be sure, an inclusive and open company culture is increasingly becoming an asset for firms aiming to attract fresh talent. In 2022, Golden Goose was named Italy's “Top Employer 2022” by the Top Employer Institute.
“We will keep enabling people to share their ideas that are relevant and empowering for their communities, for the Golden Family and for others,” said Silvio Campara, chief executive officer of Golden Goose. “Every chance to come together is a step forward. Being part of the change means achieving great things, together,” he added.
Divided into six groups of
10, participants were tasked with developing ideas on one of the pillars, which also include innovation and the valuation of craft.
The marathon, held at the company's Milanese headquarters unveiled in 2021, was based on the designthinking methodology and puts customers' social, emotional and physical needs at the center of brainstorming. The latter was articulated over four phases named “Innovative Business Concept,” “Market Segmentation,” “Business Model and Financial Plan” and “Pitch Preparation.”
At the end of the day, each team presented its project, competing against one another to win the prize consisting of a pair of bio-based sneakers from Yatay, the sustainable shoemaker Golden Goose forged ties with in April.
The winning team was also offered the opportunity to spend a day on Friday with Campara visiting Milan landmarks with sustainability credentials.
The Forward Agenda is a plan filled with different goals spanning responsible sourcing and manufacturing, circularity and traceability, social compliance and governance, retail transformation geared at circularity, as well as carbon neutrality. Campara told WWD earlier this year that many of those goals will be achieved by 2023. A new chief sustainability officer, Federica Ruzzi, joined the brand last year to help lead the transformation.
As reported, the brand, which has been owned by private equity fund Permira since 2020, saw 2021 revenues jump 45 percent to 385.6 million euros in 2021, representing a 46 percent improvement versus 2019.
— MARTINO CARRERA