Luxury with a Human Touch: JCU Welcomes Alumna Alessia Primavera

On Tuesday, March 23, JCU welcomed alumna Alessia Primavera, Communication and PR Specialist at Mirta, an e-commerce platform that supports and connects Italian artisans with international clients. Primavera held a special class in the context of Professor Antonella Salvatore’s course “Retailing Applied to Fashion Industry.”

Mirta

Mirta was founded in 2019 by Ciro Di Lanno and Martina Capriotti, two young entrepreneurs who had lived in the U.S and Asia. Mirta’s mission is to give visibility to high-quality, less-known Italian fashion products, and promote them in the international market. As Primavera said, human connection is the key value of made in Italy products, so Mirta wants to showcase the people, families and stories behind the garments and accessories sold on the platform. For this reason, each artisan has a dedicated page on Mirta’s website to tell their stories and explain their work.

Mirta started by selling hand-made leather bags, but as the demand for products grew, the company decided to expand its offer to shoes, loungewear, and silk and cashmere items. Currently, Mirta works with more than 120 Italian artisans and exports to the U.S., Asia and Northern Europe.

The platform is completely free for artisans, who keep full ownership of the products they design. Mirta offers them technological support for digital marketing, customer care, logistics and operations. Specifically, the company takes care of the online promotion of the products, delivery, quality control, and customer service. Mirta’s revenue model is based on a percentage of the sales made through the platform.

Primavera explained the value shift in the luxury conceit, which is now focused more on high standards and uniqueness, rather than just logos and brands. For this reason, Mirta displays both ready-to-buy items and customizable ones on the website. This latter model involves products that still need to be crafted by the artisans, giving customers the chance to purchase unique items.

Mirta aims at promoting traditional Italian artisanship while taking full advantage of what modern technology has to offer in the marketing field.

(Giorgia Tamburi)