Half a century later, that system remains formidable. Almost 80 percent of the supply chain managed by Kering—the group behind Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Saint Laurent—is located in Italy. However, what once represented modernity and innovation is now discussed at least as often through the prism of heritage, craftsmanship, archive, and tradition. These qualities remain enormously valuable, of course, though in the wrong hands they can also become stultifying. Italian fashion, then, stands at a crossroads between past and future, heritage and progression, craft and technology. Can it use what it has inherited as the foundation of another great leap forward?
