Storytalia, the e-commerce site for Italian style, closes down

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Oct 30, 2015

A fine idea on paper, which failed to deliver the results expected on the web. The e-commerce site Storytalia.com, launched exactly a year ago to advertise and sell high-end, exclusive Made in Italy products, has recently closed down.

"The general public is looking for major brands and discounts. We didn't feature either of these, so we weren't able to reach a sufficient number of customers and we decided to discontinue Storytalia. Not to mention that there were also range coordination issues," Paolo Zegna, President of textile group Ermenegildo Zegna and the project's main sponsor, has explained to FashionMag, confirming the news published by Italian daily paper ItaliaOggi.

Storytalia positioned itself in the medium-high market segment, wishing to act as "a worldwide shop-window for Italian enterprises, the first real offering issuing from the Made in Italy system as a whole."

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Among those who joined in the project were shirt-makers Bagutta, knitwear brands Annapurna and Zanone, Doucal’s and Fratelli Rossetti footwear and Herno down jackets.

Despite benefiting from significant supporters such as the industrialist association Confindustria, the Economic Development Ministry and the ICE, the Italian Foreign Trade agency, the website lacked visibility and design innovation.