PAYING TRIBUTE: Furla is marking International Women’s Day on Saturday by underscoring its strong commitment to the empowerment of female talent, and paying tribute through a video and images to the contributions of its female employees to the brand’s success.
“At Furla, we believe that women’s empowerment is not just a value to be celebrated on special occasions, but a guiding principle that permeates our daily corporate culture,” said Giovanna Furlanetto, president of Fondazione Furla, and a member of the second generation of the founding family. “Our goal is to create concrete opportunities for women by fostering an inclusive environment and leadership that inspires the next generation to give their best.”
In a statement, Furla said 80 percent of its employees are women from 80 nationalities, and 53 percent hold apical positions, including C-level roles.
The accessories brand is launching an initiative aimed at empowering women within the company by offering leadership training courses designed specifically for its female employees. The leadership classes will focus on different levels, such as strategic thinking, communication, family balance, cross-cultural talks, decision-making and negotiation skills, ensuring that every participant can enhance their leadership capabilities, with the aim of rewarding its female employees.
Furlanetto has been carrying forward her family’s legacy, advocating for equal opportunities, and the brand has been dedicated for several years to supporting women in different fields, such as art, music and fashion. Through the Furla Prize for Art, established in 2000 in collaboration with the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, young artists have been helped to grow by providing a springboard for their careers.
The increasing commitment to the arts led to the founding of Fondazione Furla in 2008, and with the Furla Series — a program to support women in art — the current curators Bruna Roccasalva and Vincenzo De Bellis have been presenting international women artists since 2017 who are sometimes socially engaged, such as Andrea Bowers, an American activist and feminist artist.
Furla has also supported women in the music industry. For the relaunch of its signature Metropolis Remix bag in 2023, Furla partnered with She Is the Music, a nonprofit organization founded by Alicia Keys to increase the representation of women in the music industry and foster the development of young female artists through educational programs such as all-women songwriting camps, mentorship programs and the largest global database of women in music.
