Gea Soft – A Tuscany-based software house headquartered in Lucca, Gea Soft has been a leading company for over thirty years in designing and providing specialized IT solutions for Italian companies in the leather goods, footwear, and wholesale sectors. Since January 2025, it has been part of the Datatex / TSG Group.
We interviewed Giuliano Carnesecchi, founder of Gea Soft, who told us about the company’s evolution and the opportunities arising from joining the Datatex/TSG Group.
When was Gea Soft founded, and how has its history evolved over the years? What are the strengths and expertise of the Gea Soft team? What features have ensured the success and recognition of Gea Soft products in the leather goods, footwear, and wholesale industries?
Gea Soft was established in the early 1980s as a generalist IT company, which was common at the time. It started as a software house open to collaboration with companies across various industries.
In 1985, we decided to specialize, choosing the three sectors you just mentioned: footwear, leather goods, and wholesale.
Specialization has been the key to our success, enabling us to grow our team from seven to thirty people and ultimately leading to our recent entry into a major international company like Datatex – TSG.
Gea Soft’s technicians have in-depth knowledge of the industries they serve and the specific challenges companies face. They speak the same language as the clients and work as consultants, sometimes even anticipating the needs and requirements of leather goods, footwear, and wholesale companies.
Gea Soft was acquired by Datatex in January 2025. What opportunities do you see arising from this move, both technically and commercially?
Gea Soft’s entry into Datatex, and consequently into TSG – Textile Solutions Group, has been a significant step forward, bringing many opportunities both technically and commercially.
Datatex’s experienced technicians and well-established software products in related sectors offer us valuable opportunities for professional and technical growth. We already see clear synergies and integration possibilities.
On the other hand, Datatex and TSG’s widespread international presence offers us the potential to expand our flagship solutions—especially those for Quality Control and Production Planning—into markets beyond Italy.
What are the characteristics of the leather goods and footwear industries in Italy? How have they evolved over the years? What challenges do they face today, and what are their strengths? How can Gea Soft help companies in this sector?
This is a broad topic, but we can summarize it here. The Italian leather goods and footwear industries have historically relied on industrial districts that remain highly significant today despite past challenges.
Key Industrial Districts
Key districts include:
- Toscana (Scandicci–Florence, Pistoia, Fucecchio, Arezzo, and surrounding areas)
- Campania (Naples and Caserta)
- Puglia (specialized in sneakers)
- Marche
- Emilia Romagna (Rimini and Riccione)
- Veneto (coastal area)
- Lombardia (Parabiago and Vigevano)
Trends and Challenges
Over recent decades, these districts have undergone two major trends:
- Outsourcing abroad (mainly to Tunisia, Albania, Serbia, and Eastern Europe)
- Increased reliance on foreign workers (primarily Chinese, often under less-than-ideal regulatory compliance)
However, these trends have been reversing due to a major industry shift: the transition from selling to many small retailers to supplying a few major fashion brands. This change has affected all districts, with the Marche region being one of the last to experience it.
Quality and Production Planning as Key Solutions
Fashion brands now demand Quality, Transparency, and Security from suppliers. This is driving companies to bring previously outsourced production back in-house or select suppliers more carefully.
With China dominating the lower-end market, the Italian industry has refocused on high-quality production. As a result, companies must adopt IT solutions for Quality Control at every production stage, a core offering from Gea Soft.
Production Planning, a key aspect of Gea Soft’s software solutions, is essential in this fast-paced industry. Leather goods manufacturers and footwear companies can no longer maintain large inventories due to rapid demand shifts. Orders are now fragmented, with fewer units per model and shorter product lifespans.
Everyone awaits orders from brands, creating a race against time and delays throughout the supply chain, beginning with tanneries supplying leather goods and footwear companies.
Gea Soft’s highly flexible Production Planning solution helps companies manage this complexity efficiently.
Regarding the wholesale sector, what is the current situation in Italy, and how can Gea Soft support companies in this field?
Wholesale is purely about trade, without production. However, this does not mean there aren’t critical challenges to address!
Companies in this sector must manage vast product assortments (often tens of thousands of SKUs), with key issues like automatically calculating stock replenishments.
Inventory Optimization is central to Gea Soft’s solutions, which are already used by over 100 wholesale companies.
Our technicians have also successfully tackled sector-specific challenges, such as implementing barcode solutions for outdoor building material warehouses and simplifying and speeding up supplier order management for showroom-based businesses selling ceramics, flooring, coatings, and sanitary ware.