Manolo Blahnik team visits SATRA

Reporting on a recent visit to SATRA’s UK head office and laboratories.

Luxury footwear company Manolo Blahnik recently took up SATRA membership, and thereafter received an invitation to visit SATRA’s head office to fully understand its member benefits as well as other areas in which its operations could be supported.

SATRA executive director Michael Bodsworth and sales manager Sunny Hirani welcomed Manolo Blahnik’s chief operating officer Wioletta Bogus, head of logistics Marco Dall’ Alba, head of product Sabrina Command, responsibility manager Rosie Gaunt and legal counsel Harriette Blake to the UK head office in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

After hearing a brief history of SATRA and its heritage, the visitors learned of the wide variety of services available. Sustainability manager Nicola Pichel-Juan then delivered a presentation on our offering in this field. The Manolo Blahnik team expressed particular interest in lifecycle assessment and carbon data analysis, as well as EPR, taxes, labelling and communication, and the SATRA working groups operating in the area of sustainability practices.

Product testing and fit

Emma Norris – SATRA’s head of chemistry – followed by outlining some of the chemical testing conducted on behalf of Manolo Blahnik. The visitors particularly mentioned that SATRA’s restricted substances list (RSL) was extremely useful, and Emma described how this document could be tailored to include a global list and co-branded to suit Manolo Blahnik’s particular requirements. She then took the group on a tour of the chemistry laboratory, during which they were able to see how the testing of samples is carried out.

Shortly after lunch, SATRA footwear divisional manager Simon Courtney provided an overview of his role within the organisation’s footwear division. This led to a discussion on the review of technical manuals and specifications, as well as innovation and consultancy, topics on which the visitors were keen to engage.

Footwear technical lead Lee Wilson continued the visit by highlighting common misconceptions surrounding the fitting of products, and explored reasons that are given regularly for online returns. This conversation moved into an explanation of SATRA’s ‘digital last assessment’ (DLA) service.

Lee explained how DLA can be used to determine if the last is an effective size for the region for which the footwear is being manufactured, and discussed how DLA service can help to ensure that lasts are suitable for the global or regional demographic of customers. This proved of considerable interest to the Manolo Blahnik personnel, who expressed their desire to work with SATRA on such a project. Lee also highlighted the training sessions on fitting assessments which SATRA can deliver to retail stores or footwear teams.

Scott Jarvis – another of SATRA’s footwear technical leads – gave a brief history of the women’s footwear segment. He explained his role in the testing process, which resulted in a conversation about consultancy on quality and best practices during the manufacturing process. Scott then took the group on a tour of the footwear laboratory, explaining and demonstrating some of the tests which are conducted there.

The Manolo Blahnik team stated that they were impressed with SATRA’s services, professionalism and expertise, could see the benefit from being members and look forward to working with the organisation. This very positive visit concluded with a group photograph outside the main building.

The photograph at the top of this page shows visitors from Manolo Blahnik after touring SATRA’s Kettering head office. From left: SATRA sales manager Sunny Hirani, Harriette Blake (Manolo Blahnik legal counsel), head of product for Manolo Blahnik Sabrina Command, SATRA executive director Michael Bodsworth, Wioletta Bogus (Manolo Blahnik chief operating officer), head of logistics for Manolo Blahnik Marco Dall’ Alba, and Rosie Gaunt (Manolo Blahnik responsibility manager).

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 20 of the May 2025 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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