Since 1978 CIUCANI Mocassino Machinery srl has been designing, developing, patenting and producing machines for quality footwear, bags, leather goods or for productions that have so far been handmade by expert shoemakers and leather crafters.
Since the end of the 2000s, CIUCANI focused on the development of machines for eco-sustainable footwear, as well as in innovating shoe construction technologies such as, for example, Moccasin, Goodyear, Ideal, San Crispino, Sneaker or Opanka.
From Moccasin to Goodyear, from Sneaker to Ballerina; less waste, less glue, less nails. Eco-friendliness through technology.
Thanks to its almost 50 years of experience in the footwear sector, CIUCANI today offers its customers an all-inclusive service for the production of fashionable footwear, made with particular attention to eco-sustainability.
This system uses patents, technologies, styles and models all exclusively “Made in Italy” based on the continuous research and development that has distinguished the company since the early 80s.
CIUCANI boasts long-lasting collaborations with model makers, stylists, technical laboratories, sole factories, mold factories and leather goods laboratories to guarantee an efficient, agile and attentive production process to reduce waste.
The final result, being a high quality product able to satisfy all types of customers.
From in-depth knowledge of footwear to its manufacturing. Our experience and our machinery for leather goods, at your service, for the shoe factories of tomorrow through the quality of shoemakers from the past.
1978'
50 years of CIUCANI History
CIUCANI Mocassino Machinery was founded in 1978 by Mario Ciucani to pursue a specific aim, to innovate the technological footwear industry through his experience in the textile and footwear sector. From being a tailor in the post World War II era, to sewing machine technician between the 60s and 70s, to inventor and manufacturer of machinery for shoe factories from the end of the 70s onwards, the years of the Italian economic boom.
80'
The swinging arm for side wall stock bottom footwear stitching machinery
The first machine developed was the F78, a seam-leveler, but the founder and his team of collaborators already had something else in mind since the company was founded: to create a machine to sew moccasins. Only a few months later, the first CIUCANI moccasin sewing machine was created.
The machine was still only an idea at the first industry exhibition and was therefore presented to the public as a plaster copy of what would later become the real machine.
After the first years of production and development of the new machine, the team became more and more familiar with the process of making quality shoes using its own machinery. The ideas are many, the ability to innovate consolidates and extends beyond the world of moccasins. Here is the fertile ground for the first real revolution for the industry: the MC82, the first swinging arm shoe sewing machine. With a pioneering patent, the footwear industry was provided with the possibility of fast, flexible and quality production. We are talking about the movable arm present today on the vast majority of sewing machines for side walls stock bottom footwear.
80'
The swinging arm for side wall stock bottom footwear stitching machinery
This technological advancement brought great success to the company which, in order to meet the numerous requests from shoe factories, established various collaborations at the production level with various Italian companies, further increasing technical knowledge. The knowledge of each single “ingredient” necessary for a high quality finished product was developed in multifold directions: CIUCANI develops its quality yarn to guarantee the final customer reliable and quality productions.
The reference market for the company was no longer just Italy, but Europe, starting with Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Scandinavia.
New machines were developed for other needs such as, for example, the X86-204 for ornamental work on leather goods in general. In the following years, the awareness gradually developed that sewing moccasins with a straight needle and a lockstitch solution was not the optimal process for very high quality shoes such as, for example, those hand-sewn by the great shoemakers of the local district.
90'
Curved needle sewing machines: the automation of high-quality hand stitching
Hence the idea of replicating the movement of the awl on the moccasin sewn on the last by the shoemaker, through a machine, which would allow to replicate the quality of the handmade product and increase production yield. Between the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, the curved needle was therefore studied (LAMMERTZ and SINGER) and perfected to be implemented on machines for sewing moccasins, the final result being the development of the 747 machine, the first high quality real moccasin (tubular moccasin) sewing with a curved needle. This was the stage of technical maturity of the company, in the early 1990s, yielding many different possibilities for shoe factories such as making the fine “rice grain” stitch design, or the “bordo” and other types of specific formerly hand-made stitchings through a machine.
At the same time, the machines already developed were continuously improved, the MC82 became the MC89 and then the MC99, improving the quality of stitching. Several new machines were developed to meet the growing and diverse needs of the market such as, for example, the 836 to meet the demand for shoes with Ideal constructions, simplifying the pre-assembly process, the 949, the alternative to the 747 for mock moccasin, the 199 for San Crispino, Opanka, Shark and other constructions.
The company dimension was no longer only continental, contacts and collaborations all over the world had helped to create a worldwide commercial network which was already consolidated in the mid-90s, where people worked and participated in fairs on all continents. Different types of material were sewn, both natural and synthetic, the combination of R&D and refinement of machinery in collaboration with shoe factories provided the perfect combination to continue to innovate.
The second generation, enhancing Product Development.
In the 2000s the company improved its products’ range to offer its customers with increasingly suitable machinery for each type of production; as an example, machines for sewing shoes with toe-caps for women/children (MC2000) and for men (MC06), Blake stitching (UMB), bags (MAR) and the further development of specific kits for already existing machines (199 and 949), expanding production possibilities of each individual machine, still according to market and customers’ needs.
The concept behind the development of the 836, 949 or 199 machines was to simplify the production process without compromising on quality. This approach laid the foundations for the years to come: the adoption of modularity in its machinery and the lasting of footwear from an eco-sustainable perspective: actually, without the need of a last.
In 2009, the company prematurely lost its founder at the age of 72. The character and structure of the company allowed it to keep forward. The founder’s culture of empowering its collaborators, sharing strategic information, ideas, energy and curiosity allowed the team for a prompt come back to full operation. The second generation is that of Ciucani family together with its closest collaborators. 2010s begin under the guidance of Technical Director Massimo Centanni and founder’s widow Prof. Patrizia Serafini which, together, take over the company and rockets it into the future.
CIUCANI’s new era opens up in the name of reinvigorated planning in research and development. The crisis of 2008 reshaped both the timing and the needs of the industry, and the company’s research and development is once again in turmoil to take on them. In this new decade, new methods and shoe designs were patented based on the functionalization of the various parts that make up the finished product. Through various patents involving the concept of footwear rather than sewing machines, the seam cleverly replaces glue and traditional lasting more and more. The manufacturing of, f.x., a classic, extremely flexible, shoe of the Goodyear type without glue or nails, or a ballerina without glue are now reality: high quality eco-friendly shoes.
The collaboration with both the local and international shoemaking industry which has now lasted almost half a century is at its peak: the in-depth knowledge of the final product and its manufacturing allows new horizons, those of strategic consulting. In these years the company is no longer focusing only the means of production but also on materials and designs of the products themselves. The opportunity of assistance, advice and high-yield-manufacturing based product development throughout the entire shoe making process is now a reality at CIUCANI. Specifically, in shoe design phase, CIUCANI assists its customers in obtaining the product they desire while at the same time guarantee the high-yield production and high quality for which its machines stand out for.
Eco-sustainability and integrated services for shoemaking
CIUCANI MOCASSINO MACHINERY
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