Italy's Verdi Fashion opens footwear factory in Ub – Hazelnut plantation by the end of 2018

The Italian footwear producer Verdi Fashion International officially opened the facility in Ub, worth around EUR 1.5 million, which currently employs 70 workers, on Monday, June 25, 2018, Kolubarske reports.

The company's business plans envisage 200 employees at the facility by the end of the year.

The facility in Paljuvi is the first investment in the newly established industrial zone Stublenica-Ub, where Verdi has bought 20 hectares of land, of which one hectare is taken up by the 2,700-m2 factory. The production facility currently features a tailoring room and one and a half sewing lines, whereas the remaining half of the second sewing line and two assembly lines will be put into operation this autumn.

The local self-government has equipped the location for the factory with infrastructure by connecting it to the city's water supply network and providing a quality power connection.

Vladimir Mijatovic, the director of the Koceljeva-based factory Karina Moda, a member of the same group as Verdi, explained that the facility in Paljuvi would produce female leather footwear exclusively.

– The project is designed to be realized with three sewing lines, two assembly lines and a tailoring facility, which means that the factory should employ 200 workers by the end of the year. We will gradually be employing five to ten people a week and all the young people who want to work and those who have experience in this field are welcome. The factory's operations will depend on the support of the local self-government and local populace. We are currently in the season of producing winter leather footwear, which ends in September. Following a collective vacation, we will start producing summer footwear. Until the remaining machinery arrives, which we expect will happen in September or October, we will only be producing upper footwear sections here, whereas the assembly is done elsewhere – Mijatovic said.

The first 70 workers had been trained at the sister-company Karina Moda, and as Kolubarske learns, employees in Paljuvi will be paid a salary of RSD 32,000.

CEO of Verdi Fashion International, Janusz Wisniewski, pointed out that the company had clothes factories in Italy, Romania and Albania, and footwear models produced in Paljuvi are mostly meant for renowned European and Russian companies, their main clients.

The president of the Municipality of Ub, Darko Glisic, who visited the facility in Paljuvi with the investors, said that he was satisfied that the factory had been built and opened in a very short time.

– This investment means a lot to us, so we've managed, in the smallest amount of time possible, to equip the location and provide a substation, which provides a sufficient amount of power, and we've also provided the water connection. We are trying to be at service to the people who have set aside a considerable amount of money and to solve everything we are obliged to in close cooperation with them – Glisic said.

Industrial Zone Stublenica-Ub, located near the future Belgrade-South Adriatic highway, has another 90 hectares of land and, according to Glisic, other companies are interested in building their facilities here.

– When the construction of the highway is close to completion, I expect the interest to increase, so we are slowly equipping other parcels here. We now have a good example of what it's supposed to look like and how an honest cooperation between the local self-government and the investor has lead to us making another industrial facility, to mutual satisfaction and benefit – Glisic said and added that the local self-government was communicating with potential investors every day and that it saw new economic activities as a key to the development of the municipality of Ub.

Hazelnut plantation next to the factory

By the end of the year, a hazelnut plantation will be established next to the footwear factory in Paljuvi. The Italians plan to form a plantation on 11 hectares, and the remaining 8 hectares, according to the owner of Verdi, are meant for sale to potential interested investors, Kolubarske reports.

Verdi Fashion international Stublenica

Karina Moda Koceljeva

Opština Ub

Verdi Fashion International Koceljeva

Belgrade South Adriatic

Stublenica Ub industrial zone

Verdi Fashion

footwear manufacture

female footwear manufacture

female footwear

hazelnuts

production of hazelnuts

hazelnut plantation

Ub

Ub hazelnut plantation

Vladimir Mijatovic

Janusz Wisniewskim

Paljuvi

Darko Glisic