Italy's crib makers look to the elderly as births fall

Claudia Cristoferi, Philippe LeroyBeaulieu and Alvise Armellini

Wed, May 14, 2025, 1:07 AM 4 min read

By Claudia Cristoferi, Philippe LeroyBeaulieu and Alvise Armellini

MILAN (Reuters) -Only 2 manufacturers stay successful bluish Italy's erstwhile thriving concern territory for babe and kid products, aft years of falling births and contention from overseas forced galore of the small-scale family-owned businesses to close.

Bergamo state was location to astir a twelve factories successful the 1970s and 1980s, turning retired precocious chairs, cribs, toys and prams, but the marketplace collapsed arsenic the fig of births successful Italy shrank by much than a 3rd implicit the past 20 years.

One of those to remain, shaper Foppapedretti, has managed to subordinate the manufacture inclination acknowledgment to aboriginal diversification, but it needs to support innovating and is considering expanding into products for Italy's galore elderly.

Like galore of its erstwhile Bergamo peers, it sprung up during Italy's post-war economical and babe boom. Founder Ezio Foppa Pedretti began making woody toys successful 1945 retired of the offcuts from his uncle's umbrella grip factory.

"We started retired arsenic a artifact manufacturer, past focused connected nursery products, but we soon realised that a large demographic diminution was looming," Chairman Luciano Bonetti said. They utilized their acquisition with wood to grow into household, furnishings and gardening items from the 1980s.

Around 1990, his institution typically sold astir 100,000 highchairs and 80,000 babe beds a year. "Today if we merchantability 30,000 babe beds it is simply a aureate year", Bonetti said.

Nevertheless, yearly turnover has remained changeless since 2019 astatine astir 45 cardinal euros ($50 million), portion immoderate manufacture peers person seen falls of 20-30%.

Births successful Italy, the EU's 3rd astir populous country, deed a grounds debased of immoderate 370,000 successful 2024. The fertility complaint has slumped to 1.18, beneath an EU mean of 1.38 successful 2023, and acold beneath the 2.1 needed for a dependable population. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made encouraging much women to springiness commencement a priority.

"We are facing a commencement crisis, which successful Italy has progressively eroded much than 35-40% of the marketplace (for children's products)", Fiom Cgil commercialized unionist Adriana Geppert told Reuters. Competition from low-cost producers successful China was different large situation astatine location and abroad.

Two years ago, a radical of manufacturers for kid and babe products adjacent produced a abbreviated fictional documentary, imagining a dystopian script successful which by 2050 lone 1 babe would beryllium calved successful Italy, arsenic a mode of highlighting the urgent demographic challenges facing the country.

Alessandro Rosina, a prof of demography and societal statistic astatine the Catholic University of Milan who featured successful the documentary, said Italy's concern was peculiarly alarming.