One hot day, Mario Moretti Polegato cut holes in the soles of his shoes with a knife ­ and footwear emporium Geox was born

THEY SAY THAT an entrepreneur is born, not made. That being the case, the Italian founder of the shoe company Geox ­ one of the fastest growing brands in Europe ­ clearly has some amazing DNA.

But a twist of fate can also an entrepreneur make. Geox’s president Mario Moretti Polegato, 55, knows this all too well as he gazes out of his headquarters in the northern Veneto region ­ on the rare days that he is there, that is, instead of whizzing around the world, opening several new stores on average every month.

With 600 shops in 70 countries, it all started as relatively recently as 16 years ago. "My original business was not in shoes but in wine," says Polegato. "For three generations my family had produced sparkling wine, prosecco. In the north east of Italy we have seven wineries and produce 20 million bottles of wine a year." In keeping with family tradition, Polegato joined the fi rm which makes wine under the Villa Sandi label, named after their luxurious home near Valdobiaddene, an hour from Venice. This found him attending a wine convention in Nevada that pivotal summer of 1991. "After I fi nished talking to a client I decided to go to the Rocky Mountains. So I changed my shoes for a pair of trainers that I had for walking."

In the heat of the moment, as it were, Polegato mused why his feet got so sweaty in trainers and stopped off at a petrol station to buy a penknife. He then cut holes in the trainers to let the hot air escape. It sparked the idea of creating a shoe which let the vapour out yet at the same time did not allow water to enter. On his return to Italy he threw himself into researching the necessary technology, working with scientists at the universities of Padua and Milan. Finally, he came up with the product which was to become the bedrock of the Geox success story. It was a special base which they refer to as the "membrane".

Polegato explains: "The membrane had hundreds of small channels that were breathable but waterproof at the same time. How was this possible? Because the holes in the membrane were created to let the vapour molecules out but were too small to allow water molecules to enter. It was the fi rst time in the world that a breathable rubber sole had been created. It was a revolution in the shoewear industry."

This was clearly a man with a vision ­ but he also recognised a more practical issue. "My fi rst problem was to patent this technology. Now I have the patent recognised in over 100 countries from Europe and America to Asia." What helped in this instance was that, unusually, Polegato was both the creative inventor of the product and also the business brains behind its development. Now that the membrane in question is bringing in untold wealth to the company, the research and development laboratories have become the spiritual hub of the company and have 15 full-time lab technicians working on them; and 3% of the annual turnover is ploughed straight back into R&D.

Despite the fact that he could envisage huge commercial possibilities for this new breathable sole ("When I created this technology, I knew it had the possibility to change the world"), Polegato was not initially planning to carry out the production himself. "I was not interested in making the shoes originally. I wanted to sell this technology to the leading footwear companies in the world," he says candidly. "I spent three years researching for a partner and talked to the main players in the shoe business in Italy, Germany and America. But nobody believed in me. In the end, I decided to do it myself."

It was at that stage he established the company, 11 years ago, naming it `geo’ after the ancient Greek word for earth. "And `x’ stands for the symbol for technology [for me]." Right from the start he had global ambitions for the business: "Geox is an easy name to pronounce in any language; in Italian, English ­ everything."

And those global aims were achieved. "In 11 years we have gone from fi ve people to 30,000 employees worldwide." Those aren’t the only impressive numbers; Polegato may be the founder and company president but he remains close to the day-to-day spreadsheets. The pride he has in Geox’s bullish growth is self-evident from the way he reels off fi gures: "In 2002 Geox produced 4.5m pairs of shoes; in 2003 it was 6m; in 2004 it was 9m; in 2005 13m and last year 16m. But in 2007 we are expecting 21m. Every year our company grows more than 35%. It makes us unique in the world’s shoe business."

Clearly his optimism is shared by others. A couple of years back, Geox fl oated on the Milan Stock Exchange, when Polegato felt that the time had come for a serious cash injection to take the company into new territories with a more aggressive expansion plan; he retained a 71% stake and sold 29%.

"During the IPO two years ago the share price was 4.2. Now it is 14. The share value has grown 190% so our shareholders are very satisfi ed. The capitalisation of our company is now 3.6bn and if you think that’s only in shoes, not computers or hi-tech products, then it’s incredible success."

Part of the reason for this steeply upward curve in growth is clearly the rapid expansion. Although Geox shoes were sold exclusively in Italy for the fi rst four years (they have 220 stores throughout the country), they made a rapid mark in other European countries such as Germany, Spain and France, especially on the back of their children’s range. America is a recent market they have ventured into and so far looks as promising as the rest of their forays. The fl agship megastore in New York City’s Madison Avenue is an architectural show-stopper and lures in 1,000 visitors daily. And a recent collaboration with a Russian partner has seen 60 stores open throughout the country from Moscow and St Petersburg to Siberia. Another 40 sites have been earmarked to bring the total to 100 by the end of 2007.

The maths certainly adds up. But what lies at the heart of its success? Polegato believes it rests on the basis of three things: "Geox is a mixture of technology, fashion and medium pricing in the market."

Although the pricing was set to make it relatively inexpensive without undervaluing its quality, Polegato’s strategy was to position the Geox stores in upmarket locations, whether in Saudi Arabia, Jordan or France. "In a major shopping mall in Dubai, you fi nd Geox near the main designer brands like Hermès and Christian Dior," declares the proud founder who looks as though he’s just at home with luxury brands as his own: on his wrist is a huge Rolex ­ though he shies away from admitting where his suit or tie hail from. This modesty is an intriguing dichotomy because Polegato is clearly delighted that the Geox success has put him on the world’s rich list. In the middle of the interview, he gets up to bring me the latest Forbes magazine which places him at number 282 in the world; and the Italian list puts him at sixth place after Silvio Berlusconi (the billionaire media tycoon and former Italian Prime Minister) and fashion magnate Giorgio Armani.

But it’s not enough to slow him down ­ now he has his sights on the UK market. After Clarks and Ecco, Geox is in third place in the comfortable shoes sector. But the British love of designer shoes ­ Jimmy Choos are a name that even the most unreconstructed men have become familiar with ­ is something that Polegato believes he can exploit. "It’s not necessary to spend 200 to 300 on expensive shoes and end up with smelly feet. Our technology can be introduced into every shoe category ­ that is the beauty. People who buy luxury shoes also buy Geox because the product is high quality. You will see it in Britain when we open our new fl agship store [expected later this year]. But what we want is to be the leader in the entire shoes market; not just being present in every capital city in the world. When you are walking in Milan, Belfast or Calcutta and see lots and lots of people wearing Geox, that is what success means."

For store locations visit www.geox.com