Russian manufacturers have taken to copying from everyone, from the Italians, from their neighbors, from their competitors. Their products are becoming more and more alike and lack personality. It’s time to come up with something of our own.
Every day, Russian companies making consumer products are getting deeper and deeper into the international game called “Who Wants to Copy the Italians?” The countries of Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia (including China), and to some extent Latin America and Russia are all in on the game. All players except Russia have long dominated their country’s domestic consumer markets across all price segments and actively export their products. This is happening mainly because the lion’s share of these local companies have already been bought up by more productive foreigners, either the Italians themselves or the Germans. Independent Russian manufacturers taking part in the process, however, are just starting to take over the Russian domestic market, the part of the market that can pay, and are constantly attacking other players who try to get a piece of the action.
In recent years, almost all industries—home furnishings, footwear, apparel, construction materials—have seen the appearance of manufacturers capable of bringing high-quality products to market that take the place of imports. These companies have all done an excellent job of setting up European-style production. They have figured out how to achieve a decent level of quality, how to motivate their employees, and how to manage sales. However, many of them are troubled by the question of why well-off Russians still prefer imports.
Russian producers are having a hard time solving two problems: creating a sample, meaning developing their own product lines and creating new designs, and turning this sample into a something that can be mass produced, meaning paying close and constant attention to technology. Now, as competition is heating up mostly due to Chinese imports, many manufactures are discovering that solving these problems has become crucial. Without a solution, they will not reach new levels or new consumers for whom price is no object.
How can Russian companies solve the design problem? First of all, by keeping on the tail of Italy’s leading designers and stylists. Whatever the industry, the entire world copies Italy when the main factor is fashion. The Italian design school is strong, and it would be impossible to repeat Italian experience in a short space of time somewhere else in the world. The only right thing to do: drink from the fountain of ideas the Italians have created.
However, Russian companies shouldn’t simply do what they’ve been doing all along. Russian manufacturers have taken to copying from everyone, from the Italians, from neighbors, from competitors. Their products are becoming more and more alike and lack personality. For instance, last summer the very same shoe design was being produced by practically all manufacturers. While a few years ago one well-known furniture maker literally roughed up a competitor for copying his company’s sofa, nowadays no one thinks twice and calmly stamps out the same products as a dozen other companies. By doing this, companies lose out both in terms of prices and business efficiency.
It’s time to make our own product lines. The fastest way to make this happen is to create separate design studios together with Italian companies. These studios will probably have to be in Italy because a designer cannot design without parts and materials. That’s exactly what Lira Keramika, shoe manufacture Alba, and several other Russian companies have done. The creation of a collection should be accompanied by brand positioning to strengthen the image of both the product line and the company itself.
With a brand on hand, companies can solve the second problem of maintaining technical discipline. The salaries of workers at many Russian manufactures, just like in China, are less than $100 a month. As a rule, people with little motivation take these jobs, and this kind of worker will never achieve the Italian level of quality. According to some manufacturers, you can only get European quality by raising salaries several times. The only thing that will justify this price to consumers is a brand name.

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