On March 22, 2006, Grotto S.p.A. launched into jeanswear production in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk under the GAS Brand. The company already operates in Ivano-Frankivsk through its Ukrainian subsidiary, TOV U-Project, and the company’s announcement confirmed its expansion plans in the city. The new enterprise will occupy premises rented from VAT Rodon, an electronic component manufacturer under restructuring.
The Italy-based company and Rodon signed a lease for 2,700 square meters of production space and 500 square meters of adjacent land in September 2005. Since then, Grotto has invested about €100,000 into reconstruction and remodeling of the premises, and installed special equipment, according to U-Project Director Ihor Mykhaylyuk.
Mr. Mykhaylyuk said that, in the first phase, the operation will employ 50 workers and mostly export their products – trousers, jackets and overalls – to Europe. Later, as the output grows, manpower is expected to increase to between 700 and 1,000 employees.
With the company motto, "Keep it simple," Grotto simply keeps expanding, and plans to construct new production and distribution facilities in Ivano-Frankivsk's Khryplyn Investment Industrial Area in the future. The city government has already allotted land, and now necessary documents are being drawn up. Mr. Mykhaylyuk said they have not decided on the investment size yet, and everything will depend on how well the Rodon-based production goes. He said, however, that the company expects market extension into Central and Eastern Europe, and if the distribution center is built as planned, products from Ivano-Frankivsk will be shipped in an arc extending from Central Europe to Russia and, probably, Transcaucasia.
Before taking roots in the Carpathian piedmont, Grotto also considered Rivne as the site for its new operation. The company compared the business environment and other conditions in the two cities. "Ivano-Frankivsk offered better conditions for production development, and the company took the final decision in favor of using the premises of VAT Rodon," Mr. Mykhaylyuk said.
The Ivano-Frankivsk government offers land plots in the Khryplyn Investment Industrial Area to investors with packages of documentation already prepared in an “impersonalized procedure.” The city is Ukraine’s first to have implemented this innovative approach.
According to the Grotto S.p.A. web site, the company, founded in 1982 by Claudio Grotto, manufactures and distributes GAS brand clothing worldwide. In 2002, which is the latest year for which the site shows the company’s financial results, its revenues totaled €121.8 million.
The LED project thanks Nadia Karabin, head of the Industry Section within the Ivano-Frankivsk Socioeconomic Development Department, for her mediatory assistance in writing this story.
