Mario Moretti Polegato is the  founder of Geox footwear. In the early 1990s he created a new footwear concept: a special member that could be used in shoes to prevent perspiration. He approached Nike, Adidas, Timberland, the leaders of the footwear market.

 

But nobody was interested. So he decided to go it alone and set up his company with five employees. Today the company has 2,800 employees and sales of $350m. Mario thinks the company's next opportunity will come

from the clothing market and he plans to produce a range of clothes incorporating the same patented material. The only threat that Geox faces is the same for all fashion businesses: a sudden shift in consumer