Here the corn is as high as the
proverbial elephant’s eye, and the grapes come sweeping down the plain. It is
high summer in this region of northern Italy, and the land is throbbing with
life. Insects drone and lizards prostrate themselves on the terra cotta-tiled
patios. If you squint hard enough—and a squint is all you can hope to manage on
this languid afternoon beneath a searing Venetian sun—you might even imagine
yourself on the Missouri River bottomlands of Nebraska, or the lush steppe of
California’s Central Valley.
 This resemblance to America’s heartland would hardly be lost on
Mario Moretti Polegato, whose office on the second floor of a squat, unadorned
office building overlooks these fields and their whitewashed villas. Just 12
years ago, Polegato launched a small footwear company called Geox that has grown
into the fourth-largest shoe manufacturer in the world, ranked by market
capitalization behind only Nike, Adidas and Puma. Polegato, who carries the
titles of chairman and founder, has already become the sixth-richest man in
Italy, worth some $3 billion, according to Forbes.
Geox is the leading footwear company in Italy and one of the
best-selling brands in Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Belgium, Holland and the
other main European markets. But for all his accomplishments in Europe, Polegato
seems obsessed with the idea of succeeding in the U.S. "Some American economists
call our experience the American dream," he says in his heavily accented
English. "This is because in Italy, in Europe, we have a different mentality, a
different education than America about innovation."
Polegato is staking an enormous amount of capital on the risky
proposition that the United States will become the linchpin in his global
operation. His aggressive plans call for expanding his current chain of 13
company-owned stores, pushing hard into independently run multibrand retail
outlets and surging into mass-market retailers such as Macy’s. By running his
business in an admittedly American style, he hopes to make the U.S. his most
lucrative international market within three years.
Polegato, 55, grew up ensconced in tradition, some might even
say burdened by it. He was raised in Crocetta del Montello, in Italy’s Veneto
region, some 50 miles northwest of Venice, a city that lives in and worships the
past. The third-generation scion of a winemaking empire, Polegato spent many of
his early years at the heart of his family’s vineyards, a 17th-century estate
called Villa Sandi.
The main house, built in 1622, is a Palladian wonder, with a
massive portico supported by four gigantic Ionian columns. Original limestone
figures from the workshop of the late-baroque sculptor Orazio Marinali dot the
crisply manicured and thoroughly symmetrical lawns and gardens. Hidden beneath
the estate, wine cellars run more than 5,000 feet long, holding 2 million
bottles of the family’s output.
Villa Sandi, and its parent company, La Gioiosa, will combine
to produce more than 20 million bottles of wine this year. The Veneto area is
home to the world’s finest Prosecco, and Villa Sandi’s labels have won numerous
awards.
Polegato’s family groomed Mario to take over this empire—he
earned his first university degree in agriculture—and gorged him with the
trappings of young wealth. "My family supported me in high school, the
university, gave me a good reputation, a nice villa," he recalls. "They gave me
money, a Ferrari, horses, motorbikes, a yacht, everything." But Polegato seemed
fated to strike out on his own.
In the mid-1980s, he traveled to the U.S. for a wine
conference, and planned a hike in the Rocky Mountains. Plagued by sweaty feet,
Polegato cut holes in his sneakers to allow heat to escape. When he returned to
Italy, he set to work on a method for integrating a breathable, waterproof
membrane into the soles of various types of shoes.
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