The start of a brand

There it is, my first blog. However, with old news to be completely honest. The first blog describes the early days of my brand Carlo Lanza. About 5 years ago now. The factory was found after a long search and my dream was to visualize the process of making socks. Eventually I succeeded, but not without a struggle. How we fared, you can read below.

Filming in Italy: How are socks made?

October 2016

The idea had been there for a while; I wanted to capture the special process of making socks on film. Especially my own socks!

My supplier has been making the most beautiful men's socks, women's socks, sports socks, etc. for over 60 years. However, they had not yet experienced that one of their customers wanted to film the process. Finally, they succeeded, on October 14, 2016. The conversations to plan this trip and the sometimes heated discussions started in February. My Italian partner had to be convinced to be allowed to film. You are entering their house and that is sometimes sacred.

Not a smooth start

When the big day finally arrived, we didn't know that we would face so much resistance. The day started well. After picking up Mark - my cameraman - in Zwolle we left for Brussels full of good spirits.

First we got into the infamous traffic jam of that time at the Merwedebrug. Cracks had been discovered in the bridge and that caused a huge delay. In Belgium it didn't get much better. We drove ourselves stuck in one traffic jam after another. It even got so bad that our arrival time via the navigation was also our departure time. Would this still be okay?

After a lot of stress – and to be honest, a few traffic violations – we arrived at Brussels Airport 10 minutes before the gate closed. To park the car, check in, get through baggage control and walk to the gate in 10 minutes is a challenge even for Usain Bolt. Especially knowing that Brussels had recently been shocked by an attack and the checks had been tightened considerably since then.

Mark was travelling with a large black camera case and you guessed it. He was quickly pulled out of the queue for further checks. The stress hit both of us again. After a thorough search, we had overcome this obstacle as well. When we finally arrived at the gate – too late by now – we were able to board almost immediately. So there was a bit of a delay, what luck! We deserved a bit of luck too. Mark and I looked at each other and thought the same thing: a terrible journey there, but we made it. Nothing can happen to us anymore, we thought…

A memorable flight

Our calm was temporary. What followed was the most turbulent flight I have ever experienced. It is only an hour and 20 minutes flight to Milan Bergamo, but we were thrown into free fall several hundred meters by turbulence several times. Mark and the woman next to me were tense to say the least, and I was still processing the car journey and the airport.

Rainy Italy

That turbulence didn’t just come from somewhere. The weather in Italy was pretty bad. It was raining cats and dogs, which not only made me soaked, but also made it difficult to take nice outdoor shots. After an hour’s drive we arrived at the factory. Since I only had a few months of Italian lessons under my belt and my supplier didn’t speak a word of English, the next challenge was born. First, an espresso!

Highlight of the trip

To be back at the factory was the highlight of the trip anyway. This was all about it. Together with a good cameraman, filming the beautiful process of making socks. We got started in high spirits. We did notice that the Italians were quite nervous about us filming. They were constantly on our heels to check what we were filming and they came up with well-intentioned tips. Mark sometimes got anxious because he wanted to give substance to his own creativity. I was no longer surprised after doing business with Italians for 5 years.

A closed gate

After filming everything, we left for Bergamo where I had booked a hotel. Mark and I then went to the city to eat a pizza and then we called it a day. It seemed like we had aged 2 years in this one day. The next day, by the way, the alarm would go off at 05:00 because we had to catch the flight back at 08:00.

When we were in the car and wanted to leave the terrain, the next setback came our way. Both gates of the hostel were locked. Unbelievable! Apparently the poisoned chalice was not yet completely empty. We also saw the return flight suddenly in danger.

And then suddenly you're under fire...

We had already experienced a few things in the last 24 hours, so this was no longer a surprise. I called the hostel immediately, hoping that he would transfer to an emergency number. However, this was not the case.

After a short discussion, Mark decided to lean over the counter to get the bunch of keys that we saw lying there. Mark couldn't reach it and decided to climb over the counter. Necessity knows no law, apparently literally. When Mark had the key in his hand, a door suddenly opened and what happened next was like a scene from a mafia movie.

The hostel owner entered the room with a gun pointed at us. He held Mark at gunpoint. I was standing behind him at an angle but I wasn’t entirely reassured. Luckily, this man spoke English and we were able to quickly convince him that we meant no harm. We just wanted to catch our flight. The hostel owner had already called the police and was visibly upset. Eventually, peace quickly returned to the hostel. You have to make some sacrifices to film in Italy!

In the end it was all worth it

The rest of the return journey was as standard as it can be, fortunately. No extreme turbulence, no long traffic jams, no guns. Just perfect! We had experienced quite a lot in the last 24 hours. Despite the bad weather, missing almost 2 flights, the bizarre situation in the hostel, we had (for me) captured something very valuable on film. I would not have wanted to miss all of this.

The editing is now done and the film is ready! You can watch the result here . Feel free to let me know what you think.

Greetings,
Carlo Lanza