Spotlight on JV International

MLL signed a licence agreement with Jihua Vestar Hong Kong Science & Technologies Limited (JV Hong Kong). The agreement sees MLL and JV Hong Kong working together to develop a MICHELIN soles business worldwide. But who are JV Hong Kong?

JV HK is MLL’s key partner for the realisation of the project to develop MICHELIN branded technical soles. It has a company in Italy, JV international, with 2 sites: the Headquarters in Como and the Design Centre in Verona, a company in Hong Kong, two production plants and one R&D centre in China. It employs an international team with specific expertise in the field of technical soles and footwear.

The JV Teams provide twenty-years of know-how in designing soles and footwear

Even though the company is new, the JV Teams provide twenty-years of know-how in designing soles and footwear. The experience of the teams, together with the transfer of Michelin technologies to soles – from Tires to Soles – creates the best conditions for designing technical soles where the innovation and the performance change the rules of the game.

JV Teams manage the whole production process in-house, starting from the research on compounds, new materials and technologies, in order to proceed with the conception and the prototyping, all the way to the production. All sole production is proprietary, in order to ensure speed, quality, delivery and time-to-market factors which are characteristics of all MICHELIN branded products.

MICHELIN soles

The MICHELIN soles are characterized by high performance, high quality, high innovation, and they will be positioned as premium market-leading soles. They will target men, women and children and be developed for categories such as; work and safety, outdoor, motorcycling, active sports and lifestyle. MICHELIN tyre sculptures will be used to inspire sole design with new concepts, technologies and innovations being co-developed to create breakthrough products. Consumers see a very strong link between the MICHELIN brand and the benefits it could bring to soles, in terms of:

• Innovation
• Top performance in every situation
• High innovating content about compound, creation process, and tread design
• High quality

Working with Michelin

Ambrogio Merlo, JV International’s Managing Director commented, “The union between the expertise of JV Teams and the deep knowledge of Michelin in the tires world have allowed from the beginning to change the rules of the game creating the right context where the innovative ideas become a technical and performing solutions. Now we are seeing the products on the market, having positive feedback from the final customers, together with the continuous share of experiences and the team working between JV and Michelin have powered this great partnership”.

What Does The Future Hold?

The outcomes of this collaboration are innovative products that have been presented to the press and to the public in the last months of July and August. They are 3 motorcycle boots developed with the specialized motorcycle global brand TCX and 3 MTB shoes presented by the international company Northwave. The soles developed for these shoes have many innovative characteristics such as:

• A specific compound developed for particular use (In some cases we also use the double compound technology)
• Innovative sculpture design for excellent adherence
• Innovative siping design to evacuate water and to improve adherence on wet surfaces
• Specific sculptures design for maximum self-cleaning and traction on mud and sand

These products will be available in the specialised shops in the Q4 of this year.

Other than product launched; in the marketing and communication field, JV is creating the B2C website www.michelin-soles.com – at the moment is on line a B2B website www.jvinternational.com – it will be develop its usage of the social media, as well as PR events with the launch of many new products in mind dedicated to the B2C. While from a commercial point of view, they are aiming to widen their presence in the work and safety segment as well as in the outdoor and bicycle, attempting to collaborate with the most performing and innovating leading brands in each target segment.

They are also looking to develop the relationship with MLL by sharing more information as possible in order to have a wider presence in the worldwide press but also more opportunities in terms of collaboration and synergies.