Speakers’ Corner is our new short-form interview series offering a preview of the voices you’ll hear at upcoming PI events, directly from the people shaping fashion and footwear today.

Across these nine conversations, the tension that keeps surfacing is that the capability gap in footwear's digital transformation isn't the software — it's everything else that sits around it. From the missing bridge between craft and industrialisation, to pipelines still lost in translation between design and factory, to the sea of sameness that emerges when everyone reaches for the same tools and shortcuts — the pattern is consistent.

The technology has moved.
The systems, structures, and mindsets around it largely haven't.

These nine voices are tackling the hard questions about time, trust, courage, and whether organisations are genuinely built to absorb the change they claim to want.

Giustiano Peruzzo on Losing Sight of the Bigger Picture
From AI as storytelling tool to the quiet return of insourcing.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Tom Evans on Why the Sea of Sameness Starts With the Tools
If everyone’s using the same software, the same suppliers and the same generative shortcuts, differentiation doesn’t just get harder. It disappears.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Matteo Pasca on the Missing Bridge Between Craft and Technology
Tools are advancing fast, but without people who can connect the factory floor to the digital workflow, the gap stays wide open.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Valentina Zanatta on the Courage to Build Around 3D Properly
The biggest efficiency gains don’t come from individual tools — they come from understanding how everything talks to everything else.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Stefan Rohner on Why the Tools Are Ready But the System Isn’t
3D, AI, and connected product data are only as powerful as the system around them.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Natacha Alpert on a Pipeline Still Lost in Translation
Until tools and platforms truly connect, we are not unlocking the full potential of digital workflows.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
William Pittman on Why the File Should Follow the Designer
Direct-to-manufacturing workflows will change speed, margins, and authorship — but only if teams change how they work first.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Luke McConnie on Why Time is the Real Cost of Going Digital
The tools were never the barrier. It was the hours spent figuring them out when no one was asking that made the difference.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe
Victor Verquin on the Human Side of the Digital Pipeline
The tools are getting better. The missing piece is still empathy in how we design, how we collaborate, and how we build products people actually want to wear.
SeamlessMichael Ratcliffe

We cannot wait to welcome this group of experts to Stride Europe 2026 — join us in Venice on 28–29 April!

Stride Europe 2026
Stride Europe is the footwear innovation event for brands navigating the crossroads of heritage and digital change. Join a vibrant community of designers, developers, and makers redefining what it means to innovate - not by erasing tradition, but by evolving it. Across two immersive days, connect with like-minded peers, discover the tools reshaping product creation, and explore how craftsmanship and technology can co-exist, co-create, and propel the industry forward.
Stride Europe 2026 – PIMarketKey Ltd