An Italian manufacturer of dressy medium-priced women’s shoes, Manas, is launching a men’s sports shoe, called Olimpica, to play bocce – a typical Italian game of bowls that is played in dedicated sandpits in almost every little town. The shoe is being tested by players of the Italian national bowls team at the World Games being held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, just now. The shoe will initially be sold online, marking the company’s debut in e-commerce, and will then be rolled out in Manas’s 19 mono-brand stores and multi-brand shops. The company is targeting the 112,000 members of the Italian bowls federation (Federazione Italiana Bocce) as well as a larger clientele seeking a sneaker for leisure activities. The launch of the shoe will be supported by an advertising campaign created by the famous fashion photographer Oliviero Toscani, who has been working with the company since 2007.

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