Some SCHOOLS have resorted to banning them, to prevent distraction, peer pressure and outright theft. Not mobile phones, but Legami gel pens. Children across Europe love the Italian firm’s colourful pens, with their animal heads and catchy slogans: “Bee Different”; “No Probllama”. They collect them, trade them—and sometimes pinch them.
Legami is growing fast, even as many of its Western competitors are in dire straits. The 22-year-old firm, based in Bergamo, has increased its sales from €76m ($80m) in 2022 to €245m last year; this year it hopes for over €300m, half of it abroad. Legami sells its pens in 70 countries, via more than 10,000 retailers. It has 146 shops of its own, and plans to reach 180 by March.
Older penmakers are having a harder time. Faber-Castell, Pelikan and Schwan-Stabilo, German firms founded in the 18th and 19th centuries, have been shedding jobs. Stabilo, whose sales fell by 6% in 2024, hopes to trim its staff through attrition alone. But Pelikan, bought in 2023 by France’s Hamelin group, is cutting 250 of its 500 jobs in Germany. Faber-Castell is also firing workers. America’s Newell Brands, which makes the Sharpies favoured by President Donald Trump, said on December 1st that it would cut 900 jobs, or 10% of its workforce.
Their woes can be traced to the digitisation of offices and homes, costlier raw materials and growing competition from Asia. The Chinese, already the dominant suppliers of ballpoints, are even making inroads into the market for fancier pens. That has long been the preserve of swanky European brands such as Montblanc, owned by Switzerland’s Richemont, and family-run Caran D’Ache, based in Geneva, whose range includes a fountain pen carved in gold and set with diamonds, priced at $1m.
For now, at least, Europe remains the leading purveyor of such extravagant writing implements. And for penmakers that aren’t Caran D’Ache or Montblanc, Legami’s success suggests that a penchant for fun can also pay. As the motto of its bunny pen puts it: “Don’t worry, be hoppy.” ■
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