PromZ Vak 4 · 2026 · English edition

By Peter by Gestel

Tom de Kleyn and Rossana Porotti

The secret of Prodir

During a visit to the Swiss factories of Pagani Pens, I went in search of the answer to the question “What is the secret of Prodir?”. It lies in the design, the packaging, and the writing quality. But above all, in something you don't immediately see on the outside: an almost obsessive attention to quality in every process.

Apen is a pen. Right? A plastic casing, a clip, a mechanism, and a refill. Put a logo on it, close the box, and you're done. After a visit to the Prodir factories, you know that this reasoning is about as honest as saying that a watch consists only of two hands and a strap.

At Prodir, nothing is just ‘a component’. The colour is not a colour, but a recipe. The printing is not printing, but a technical dossier. The refill is not a stick of ink, but an interplay of nib, ball, ink, silicone, and pressure. Even the packaging tells the same story as the product: this is made with care. In our industry, Prodir is sometimes called the Apple of pens. That might sound a bit exaggerated for writing instruments, but after two days surrounded by machines, molds, colour proofs, and quality checks, I understand the comparison. Apple also sells a total experience in which design, technology, packaging, communication, and usage are all interconnected. That seems to be exactly where Prodir's secret lies.

Born from a cancellation

The story begins in 1975. The machines to produce pens had been purchased for publisher Mondadori. Once the investments had been made, the client reported that the pens were no longer needed. There you are, with your machines.

Prodir does not sell the luck that it will turn out well this time, but the certainty that the process is repeatable.

What would be the start of a serious problem for many companies became the beginning of Prodir. Founder Giorgio Pagani decided to bring the pens to market himself. No longer just producing for someone else, but taking responsibility for the product, the brand, and the sales himself.

Fifty years later, Pagani Pens still has a family-like character. COO Rossana Porotti, also Co-Director with CFO Alessio Marotta, and CCO Tom de Kleyn have both been with the company for over 25 years. They do not talk about Prodir as if it were the business of a distant shareholder, but as if it were their own company. After all, quality does not start with a machine, but with the mentality of the people making the decisions.

Colour before colour

In the printing plant, this becomes immediately visible. A client provides a logo and a PMS colour. For many people, that is the end of the matter: PMS 2908 is PMS 2908. But the same colour behaves differently on white plastic than on a dark surface, soft-touch material, metal, or a lacquered finish.

A separate recipe is created for every combination. In the colour department, a machine dispenses sometimes hundredths of grams of red, yellow, blue, white, or black. Not by feel, but based on a fixed formula. Moreover, every order receives a technical file. If adjustments were made during a previous production run, these are stored. If the same customer returns years later, there is no need to ‘guess’ again. That sounds like a detail. It *is* a detail. And that is precisely where the core lies.

At first glance, a cheap pen may appear to have the same colour. But does that colour remain the same with a repeat order? Is the shade truly the corporate colour, or is it mainly ‘approximately blue’? Prodir does not sell the luck that it will turn out well this time, but the certainty that the process is repeatable.

A fresh refill

You see that same mindset in the production of the refills. Prodir manufactures the refills for the European market itself. During the tour, I see how tubes are filled, how silicone prevents the ink from running back, and how a centrifuge pushes the ink to the tip. Different tip thicknesses and compositions each provide a different writing feel.

More importantly, the refills are produced as close to the moment of delivery as possible. A refill does not suddenly go bad one day. The quality declines slowly; The intensity goes, as it were, from one hundred to 98, to 96. A box of pens that has been sitting in a warehouse for eight years may still look excellent, but it no longer writes the same way.

That, too, is part of the price that no one sees in a product photo. You pay not only for the shape, but also for the control of everything inside. And that is quite relevant. When a promotional pen malfunctions, your customer's name is still on it.

Do not relinquish control

Meanwhile, the market demands smaller quantities, greater speed, and further personalization. Prodir could send neutral pens to local printing partners so that small orders are printed closer to the customer. This has been attempted in the United Kingdom and the United States. It yielded hardly any extra growth but a great deal of complexity. But something more important is at play: control.

“When we outsource part of the personalization, we are no longer fully in control,” says De Kleyn. Every product leaving the factory still bears the Prodir name. A printing partner might be able to handle a small run faster or cheaper, but can they guarantee exactly the same quality? The brand is built on the promise that the end result is right.

That is why ‘Swiss made’ here is more than just a flag on