MILAN — On a sunny spring afternoon, Giuseppe Zanotti navigates the crowded rooms of Vicini’s Milan showroom like a reluctant guest of honor at a cocktail party. The designer darts through the maze of small rooms searching for a quiet place to talk, while offering waves and quick nods to the patches of buyers looking for his smile of approval at their selections from his fall ’08 collection.

In a back room, Zanotti closes the door and opens a window before pulling a chair up to a table fit for a poker game. The designer is in his typical uniform: a plain T-shirt, fitted blazer and eyeglasses, which today are purple. As his blinking Blackberry vibrates perilously close to the edge of the table, Zanotti says he’s ready to talk business.

And for Zanotti, there are a lot of good things to talk about.

At a time when the luxury footwear market is on shaky ground, Zanotti’s 14-year-old company, Vicini SpA, continues to flourish. This year, it will reach sales of between 80 and 85 million euros (about $124 million to $132 million at current exchange rates), up from 71 million euros in 2007 and 62 million euros in 2006.

Worldwide, there are 35 Giuseppe Zanotti-branded boutiques, with plans for four more by the end of the summer. The company also counts 15 Vicini stores selling the designer’s “daytime” shoes. Additionally, Vicini SpA operates the licenses for Roberto Cavalli, Ferré and Blumarine footwear.

Though the designer admits he’s not immune to the rocky global economy, Zanotti says business is going strong at retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. And A-list celebrities including Demi Moore, Heidi Klum and Alicia Keyes have become loyalists of Zanotti’s jewel-encrusted sandals and sexy stilettos, as have the designer’s half-a-million global customers.

While there are plenty of successes to reflect on, Zanotti wastes little time thinking about his past achievements, keeping his focus squarely on the future. Here the designer opens up about how he navigates two distinct high-end businesses through uncertain economic times and when might be the right time to hand over the reins of his namesake brand.

FN: Is the strong euro impacting your U.S. business?

GZ: The American market is the most important market we have. For the last two or three seasons, the problem with the euro and dollar has been big. Last December, I was nervous because [wholesale] price points increased 15 to 18 percent. But my customers bought the same quantity as before. We actually sold 7 or 8 percent more than [the prior season] and in February, it was the same thing. This exchange problem is not only in Europe and the U.S. The problem is in Asia and Japan and China because the U.S. dollar affects everything.

Since I have my own company, I can balance the price points. I try to cut the difference of cost between the euro and the U.S. dollar in a global way. My collection is special and easy to sell because there is this formula between price point and creativity. The price point is high, but it’s not crazy high.

FN: How are you dealing with the shaky U.S. economy?

GZ: We try to listen to all the [recession] rumors, but we are very concentrated and we are still growing in the American market. We are staying very positive. The global economy will survive when people spend and invest. But it’s not all about the American market and the U.S. economy, it’s a global [issue]. It’s Europe and Asia and Japan. Every market except maybe Russia or Dubai has suffered.

FN: Outside of your namesake line, you also have a thriving business with Vicini. How focused are you on that?

GZ: I started in 1994 from zero and I designed daytime shoes under Vicini. Giuseppe Zanotti were the very expensive, irresistible shoes. And it still is this way. Now the company has in total more than seven factories with 420 people — three factories [I own that are dedicated to Giuseppe Zanotti product] and four outside factories for production of licenses and men’s and Vicini. In the future the licenses will be less and less. Right now, we have a total of three licenses. In the next five years, we will be down to one or two [licenses] with not a lot of production. We don’t have the capacity. [Giuseppe Zanotti] shoes are very difficult to produce. I want to dedicate this time to my shoes.

FN: You take a lot of pride in the craftsmanship of your shoes. What makes your manufacturing setup so unique?

GZ: There is [almost] no manufacturing in Italy. There were 7,000 [factories] and now there are 70, maybe. We do [all our] production here. It’s more than made-in-Italy, it’s more like it’s made in my house. We are a strange hybrid of the future and past. The average age [of our workers] is 30. People come to us from all over Italy because we are one of the best companies to learn from. We are so modern in terms of technology, but are also so old in terms of manufacturing.

FN: Are you concerned about knockoffs?

GZ: [No], they’re good. I know a lot of the time people buy my shoes to copy them, but I think, “If if my shoes cost $1,000 in the window of my store, why can’t a girl with a love and passion for shoes buy my shoes one season later for $89?” Creativity is [what’s] important to me. I’m always participating in new works, new seasons, new styles, and [that’s why] people copy me every season. I realize it’s part of this business and I prefer they copy me [instead] of Prada and Gucci. There is a DNA inside my shoes, and when you touch them you can tell [immediately].

FN: How important is it for you to have your own retail stores?

GZ: Thanks to my retail stores, I have the opportunity to show my whole collection. In one Giuseppe Zanotti store we can show 250 styles and colors and [create an atmosphere]. If you listen to beautiful opera for three minutes, you can’t understand it. You have to listen to the whole thing. I design a world of Giuseppe Zanotti and I like the opportunity to give [customers] the vision of this world.

FN: What new store openings are in the works for this year?

GZ: I want to develop [retail] strategically. In the U.S., we have four stores now and we would like to open in Beverly Hills, Calif., which is a very important area for us, and maybe in Boston in the next year. We opened our first boutique in Singapore in March and we’ll be opening our second one [there] in January 2009. We’ll be opening a store in Macau, China, on May 20 and in Shanghai next year. We opened in Tokyo [earlier this year]. And this month, [we’ll open] in Moscow.

FN: How do you meet consumer demands in diverse markets?

GZ: I don’t design shoes for any [specific] market. A woman is a woman — she loves to be beautiful. My idea is to have a big, huge collection so my global woman can pick something she loves. She’s the same woman in America as in Dubai because she travels a lot. She’s going to Los Angeles, St. Tropez, Aspen, Paris, or on a weekend shopping trip in New York.

FN: Where do you see Giuseppe Zanotti in the next five years?

GZ: We could do [more] bags, jewelry, [and] I do like glasses. [I want] to [focus on expanding] the retail business and developing areas in South America and China.

FN: Would you consider doing a bridge line?

GZ: No. I still have a lot of things to do in the [luxury] category. I would like to do handbags, jeweled bags, or jewelry. Why do I have to do something cheap? A lot of companies can do that better than I can.

FN: Are either of your sons interested in joining the business?

GZ: I don’t think so. The younger one is an incredible artist. He has a golden hand, but I don’t want to tell him to do this job. I don’t believe in this case that my shoes are his personality, and it’s better to create a team and give ideas to a team. And to give to someone you love this responsibility is not really a big gift.

FN: Do you think you’ll retire from Giuseppe Zanotti at some point?

GZ: We all tend to think we’re going to stay forever. Sometimes I think, “OK, I’m 50 years old, maybe in the next five years I’ll stop.” In terms of the human possibility to do this job, 12 or 13 hours a day, it’s very tough. If we have the opportunity in the future to have somebody work with me [for a time], then maybe six years later I can retire, but stay on board [in some way]. I love to teach people. The brand will not cancel out and finish [after] me. If I create a [formula], I can sell [the business] to someone with good people and passion and vision.