The Marzotto Group is an Italian

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

manufacturer, based in

Valdagno Valdagno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The town was the birthplace of the textile manufacturing company Marzotto, and home to the Italian hotel chain " Jolly Hotels" Geography The town extends along t ...

. Created in 1836 as the ''Lanificio Luigi Marzotto & Figli''. In 2005 Marzotto Group's textile business separated from

Valentino Fashion Group The Valentino Fashion Group is an Italian consortium of luxury fashion companies. In 2002 the fashion house Valentino was purchased by the Marzotto Group, joining a group that included Hugo Boss, and licensed products for Gianfranco Ferre, M ...

. The Group manufactures

woollen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...

and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

yarns for clothing, and through equity investments, woollen yarns for knitwear,

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

yarns and

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

History

Early years

As a member of the nobility, Luigi Marzotto (1773-1859) founded a

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

mill in

in 1836 with a capital of 2 000

Venetian Lira The lira (plural ''lire'') was the distinct currency of Venice until 1848, when it was replaced by the Italian lira. It originated from the Carolingian monetary system used in much of Western Europe since the 8th century CE, with the ''lira'' subd ...

, equivalent to $100 000 in the nineties. He handed the business to his son

Gaetano Gaetano (anglicized ''Cajetan'') is an Italian masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. It is derived from the Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from ''Caieta''" (the modern Gaeta). The given name has been in use in Italy since medieval pe ...

in 1842. After the unification of the

kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

in 1861, Gaetano bought a spinning factory nearby

Maglione Maglione is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, about northeast of Turin. At 31 December 2004 it had a population of 497 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian stat ...

. By then, the company's payroll had risen to over 1.200 employees. After Gaetano's death in 1910, Marzotto S.p.A. split in two, so his grandson took over the

factory and his son Vittorio Emanuele Marzotto, who has been credited with leading the company into the export business, took over the

operations.

Mid-Twentieth Century

In 1921, Gaetano Jr. inherited the Valdagno mill. According to the company history, Gaetano Jr. modernized the company and expanded during the 1920s, allowing it to survive the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

without being nationalized, and reacquiring the family mill in

. In 1935, Gaetano created an agricultural complex between

Fossalta di Portogruaro Fossalta di Portogruaro is a town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is south of A4 and lies 80 km east of Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Ve ...

and the Venetian Lagoon, called it after his wife, Margherita Lampertico Marzotto. During the World War II, the company was under government control. However, Gaetano recover the company at the end of the conflict and took advantage of the

Italian economic miracle The Italian economic miracle or Italian economic boom ( it, il miracolo economico italiano) is the term used by historians, economists, and the mass media to designate the prolonged period of strong economic growth in Italy after the Second Worl ...

. In the 1950s, Marzotto S.p.A. diversified in the manufacturing of private-label menswear, ''Principe by Marzotto''. After going public in 1961 with a listing on the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

exchange market An exchange, bourse (), trading exchange or trading venue is an organized market where (especially) tradable securities, commodities, foreign exchange, futures, and options contracts are bought and sold. History 12th century: Brokers on the ...

Borsa Italiana Borsa Italiana, based in Milan, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.italy24.ils ...

, the company started exporting its products to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. To reduce labour costs, 40 percent of the clothing production would eventually be transferred there.

Expansion

Between the 1980s and 1990s, Marzotto S.p.A. expanded through acquisitions. Marzotto became Europe's first fully integrated wool producer in 1987 after acquiring

Lanerossi Lanerossi is an Italian textile brand, established in the 19th century by Schio's Lanificio Rossi. Since 1987, the brand belongs to the Italian group Marzotto, which use it for the design, production, and marketing of textiles. History In 1817, ...

, followed by

Hugo Boss Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...

in 1991 and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

’s Nová Mosilana wool mill in 1994. In 1997, the group announced a merge with HPI to form

Gruppo Industriale Marzotto Gruppo may refer to: * groupset A groupset or gruppo (from the Italian for "group", sometimes misspelled grouppo) is a bicycle component manufacturer's organized collection of mechanical parts. It generally refers to all of the components that ma ...

, the world's largest designer clothing manufacturer. However,

Pietro Marzotto Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II C ...

abruptly stopped negotiations, which led to Pietro's resignation of his function as chief executive and the take-over by

Jean de Jaeger Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

, the first non-Marzotto to be promoted to such a function. Pietro nonetheless remained the majority shareholder of Marzotto S.p.A. and he purchased Liteksas, a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n wool garments manufacturer, in 2000, so that the company could shift part of its production to the lower-cost market. He also bought Valentino S.p.A., which had been struggling under HPI, in 2002. The development of the Marzotto group continued in 2009, acquiring the NTB Nuova Tessilbrenta brand, specialized in the production of cotton casual and sportswear; It also stipulates the collaboration agreement with the Schneider Group, an important and recognized player in the sector in the acquisition and combing of wool and noble fibers, which provides for the creation of a joint production company for the processing of wool, in which Marzotto participates with 30% shares, based in a new plant in Egypt. In October 2009, Marzotto acquired, together with Faber Five, a company owned by Antonio Favrin, 66.7% of Ratti, one of the most important Como companies in the world of silk, founded in 1945 by Antonio Ratti. In July 2018, Davide Favrin, a Management Engineering graduate and son of Antonio, the historical manager and shareholder of the company, first as CEO in 2002 and then as president since 2004, was appointed CEO, replacing Sergio Tamborini, at the head of the group since 2006.

Others

Marzotto supported the development of Valdagno, giving services to workers such as schools, hospitals, entertainment, and social facilities. In 1951, Marzotto family established the Marzotto Prize, awarding people from medicine, modern sciences, poetry, journalism, theatre and painting.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website

Marzotto
treccani.it Italian brands Manufacturing companies established in 1836 Textile companies of Italy Companies based in Veneto Italian companies established in 1836 Corporate groups