Belstaff is a clothing brand owned by British chemicals company

Ineos INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. , it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own b ...

. The company was founded in 1924 by Eli Belovitch and his son-in-law Harry Grosberg in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The name Belstaff is a combination of Eli's surname and his Staffordshire home. Belstaff was the first company to use wax cotton in the manufacturing of waterproof apparel for motorcycling.

History

Belstaff was founded in 1924 by Eli Belovitch and his son-in-law Harry Grosberg in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. In 1948, Belstaff became a subsidiary of James Halstead. The company was affected by the textile crisis of the 1990s, precipitating the closure of the Longton factory after previously closing its Silverdale site. James Halstead continued to own the brand selling the Belstaff motorcycle range along with helmet brands until 2004. Alongside this they promoted the fashion side across Europe, Australia and the US. The brand was sold in 2004 to Franco Malenotti of Sponsor SA Italy. Kate Moss was paid £1,000,000 to appear in Belstaff ads. In June 2011, Harry Slatkin and The Labelux Group bought Belstaff. Slatkin assumed the role of CEO and appointed Martin Cooper as Chief Creative Officer and together, they planned to reposition Belstaff as an English heritage brand centred on luxury

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

was brought in as a business consultant. In 2012, the company opened stores in Via della Spiga Milan, in New Bond Street,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and on Madison Avenue,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The interiors were designed by Bill Sofield. In July 2014, along with

Jimmy Choo Datuk Jimmy Choo Back from ...

and Bally, Belstaff was acquired by parent group JAB Luxury GmbH. In 2015, Belstaff and Legs Media made a 17 minute commercial, ''Outlaws'', with David Beckham,

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...

Katherine Waterston Katherine Boyer Waterston (born March 3, 1980) is a British-American actress. She made her feature film debut in '' Michael Clayton'' (2007). She had supporting roles in films including '' Robot & Frank,'' ''Being Flynn'' (both 2012) and '' The ...

and

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress and singer whose career spans over 40 years. For her work in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film ''Raging Bull'', she received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

. In early 2016, Belstaff made a 3-minute commercial, ''Falling Up'', in which

Liv Tyler Liv Rundgren Tyler (born Liv Rundgren; July 1, 1977) is an American actress, producer, singer and former model. She began a modeling career at age 14. She later decided to focus on acting and made her film debut in ''Silent Fall'' (1994); she ...

retraces the footsteps of 1920s aviator Amelia Earhart. Delphine Ninous became men's and women's Creative Director in July 2016. In 2017, Belstaff opened a store in Ginza Six,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and was bought by UK company

in late 2017. Helen Wright was appointed CEO in 2018. Sean Lehnhardt-Moore became the new creative director in 2018. Fran Millar was appointed CEO in 2020 leaving her position at

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

cycling team The Ineos Grenadiers (formerly Team INEOS and Team Sky). In 2019, Belstaff exited its Madison Avenue,

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

store and in 2020, Belstaff opened its eleventh store globally, a store in the Meatpacking District.

References

Notes

External links

* Textile manufacturers of England Motorcycle safety gear manufacturers Motorcycling retailers British companies established in 1924 Manufacturing companies established in 1924