Frette, from textiles to lifestyle focusing on the Italian spirit

Not only a quantum physics experiment, but also a building can demonstrate Albert Einstein’s belief that «the separation between past, present and future is only a stubborn illusion». In Concorezzo, a town of about 16,000 inhabitants in the province of Monza-Brianza, the dimensions of time are about to meet, precisely in via Monza, in the area where the Frette factory once stood, the historic Italian textile brand, born in 1860 and controlled by the fund European Change Capital Partners, which in 2010, after 150 years, had left the Brianza town. «It’s a dream for us – says the CEO Filippo Arnaboldi from New York, at the helm of Frette since 2017, but in the company since 1999 -: on February 17 we will sign the contract with the Municipality of Concorezzo and after the summer we will start the works. We have 24 months to bring life back to those buildings, where the company was born and raised».

It was the local administration, which bought the abandoned area in 2021, who contacted Frette to propose a recovery and revitalization project: «With an investment of around 3 million, we will build not only our historic headquarters, but also spaces open to community, a museum of the textile industry, with a path that is the story and sharing of our history and that of Italy”.

Last year, the decision to return to the Altagamma Foundation, the association of Made in Italy companies of excellence, left in 2008, also belongs to this: «It was a mistake to underestimate the Italian market, a path undertaken since 1978, when the property decided to focus on the United States – he adds -. Of course, today the US market generates 70% of our turnover, the Italian one 15%. But the growth prospects are very important, also driven by the rapid development of the luxury hotel industry in the country, a category which makes up 40% of our revenues».

The production of made-to-measure creations for hotels (1,500 active collaborations, among the most recent the one with the Portrait of Milan) has always characterized Frette: «We manage to accompany the consumer in pleasant experiences in numerous spaces, at home, on vacation, while traveling or shopping. And we are also developing the outdoor part, alongside projects for yachts, which are increasingly numerous. We are not perceived as a textile brand, but one that offers a lifestyle». The company – which today has 140 points of sale worldwide, of which 30 are directly managed – is growing by focusing on the development of this perception: «We closed 2022 with 128 million in revenues, compared to 101 in 2021. Our goal is to double the turnover by 2026 – notes the CEO -. We will also do this by developing the Asia-Pacific area (where Frette has opened 3 of the 4 stores inaugurated in 2021, nda), which today is worth only 10% but where we see great potential, such as that of the Middle East, in great ferment».