150 years of excellence History, tradition, values

150 years of excellence
History, tradition, values
Index
Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...3
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…4
The origins: Frette in France……………………………………………………………………………………..…….5
Frette in Italy: a Monzese House…………………………………………………………………………………..……9
The establishment of E. Frette & C. and the Illustrious Triad…………………………… ………………..…….14
Between the XX and XXI centuries…..………………………………………………………………………………..24
The Frette alchemy……………………………………………………………………………….….………………....29
1
Acknowledgements
This work comes out thanks to the contribution of Frette employees
over 150 years of history.
Particular thanks to Mario Sterlini and Giuseppe Sordi for the historical
side, the proof-reading, and their shrewd suggestions; to Silvia Tagliabue
and Andrea Madeddu for designing the cover page; to Pierluigi Dalena
for the photographic material.
Alessandro Di Mauro elaborated the text, the structure of which follows
the book: “E. Frette & C. una casa monzese fra Ottocento e Novecento”
by Franco Maria Ricci, 1989.
Translation: Mario Sterlini.
Cover: Ramages pattern, created by Frette in the 1970s, Jacquard Fiandra, a precious fabric mainly used to
manufacture elegant tablecloths.
2
Preface
These pages are a part of the “Frette Academy” project, commissioned by Jeff Hansen, JHPartners equity
fund Senior, and C.E.O. of Frette S.r.l., and constitute one of the foundations of the project.
The idea behind Frette Academy derives from the need of preserving the integrity of and make available to
all the collaborators the knowledge and know-how legacy that brought about the success of the company and
constitutes a whole of distinctive competences: that is what makes us unique versus our competitors.
So, the Academy is the instrument through which to hand on, and enrich with new elements, our corporate
culture, to teach and train all the collaborators and better prepare them for the professional and career challenges they
will be facing.
By going along the company’s history again, we aim to highlight those original features and distinctive
competences that accompanied it in its 150 year history through the most disparate historical, economical, political and
social events.
Alessandro Di Mauro
3
Introduction
“I will never forget the trip that changed my life. If I were not a catholic, I could say that in Grenoble, on that
train returning from Flanders, I met the destiny in the person of Edmond Frette. I was, at the time, a young man who
had just studied the most modern weaving techniques in Switzerland and Belgium, with a head full of projects. We
went on talking of our work for hours: that is how a new fellowship was born. We became partners in business,
together with Giuseppe Maggi, when I hardly was thirty of age. As managing director of Frette, I introduced several
innovations in the manufacture and sale of household linen, which was in great demand by the best hotels, shipping
lines and also by the Royal House; later on, thanks to our chain of stores and - for the first time ever in Italy - to mailorder sales, also by the italian families.
It was with legitimate pride that I saw the growth of the company. Yet, as I was taught by my father, who was a
surgeon, you always ought to put the man in the center: I promoted the San Gerardo popular housing co-operative so
that our workmen could live in healthy and decent homes, as it is right, and I wanted to share a part of my fortune to
provide with cures and relief the needy, in sickness.”
Carlo Antonietti
We let the words of Carlo Antonietti introduce this brief chronicle of one of the brightest examples of the
italian know-how, made of ideas, innovation, passion for excellence, care for the details, wisdom, love for one’s work,
pride, ambition, respect and team work. 150 years later, it is us, women and men of Frette, the witnesses, protagonists
and actors of a story that is way far off from being completed. A story that will let itself mould in our hands and be
further told as a live example of the absolutely upright passion for our work.
Whoever works with Frette becomes a part of this story, an actor accountable for his gestures and daily
activities, for his decisions, as much easy or difficult as they can be, for his relations with customers, colleagues and
institutions. Everyone must be an unshakeable bearer of the values that make this all-italian story unique.
4
The origins: Frette in France
All italian. This statement may seem inappropriate if one considers that Frette was established in Grenoble,
France, in the remote December 1860. It is right there, in the middle of the french Alps, that our ultra centenarian story
begins.
1: Grenoble 1840, Post card
Jean Baptiste Ennemonde Chavasse Frette was born on 12th June 1838 in Grenoble, from Jean Claude
Chavasse Frette, a fabric dyer, merchant and manufacturer of socks and knitted shirts, and Marie Maréchal who, at her
husband’s death in 1840, in order to face the needs of the
5
2: National Exhibition of 1881 in Milan
3: National Exhibition of 1881 in Milan
6
family, composed of the daughters Marie Rose and Joséphine, and the young Ennemonde, took up the activity of
milliner1. Marie was a great example to the very young Jean Baptiste who saw in his mother an extraordinary model of
initiative and constancy.
Ennemonde (Edmond) attended the parochial and secondary schools; his academic training stopped at the first
degrees of education, he would learn from his mother all that was needed to engage in the activity of trading in hemp 2
fabrics in the city of Grenoble of the sixties which, from the town of mountain dwellers, small craftsmen, gloves
makers and weavers at the beginning of 1800, was laying the foundations for its transformation into an industrial
district characterized by the mechanics and the production of electrical power. This changeover entailed the slow
decline of the hemp fabric weaving in the alpine town to the advantage of silk weaving, the demand of which was
progressively increasing thanks to the improved welfare, as well as to the advantage of the big cloth manufacturers in
the north of France who had started a process of extensive mechanization of the textile production, fostering the
introduction of fibers like flax (linen) and, a bit later, cotton.
The declining of the fabrics production activities in the alpine town did not dishearten Ennemonde Frette:
together with Charles Chaboud and Alexandre Payre,
on 1st December 1860 he established “Frette, Payre &
Chaboud”, a joint name company for “the commerce and manufacture of fabrics”. Inside the company’s team the
tasks were distributed as follows: Charles Chaboud, financial officer; Alexandre and Edmond, travelling merchants.
The travelling merchant Edmond started off turning his activity right towards Italy, a country that had
reached the national unity quite recently. The new state had opened to the foreign trade by curtailing the customs
duties. That was an important opportunity to grasp: not only a new export market for the french products but also a
market from which to source raw materials. The first landing point was the Versilia area (Tuscany). There, the first
_______________________
1
Up to the second half of the twentieth century that was the name given to the operators in the trade of clothing, usually a woman who tailored or
sold dresses, hats and other women’s wear accessories.
2
Hemp was by far the most popular fiber for household and personal items. It was afterwards supplanted by cotton and, for the less noble
applications, by jute.
7
attempts to increase the production capacity of the french company; there, Edmond made the acquaintance with his
future wife: the italian Ersilia Bresciani.
Versilia, however, did not turn out to be a fertile field for the enterprise of the french company; the archaic
manufacturing system, in fact, was not in a position to meet the requirements of an ever more demanding market in
terms of quality and quantity: there were no skilled weavers capable of dealing with threads of a very high yarn count
3
and able to weave “figured and damasked fabrics of a given fineness”. The european society in fact was rapidly
changing and expressing new demands and needs. The industrial revolution transformed towns and lands; the entire
social structure was totally modified. The workers in the factories, the capitalist bourgeoisie, the advent of the tertiary
industry had created a diversified market. Clothes and household accessories were altering with the changing of the
hygienic habits and the increased earnings. Personal bed and table linens became ever more a daily custom, a necessity,
not any longer just luxury goods.
___________________________________
3
Very high yarn count means that the thread is very thin, which confers lightness to the fabric, thus more comfort and strength.
8
Frette in Italy: a Monzese House
The downfall in Versilia did not discourage the entrepreneur of Grenoble who had well understood the
potential that Italy could express. He was aware of the limitations deriving from an industrial structure still under
formation and a state only just arrived at the nation unity with all its contradictions. These circumstances would have
been a hindrance to most people; to the eyes of the Grenoble entrepreneur, instead, these looked ideal ingredients:
everything to be written, to be invented. The industriousness of the people, the creativity and his talent would have done
the rest.
Between 1862 and 1863, Edmond Frette arrived in Monza; there, he found the favourable conditions for
giving life to what would have become the fourth branch of the company: Grenoble and Voiron in France, Pietrasanta
and the briantean town (Monza) in Italy.
4: Mechanical weaving mill in Concorezzo, 1920s, Watercolor, Frette Historical Archive
The initial production activity was organized following a scheme that was customary at the time. Many countrymen
had their own looms that were used for their family needs. They assigned the surplus to the local market, to merchants
and travelling salesmen. Frette put together a network of suppliers scattered in the municipalities of Sovico,
9
Bernareggio and Macherio and succeeded in getting high quality products thanks to the teaching and advice that was
provided to the biantean craftsmen / countrymen. In the second half of the 1860s, Edmond was able to concentrate the
productions under the roofs of his own factories: Concorezzo, products for the private individuals; Sovico, coarse
products for the large communities (hotels, the army, boarding-schools). The latter production represented by large the
most important part of the turnover of the french Maison.
These were difficult years for the french company. Evidence to that is Edmond’s mourning praise published
by the Monza daily newspaper “Il Cittadino” which read: “The people of Monza certainly remember the very humble
origins of the Company he founded, and remember the various ups and downs, how the company rose to the current
level of importance and booming state, step by step, thanks to the persevering and ingenious industriousness of Mr.
Frette,”4. They were hard times also for the private life of Edmond: in just a few years he lost his most beloved
relatives.
At the dawn of the 1870s, the first recognitions arrived for Frette. At the Regional Exhibition in Monza, the
french company was warmly received with the award of the silver medal. In the space of a few years, the company
became “Supplier to the Royal House”. The doors of the italian market had opened to the initiative of the french
entrepreneur.
The quality of the products was ensured by the indefatigable activity of the founders. Edmond supervised
personally the function of sourcing the raw materials and semi-finished products. He travelled assidously between Italy,
France and Belgium and took direct care of the production process that, up-and-down stream, already at that time, as it
is today, required sound managerial capability and “ingenious laboriousness”. Sometime in the 1860s, there appeared
Carlo Antonietti, met on that train taking them from Grenoble to Italy.
Carlo, offspring of the monzese bourgeoisie, his father was a well known surgeon of the hospital of Monza,
had studied and sojourned abroad for several years, learning all the techniques of modern weaving. His contribution
was essential for the future transformation of the enterprise; he knew, in fact, how to combine the precious artisanal
___________________
4
Obituary: Edmondo Frette, in “Il Cittadino” Thursday 2nd September 1909.
10
suggestions of Edmond with his technical competence. His responsibility went beyond the mere technical subjects: he
took care in person also of commercial matters.
5: Sketches, late 1800s, Frette Historical Archive
During the 1870s, Frette changed the corporate policy. If until the previous decade the “Company was dealing
on the principle of manufacturing exclusively special types and (excellent) qualities suitable for Restaurants, Hotels,
and Factories, and in that space of time (supplied) more than one hundred leading hotels in Italy and several abroad”5 ,
afterwards, because of the success that the company started to win with a more discerning and well-to-do-clientele,
Frette began to point its production towards a richer and very special market. From Maggi’s papers, we extracted this
excerpt: “(Edmond Frette moved from Grenoble) … to take care of an industrial house in Monza with the aim to start
the production of those items that so far (Italy) had imported from abroad”, the french entrepreneur “who knew the sad
situation in which this industry was lying, armed himself with courage and patience and without caring about sacrifices
(…), gathered around him the keenest weavers in the Monza district, provided them with new state-of-the-art tools,
promised them a more profitable and continued work, initiated them to a more accurate and functional method of
______________________
5
ASF notes on Frette company.
11
production. Having improved the manufacture of coarse and median cloths, he passed to fine fabrics, and then to
patterned and damasked weaves (…). For the production of damasked fabrics, which require special skills and cares,
he built a mill in Concorezzo, where really magnificent fabrics are made”. At the beginning, the company used to
supply bed and table linens exclusively to hotels, later tended to specialize in products more and more refined, and to
diversify the clientele.
The opening of a store at via Manzoni in Milano in 1877 is the first mosaic tessera of this important corporate
strategy. Up to that moment, the sales of Frette products had been assigned to travelling salesmen: Carlo, as already
mentioned, and Enrico Carmignani, who obtained the general proxy for the entire italian market in 1875. Even though
it is true that in certain key-cities like Rome and Venice
the company was using the service of
local sales
representatives, it was the constant action of these travelling salesmen to guarantee the commercial growth of the
company through the sales to retailers. The opening of the via Manzoni store coincided with a company’s memo stating
the intention to sell directly to the italian families. That represented a big innovation in the italian textile industry
scenario: for the first time ever, a direct connection between production and retail was being established. The products
range was being extended to become extremely diversified… “as to kitchen linens, it deserves special attention the fact
that, for the convenience of the purchasers, we stock ready-made items thus sparing the fingers of our kind ladycustomers”. There were plainweaves for bedsheets and pillowcases, particularly appreciated those “foreign white” of
large dimensions to which “the fineness and the beautiful bleaching of the best plainweaves of Holland and Ireland”
had been added. Above all, tablecloths were the best sellers; they went from standard to the finest quality with
Flanders, Lilac Flower and Fern (Felci) patterns. “Towels, of course, were not missing: from the standard range very
low priced (£0.75) through to the amazingly royal type (£9.80) with very elegant border with three rows of needlemade fringe, called Duchesne border. So, a large range of products apt to satisfy the needs and the taste of a wide
category of consumers: from those with limited income, who were looking for linen of good quality at reasonable
prices, to those better well-off , who requested products of very high quality”. 6
__________________________________________
6
ASF: Maggi papers. Notes on Frette company.
12
6: La Vega, Tablecloth in pure linen fabric, on a design of the painter Francesco Lietti of Milan, 1881 7
_______________________
7
La Vega was the first vessel to cross the North-East Passage in 1878/1879 at the command of captain Adolf Erik Nordenskjold.
Among the officers of the expedition, the italian Giacomo Bove. The tablecloth commemorated the historical event. In the
description that accompanied the tablecloth at the Italian Exhibition of Milan in 1881, you can read: “The half-frozen sea with
iridescent colors, the ice mountains, the grey and cloudy sky, the glorious aurora borealis that makes the brown profile of the ship to
stand out, seem more to have come out from a painter’s palette rather than from the shuttles of a loom”.
13
The establishment of E. Frette & C. and the Illustrious Triad
During the seventies of the 19th century, in Italy several industrial realities were created, their growth was
facilitated by an extremely dynamic economical context. The lombard society saw the birth and the death of several
entrepreneurial initiatives, prompted by the belief in a steady economical growth: merchant associations, various
attempts of production concentration, the creation of manufacturing giants like the Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale
equipped with an imposing spinning mill at Fara D’Adda and factories at Cassano and Crema.
In that context was established the limited partnership company Gilardi, Maggi & C. With this company, in
November 1879, Edmond Frette, in syntony with his italian collaborators Carlo Antonietti and Enrico Carmignani,
reached an agreement which would have led to the merger of the two houses in July 1881 and the foundation of
E. Frette & C. The operative and managing shareholders were Edmond Frette, Giuseppe Maggi, Carlo Antonietti,
Francesco Gilardi and Enrico Carmignani. The latter two would have to deal with sales “for at least 6 months per
year”
8
. Giuseppe Maggi was assigned the keeping of the account books and the responsibility of the company’s
correspondence; Carlo Antonietti would be in charge of the production and, not longer than 2 months per year, of the
customers and the Swiss and Austrian markets. Edmond was given a special role: he was, in fact, called to “cooperate
morally in the growth and good performance of the Company, especially by providing the partners with his advice
every time they would ask him for”9. For this particular task, Edmond earned exactly half the salary of the other two
operative partners. This situation is justified by the fact that the original french company did not cease with the
establishment of the new one. The Frette, Payre, Chaboud & C. remained active on the french market until 1887, the
year when Edmond left definitively the french company. It is likely that a concomitant cause for Edmond’s role was his
sickly health that accompanied him until the mid years of the 1880s: in his diary we find these words: “1885: after my
recovery, great trip to France and Belgium with Antonietti, and all over Italy to see again customers and suppliers”.
_______________________
8
9
ASF: Maggi papers, Notes on Frette Company.
ASF: Maggi papers, Notes on Frette Company.
14
7: Gold Medal Award at theNational Exhibition of 1881 in Milan, Frette Historical Archive
The exhibition of Milan in 1881, just a few months after the official birth of the new company, was the
definitive consecretion for the monzese business: from that year on, it could bear the prestigious title “Provider to the
Royal House”. In their comments, the jury stressed the fact that Frette “... in its display of coarse, median and fine
cloths, figured tablecloths, plain satin and damask, was able to reach the merit of sheer elegance. This company beat
the competition and replaced the foreign importation, scoring the first place in our Country in this range of products.
Frette introduced the Vincenzi loom for the manufacture of Jacquard fabrics for the first time in 1880”.
15
During that exhibition, Frette showcased all its products that ranged from coarse household plainweaves
(bedsheets), to figured fabrics to arrive at “where though the majority of the efforts and cares of the exhibitor were
focused: the damasked cloths”. In the memorandum sent by the Company to the jury, apart from the evenness of the
fabric, Frette highlighted “the perfection of the selvedge” obtained with “morza temples” imported by Mr. Frette in
person from France. The House admitted not to have a large range and novelty of patterns in the figured fabrics
“because our clientele prefers to always keep to the same types”. As far as the damasks are concerned, it had not
hesitation in stating “in full awareness to have reached the maximum level of perfection: in the categories displayed,
not even the foreign factories can supply anything better as regards regularity and density of fabric”.
Under the lead of Edmond, Carlo and Giuseppe, the company continued its way towards the technical
improvement and the mechanization. The first big investment concerned
8: From left: Giuseppe Maggi, Edmond Frette, Carlo Antonietti “The Illustrious Triad”
16
the bleaching and finishing plant at Grazie Vecchie, a location just off Monza in the neighbourhoods of the Park. The
modern steam-powered installation, through the “lye” processes under pressure, allowed to improve the whiteness of
the fabrics. Further on, came the mechanization of the Sovico weaving mill. The installaton of the new machines was
supervised directly by Carlo Antonietti assisted by Camillo Maggi, nephew of Giuseppe, bound to play an important
role in the fortunes of the company. The investments, however, had a negative impact on the company's balance sheet.
On request of some of the partners, the corporation was transformed. In this context, Enrico Carmignani, Francesco
Gilardi and another shareholder left the company.
The E. Frette & C. did not take long to reappear once again, without any interruption, with a new company's
team formed by Edmond Frette, Carlo Antonietti, Giuseppe Maggi and Rodolfo Cappia. Absorbed the loss of the
previous year, the new company found itself in the need of training new salespersons capable to accomplish the
initiatives that were being planned.
Sales by mail catalog began in 1886, in the catalog there was a declaration of the will to give life to a direct
link between production and consumer, stressing the moral guaranty10 granted to the buyer and moreover a guarantee
on itself to make merchandise of excellent quality. The importance of this move is due to the fact that in the Italy of
that time, basically agricultural, a great part of the population lived far away from the big towns that boasted shops.
Frette, with its initiative, let the people know, directly in their homes, about its production with a commercial offer
comprehensible and direct. No secret about the high prices, they were abundantly justified by the quality of the
products. With the beginning of the sales by catalog and the opening of the store in Rome (1887) and, shortly later, in
Turin (1889), the commercial strategy of the Monzese House was progressively being implemented. On top of
renovating all the manufacturing structures, the company created ex novo the commercial ones. Sales by catalog
enriched the offer of products which reached out to a certain kind of clothing, the type related to the chores, the
__________________
10
Moral guaranty means what nowadays is identified with the concept of traceability which the systems of quality certification are
based upon and, even more recently, with the ratio (spirit) that led to issuing the law regarding the Made in Italy. And we are in
1886!
17
household, the night intimacy, the relax and the hobbies. The production of these items was delegated to outside
subcontractors.
The enlargement of the production structure continued through all the years 90s of the 19 th century with the
amplification of the factories of Sovico and Concorezzo. At Grazie Vecchie, for the first time in Italy, was applied the
bleaching method patented by the frenchman Gagedois. It allowed Frette to reach levels of whiteness unique in Italy.
The increase in the production facilities involved the adjustment in the number of the administrative employees who
were moved to the so called Castle of Monza together with the designers and the company's warehouses. Soon the
“Castle” had to be widened to make room to a huge, orderly, shelved warehouse for the products to be delivered to the
catalog clientele. A department on the second floor was almost exclusively dedicated to put into envelopes the catalogs,
swatch books, “souvenir giveaways” that the company lavished on its most faithful customers every year. Another big
department was dedicated to the designers who prepared the models (point papers) for punching the cards for the
Jacquard machines to weave the damask tablecloths. The new Frette considered the marriage with art a necessity.
Starting with the design of the tablecloth that brought the recognition of “supplier to the Royal House”, when the
company had resorted to the exclusive creativity of the painter Lietti of Milan. So much so for the priest's Jubilee of
Leone XIII, at the Vatican Exhibition of 1888 when Frette showcased a commemorative tablecloth on a design of the
architect Gaetano Moretti.
In the meantime, the strong expansion on the italian market was continuing: after Milan (1878), Rome (1887),
Turin (1889), stores were opened in Genoa (1902) and Florence (1904).
18
9: Catalog Table Linen and Towels 1887,
Frette Historical Archive
10: General Catalog 1894
Frette Historical Archive
11: Catalog No. 17 and No. 18, “Factory of Plainweave Fabrics and Table Linen
1899 and 1901, Frette Historical Archive
19
Frette in the '900s
On 29th August 1909 Edmod Frette passed away at 71 of age. Edmond left “an important truth and an
unforgettable mark in the italian economical history”. With these words, Angelo Mauri, statutory auditor of the board
of directors and national Congressman, remembered the french entrepreneur of whom he liked to outline: “his energy of
brave promoter” that enhanced his “unique value of entrepreneur (…), a live and continued school of those special
virtues of wise planning and persevering execution that, during the past century, allowed the best sons of industry to
become its princes and masters”. He was “a self-made man (…) because by his own strength he was able to raise
himself and his Company from poor origins to a honorable and conspicuous position in the national economy. Frette
was basically an innovator because the industry of the white fabrics, which so much importance has in the comfort of
modern life with the richness of its products, was still primitive (…) the old little girl received from him the innovative
impulse of new mechanical processes. Yet even more successful was the choice (…) of integrating the manufacture of
fabrics with the tailoring of household linen, from which humble and good families earn their living through domicile
work, moulding (…) the most private comforts of wealthy families, closed up around the Frette Company in compact
hosts of devoted and faithful clientele. The example of Frette represented the expression of “modernity”, alien to that
“culture of the authority” that characterized a certain local entrepreneurship. In particular, he was able to entertain
relationships with the labourers with a clear vision of the times: those principles of human improvement that he, a
modern man, was studying with strong interest in the books of the leading contemporary economists (…) for a
conscious and objective judgement of the new workers- related issues, found successful harmony with the benevolent
inclination of his heart that made him a spontaneous and far-seeing forerunner as regards the hygienic and economic
improvements to his workers”.
The sad event did not damage the consolidation of the company's expansion: sales growth supported the
industrial and commercial activities expansion. Giuseppe Maggi became the new president of E. Frette & C. Under his
chairmanship the company crossed the economical and financial difficulties of those years fairly safely, in countertendency to the other businesses of the industry. That was a confirmation of a by then acquired soundness.
20
12: Catalog No. 50 “Various Household Linens/Special Offers”, 1919, Frette Historical Archive
21
13: Frette Store in Naples, 1913, Frette Historical Archive
In 1911 the Frette stores had grew to 7, soon afterwards the shop in Bologna was opened as well.
The secret of Frette stood on the basis of profitability which did not come from the reduction in costs deriving
from an extension in the economy of scale, but rather by a strong sales policy that had to keep a favourable balance
between inventory and production. The tight link between production and distribution had “compelled” the company to
look for differentiated production sources, starting from a production stock already piled up. The sales channels of the
Monzese House had consolidated in those years in three directions. A team of senior traveller-executives was in charge
to keep alive the relationship with the institutions, hotels, communities, shipping lines, army officers' clubs, etc. The
direct selling points, e.g. the shop opened in Naples in April 1913 and, immediately after the end of the first world war,
the branch opened in Palermo. The sale by catalog that allowed reaching the most remote dwellings of the Peninsula.
The commercial aim of Frette extended across and beyond the ocean; around those years, they entered the South
American market and Argentina, in particular. At the same time, the basis for a presence on the English market was put
in place.
22
These were busy years also from an organizational point of view: the original triad (Frette, Antonietti and
Maggi) was at the end of its course but it guaranteed the continuity of the company introducing organizational changes
and preparing the future managers. A rigorous selection among the heirs ensured the company the necessary
competency to overcome the subsequent economical crisis, sometimes getting out even strengthened. In the years 20s,
30s and 40s the expansion of the “House of the Eagle” went on. Bari, a second branch in Palermo, Catania, Messina,
Trieste, Brescia, Padua. The supplier to The Royal House became the unquestioned and preferred supplier of the
italians.
23
Between the XX and XXI century
During the second half of the XX century, Frette continued expanding commercially; by then the shops
opened in the main italian towns allowed reaching all the italians. The last mail-order catalog was issued in 1976.
Opening new direct selling points is not limited to Italy. In 1977 the first boutique is inaugurated at New Bond
Street in London; Paris opens to the public in 1989; then Marbella in Spain. At the end of the '80s Frette Inc. is founded
and the Madison Avenue store is launched in New York, United States. The bases abroad are further widened with the
opening of Frette Pacific in Hong Kong, and the launch of the global shop, the sales through the web site.
These are the years when our company ever more takes on the connotation of the luxury and refinement brand.
A tradition is carried on that brings our products to become vehicle for emotions. Evidence to that are the various
advertising campaigns that have followed each other in time and that engaged famous photographers who were able to
pick the nuances: Rocco Mancione, Sarah Moon, Fulvio Roiter, David Hamilton, Alfonso Paccione, Daniel Aron.
At the end of the '90s, the descendants of the founders sell the company to FinPart Holding, adventure that
ends up at the end of 2005 when Frette is taken over by JH Partners, an american private equity fund with headquarters
in San Francisco, USA. After the uncertainty of the FinPart management, the “wounded eagle” unfurls the wings and
resumes the flight. Investments are started again. The opening of new selling points in Italy and abroad, and the new
selling channels to reach an ever broader clientele mark the countdown towards the celebration of 150 years of history.
It is under this management that we have become familiar with such names like G8, Alitalia, Walt Disney
Cruises, Ritz-Carlton, Expo 2010 in Shanghai, and with public recognitions like the commemorative stamp dedicated to
Frette by Posteitaliane as a part of the “Made in Italy” thematic series (Philatelic issue: 29th October, 2010).
24
b
aa
b
b
b
14: a, Catalog No. 59, 1926, on a design by Leopoldo Metlicovitz, Frette Historical Archive
b, Catalog No. 67, 1928, Catalog No. 68, 1929, Catalog No. 70, 1931, on designs by Marcello Dudovich,
Frette Historical Archive.
b
25
15: Catalog 1975-76, Frette Historical Archive
26
a
b
c
16. a: Advertising Campaign 1979-80, photo by Sarah Moon, Frette Historical Archive
b: Advertising Campaign 1980-81, photo by Fulvio Roiter, Frette Historical Archive
c: Advertising Campaign 1981-82, photo by David Hamilton, Frette Historical Archive
d: Advertising Campaign 2000-01, photo by Daniel Aron, Frette Historical Archive
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d
d
17: “Nothing but Frette” (USA) Advertising Campaign 1986, photo by Alfonso Paccione
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The Frette alchemy
What made, and still makes, this Monzese House so special, what enabled, and still enables, it to sail even in
stormy conditions towards ever more prestigious successes? The answers to these questions are to be sought in Frette’s
peculiarities, present in the company since its inception. Just to name a few:
-
Guarantee quality to everybody
-
Put the customer at the heart of your attention
-
Be innovative
-
Be modern but keep the company’s identity in the furrows of
tradition
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Cherish authority and competence.
Quality for everybody and centrality of the customer. The range of standard and luxury products, aimed to a
specific, solvent clientele, which was growing at the time in Italy, allowed Frette not to suffer the various backslashes
from cheaper mass production merchandise. On the other hand, Frette goods were directed towards satisfying a specific
need of the national bourgeoisie. Home lingerie in fact, more than nowadays, in the second half of the 1800s and in the
first half of the 1900s, had almost the value of instrumental assets, connected with the functioning and managing
18. Catalog “Lady’s Trousseau Linen”,
1923, Cover with two inside pages,
Frette Historical Archive
19. “Trousseau Luxury Linen”,
1923, Frette Historical Archive
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the house-enterprise. It was considered an investment or capital expenditure to be amortized over a good number of
years. It certainly is not by chance that it formed a sizeable part of the bride’s dowry.
The above approach made the success of Frette in the past and undoubtedly remains the winning strategy also
at the present time as well as looking ahead into the future! Facing the current surge of lower priced commodity
products on the international markets, it is of a paramount importance for Frette to strive for preserving the traditional
highest quality level in each of the respective product brackets (de-luxe, top, middle) so as to to keep the distinctive gap
with the competition. That is achieved not only through the expert choice of the raw materials and the suitable
production processes: care for the details, spirit of service, empathy, are all essential ingredients of Frette’s recipe.
We must capitalize on our strong points: whenever it is the case, let us re-educate the consumer to the delights of the
many advantages (aesthetic, comfort, status, durability, economical ), afforded by good quality.
Innovation. The second peculiarity that stands out in the Frette story is its commercial strategy that put it
midway between industry and mass-distribution (retail), a revolutionary model. The company had ensured a base of
profitability with the supplies to the hotel industry. In the flow of the years, it progressively put in place a distribution
network that arrived at covering the whole of Italy and activating the new couches of the expanding social brackets.
The catalog came in to complete and make it even more extensive this network; a fundamental tool during the phase of
scarsity of direct selling points. In fact, its importance fell in coincidence with the parallel extension of the retail
network. Both these characteristics, production and distribution, were already present in Edmond Frette’s plans: grown
at the French school, he was well aware of the advantages of the luxury goods and of their extensive distribution.
20. Catalog “Hotel Linen”, 1923, Frette
Historical Archive
21. Emblem for Table linen Hotel Royal Danieli
in Venice, 1899, “Red Proof” weaving test,
Frette Historical Archive
30
Modernity in the tradition and competence. The time and the italian tradition added other features. The
training of an open minded entrepreneurship, as proved by the descendants who took over the management of Frette.
Open to looking for new solutions and adapting to the most difficult moments: Luigi Maggi and Battista Antonietti
were certainly the standard bearers of that turnover platoon who, after the first world war, took over firmly the lead of
the company.
An entrepreneurship that fed on the values preserved in a tradition that had become more and more a well
established asset. The freedom from any conditioning, economical or political, has actually been one of the values
firmly present in every circumstance of the economical life of the company. In several predicaments, “do-it-yourself”
was the categorical imperative that directed these company’s leaders in the most difficult times, such as economical
crises. Natural insight and competence, that were descended from this choice, were their ideal complement.
Frette tradition fed on the substantial joint efforts of the “families” who took over the lead of the company in
the last century and transferred it on to their collaborators.
Know the product, know what is quality, know the customers, know the market, know the competitors, know
the company’s procedures, know your job, know the legislation and rules, know how to relate with people, in one
word: competence. A corporate culture that has remained intact, an heritage to preserve at all costs and to hand down
to all those who have taken over from the founders families and will lead, with your precious support, the Monzese
House across the XXI century to hit new targets of unparalleled success.
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22: Coat of arms of the milanese noble family, Counts Caccia Dominioni, bearing the latin motto
“Nihil Difficile Volenti” (“Nothing is Difficult for He Who Wants”, Red Proof (Weaving Test),
Frette Historical Archive.
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