An Italian Excellence
It was the 70s and the Jet Sets used to spend their summer holidays in Portofino, a beautiful colorful and romantic setting. It was in Portofino that the intuition that gave birth to Malo was born. At dusk, the fresh air of the mountains descended towards the sea to refresh the naked shoulders of the ladies. At that time only fine wool was used to make sweaters or stoles, while cashmere was Scottish, but they offered extremely heavy sweaters in a narrow range of colors. Malo innovated knitwear, offering very light cashmere yarns, impalpable warm and light fabrics at the same time, offering an all-Italian style in a range of bright colors. Production then moved to Tuscany, always land of artistic tradition and ancient craftsmanship. From the encounter of this intuition and craftsmanship Tuscany was born in the seventies Malo. Malo Tricot, then called, was founded in 1972. A thread that runs for over 50 years to create garments with exquisite timeless style, for a luxury suffused that combines beauty with wellness.
Malo & Portofino
Its history
blends with the birth of Made in Italy, synonymous with quality, authenticity and a sense of style appreciated all around the world. The clever ability to mix artisan tradition, Italian aesthetic quality with technology and experimentation was an immediate success for the brand, giving it a place of honour in the history of knitwear in Italy and beyond. Malo began with an idea, an innovation, at a time when a quality cardigan had a Scottish label. In fact, all the classic men's sweaters in grey and beige and a few other colours came from England. With an eye on the consumer and the desire to specialize in a single specific sector, that of producing cashmere of the highest quality, Malo sweaters quickly become iconic garments and the company became one of the top cashmere knitwear manufacturers in Italy. Jumpers, pullovers, sweaters full of imagination, the idea of redefining centuries-old elements of English historical knitwear was much appreciated. At first it was the unprecedented vivid palette and quality of the fabrics, then it was the artistic and artisanal effects, the complicated knitting and the tactile decorative elements that established the great success of the brand. From there Malo was able to move forward focusing on new forms and experimentation, perfecting craftsmanship and skills.
In 1973
a plant was inaugurated at Campi Bisenzio, in the province of Florence. Set between Prato and Bologna, the Bisenzio Valley is a place where millennia of history intertwine: Romans, Byzantines and Lombards passed through here. Even Dante refers to it in the Divine Comedy. The ancient Italian tradition of wool processing has its roots in these lands. It is a real art, until the nineteenth century specific to the Tuscan territory, handed down from generation to generation. These were years of great success for Malo, which rose to the top of the niche market of the cashmere world in Italy and abroad in a short time. The late 1980s saw the opening of branches in New York, Düsseldorf, Paris and Tokyo. The company expanded with the acquisition of an old knitwear factory at Borgonovo Val Tidone, in the province of Piacenza, where most of the cashmere garments are still produced today, in a factory where old looms brought to life by human hand coexist with new ones, creating more complex processes and textures.
At the dawn...
... of the new millennium, the company's ownership changed, sparking a time of evolution, of product customization and development of a strong image policy aimed at conquering the American market. The creative direction of Malo has been entrusted to important names in fashion: Gianni Bugli, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, Alessandro Dell 'Acqua, Saverio Palatella, Fabio Piras. The catwalk debut took place in 2006 in New York, and its success was recognized by the press and international buyers. In an interview with the British newspaper Telegraph, legendary fashion expert Anna Piaggi described Malo as the best cashmere producer in the world.
After all, a Malo garment is not only beautiful, but also practical, resistant and able to adapt perfectly to the lifestyle of the wearer. It should not be handled with care, keeping it in a drawer would be the most serious sin. Quality cashmere in particular is one of the most resistant yarns; you can do things you could not do with ordinary wool, you can compress it, wash it in the washing machine, tie it and it always returns soft, wonderful, comfortable like nothing else.
The products are exclusive
those Made in Malo, worn for themselves to use and pass on, only so you will notice, will last more than a lifetime. Substance and form are always linked, from the selection of the raw material to the spinning, from the dyeing to the transformation of the yarn into a product, every Malo knit in almost fifty years of history has been finished by hand. And it will always be so. Every step is subjected to continuous checks, it is a grievance of the company, there is no other way to achieve excellent results. So much so that in Malo, despite being a company at the forefront for quality and technological standards based its production on artisanal techniques handed down for centuries, next to the most modern looms there are the old ones, made of wood and irreplaceable for valuable processing. But there is no phase of production that can be entirely entrusted to a machine, certain seams, certain links or complex executions can only be performed by the hands, experience and skill of highly skilled craftsmen.
2019 marks a new course for the historic Florentine brand, as well as in life, the past represents roots and the future is made to dream. Today the company returns to its first love, the high-end cashmere knitwear that has made it famous in the world but continues to experiment and innovate creating unique garments with the finest yarns in the world. Vigogna, alpaca, baby lama, camel, mohair, silk and Makò cotton are artfully processed thanks to the
tradition and the passion of a brand that occupies a special place in the heart of Made in Italy and Italians.
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