Ratti
Ratti is an Italian silk company based in Como
Antonio Ratti founded ‘Tessitura Serica’ Antonio Ratti in Como to create and market silk fabrics and accessories.
Italian silk manufacturer based in Como. They are world famous for the high fashion content of the fabrics, its rarefied ennoblements, the many uses: clothing, furnishings, ties, and accessories. Antonio Ratti founded the company in 1945.
Creativity and technology, avant-garde design, continuous cycle from design to production – are its assets. Every year, 5,000 new designs are added to the 150,000 designs already in the archives, which can be consulted online and rapidly revised with the computer-assisted design system developed in collaboration with ENEA. A library of 5,000 visual-arts books, continuously being updated and computerized, serves as the driving force behind the design office.
The Company also has a library with over 14,000 volumes on art and numerous fashion and design magazines and with technical data sheets of all the fabrics produced since the beginning of its activity, which are available to creatives and customers.
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Moreover, the company has been listed on the Italian stock exchange, or Borsa, since 1989. It has annual revenues of a little less than 400 billion liras, with 1,100 employees. It has carried out a policy of judicious investments and acquisitions strategically oriented toward the development of the corporation. For this reason they have organized themselves into manufacturing, distribution, financial corporations with a total of seventeen different product areas in the larger sectors of : technology, major names, furnishings, foulards and shawls, ties, and women’s apparel.
It sells in 34 countries around the world. It has branches in Paris, New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong and factories in Italy and France. In 1985, Ratti Foundation was set up to support endeavours, research, artistic, cultural, and technological studies both for textile production and for the safeguarding of cultural and artistic resources, as well as for the undertaking of initiatives, events, and shows. It possesses a major collection of antique fabrics.
In 1992, Ratti acquired Creomoda Sarl, a textile accessories manufacturer based in Tunisia.
The Foundation organized an exhibition in Como, in 1999 entitled Seicento anni di seta e colore: una storia delle tecniche di dintura del tessuto. In ’96, Antonio Ratti donated a laboratory for the restoration of textile artefacts to the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
The Ratti’s 2000s
Addition to that, in May 2001, having concentrated for half a century on printing on silk, which still accounts for 50 per cent of the materials handled, the Group began to reap the benefits of diversification. Begun in 1998 with the production of mixed fabrics and polyester, the restructuring begins to bear fruit. New production for beachwear and lingerie is offered through the division. Overall, Ratti produces 5.6 million metres of fabric per year.
In August of the same year, the board of directors conferred full powers on Donatella Ratti, president of the Group and new chief executive officer.
By January 2002, the restructuring of the Group continued. The aim is to return to profitability through greater flexibility to compete in an increasingly turbulent market.
The founder and former chairman of the Group, Antonio Ratti dies in 2002. In April, Donatella Ratti rules out any possibility of a merger with other companies in the district to overcome the group’s difficulties. According to her, the best prospects are in womenswear fabrics. In fact, these account for 60% of turnover, compared to 45 in 1997. Accessories account for 14.4% of turnover, with scarves accounting for more and ties for less.
Ratti Int. Trad. Co. Ltd. was established in Shanghai, in 2005: Room 303B 118 Xinling Road Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Shanghai – China.
He became part of the Marzotto Group in 2010 and embarked on a virtuous path of sustainable development in economic, environmental and social terms. As a consequence, in 2017 the first responsible collection debuts and the first responsibility report is published.
The company enters the capital of the historic Florentine knitwear factory Marielle Srl, founded in the early 1960s and partner of the main fashion houses.
Licensed brands and initiatives
The Ratti Group has production and distribution licensing agreements with some of the world’s best known fashion brands such as Bikkembergs, Elie Saab, Furla, Givenchy, Léonard Paris, Piquadro and Ungaro.
On the occasion of the “SETA” exhibition at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Ratti silks were also on display. The exhibition aimed to tell the story of the perfect union between creative flair and excellent craftsmanship and brought together the company’s best silks used for Ferragamo scarves.
Along the lines of sustainability, in 2020 they launched the 2nd LIFE project to develop products, services and technologies derived from the reuse and recycling of materials, especially silk.
In 2021, it closed the first quarter with a 28% drop in revenue to EUR 16.7 million.
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