Histoire et savoir faire

FADINI BORGHI: The HISTORY of an italian vocation

Italy, an essential stop on the Silk Road

Fadini Borghi’s entire history is dominated by one ambition: to represent the charm and splendour of Italian-made fabrics since the 14th century.
To really understand this commitment to the traditions inherited from the old Italian weavers, you need to remember the extraordinary way in which the textile industry took off in this country, the appearance of the sumptuous silks imported from the East after the Crusades, the Arab invasion, then the development of Italian maritime trade at the time of Marco Polo. In the 13th century, silk weaving became established in the town of Lucca, thus heralding a period of four centuries during which Italy monopolised this field throughout Europe. Thereafter, its prestige grew, thanks to the production and selling of remarkable silks with rich and varied patterns, embodied perfectly by the famous cloths of gold.

Fadini Borghi: upholding the great Italian textile traditions

It was in 1947 that the Fadini furnishing fabric company was founded in Turin by Osvaldo Fadini, who soon introduced his first collection. After 1957 – when new offices and then a showroom were opened in Milan, Fadini expanded with a sales network covering the entire Italian peninsula.
When the founder died in 1970, it was his 25-year-old nephew, Paolo Fadini, who took up the reins. He set up two new subsidiaries in Palermo (Sicily) and Vicenza (Venetia). In 1975, he acquired one of the biggest Italian producers: Borghi. This company, founded at the turn of the century and renowned for its Genoan velvets, had subsidiaries in Turin, Milan, Genoa, Bologna and Rome.
Over the next ten years, Paolo Fadini concentrated on buying the archives of many weavers, including the immense archive of the Italian manufacturer Smith, who was famous for his damasks, lampas (half-damask) and brocades. All this formed a unique heritage whose faithful reproductions of classic designs are now the origin of most of the Fadini Borghi fabrics and an endless source of inspiration.

These goods enjoyed growing success, especially with American producers, which led to the opening of subsidiaries in Paris and in Germany, followed by numerous distribution contracts in various European countries.
In 1995, the company joined the French Boussac Group, thus creating Boussac Fadini.

Finally, in April 2004, the Pierre Frey Group acquired Boussac Fadini, thus allowing Fadini Borghi to become famous again and to establish itself as one of the champions of the Italian genius for luxurious furnishing fabrics.