We met Giorgio Todesco CEO Marzotto Group to talk about the F.lli Tallia brand, including new projects, technological innovations, sustainability, and a return to “made-to-measure.”

Can you tell us about this new project? What are we seeing again? It is an application that we have distributed to tailors and companies that do made-to-measure, which works on mobile and the internet in general and allows you to order directly from mobile phones. You can also do mockups to see the finished garment and once you choose what to order you enter the request that goes directly into our system and is confirmed quickly and easily for the tailor, for the customer and also for us. Fabric reproduction is very good-we have gotten to a level where some fabrics look better this way than through photographs .

What role does technology play nowadays in your profession? I have my own philosophy, which is that technology is important, as is research. The textile industry is an ‘old’industry, but that does not mean that we should not do research;however, we should not be obsessed with doing research that brings results every 2 weeks. I do not believe in strategy changes, product changes, culture changes or philosophy changes, because in my opinion companies are born, grow and develop and over time can be improved by implementations done step by step. I would add that in the middle of next year we will have water purification plants in all factories that will allow us to recycle up to 65-70% of the water we use .

So have you also chosen to move toward sustainability? Sustainability is a word I don’t particularly like, because I find it’s really overused today. We as a company are very poor at communicating, but we are better at doing. We continue to do what the Marzotto Group (which is almost 200 years old) has done over time, such as giving houses, kindergartens, vacation opportunities at very subsidized prices to all employees, etc…If we want to talk about sustainability in more serious terms, I say that in my opinion true sustainability is to go back to when I was young and make fabrics that will last over time and not just follow fashion trends. I would like fabrics to be made to be bought and kept. I am very happy when my children retrieve and fix clothes found in my closet, because if the quality of the fabric is good each garment can be repurposed and then reused. We should not be worried about the future, the real problem will be related to having enough natural fibers to serve the growing market. However, I have my own vision about synthetic fibers, which we need today because they cover 65 percent of consumption, but everyone is doing research to have synthetic fibers be they not synthetically extracted, but biodegradable polymers. The most beautiful marketing communication that has ever been done, in my opinion, was done by Patek Philippe a few years ago and it read like this, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation,”and I really like the idea that clothes made with F.lli Tallia fabrics from Delfino are used and then handed down to future generations. I cherish this, because I believe this is true sustainability .

Who are your customers? What do they ask of you? I can’t name our customers, but being the largest textile group in Europe we work with a lot of the mid- to high-end. We have many lines, for wool alone we have six lines. Today we have also reintroduced in Italy the cultivation of flax, which disappeared 30 years ago, and we have managed to make linen fabrics completely made in Italy 100 percent .

Is all this for men and women? Yes, we sell fabrics for men and women. In the wool world, fabrics for women cover 30-35% of the group’s sales. We also have a new division called Marzotto Interiors in which we make upholstery fabrics:we started with velvet and then broadened the landscape, also making finished products such as plaids, blankets, sheets, etc….

In your opinion, is there a return to “custom”? There is a great return to “bespoke”and it is increasing more and more. There is also a return to the taste of fine dressing, but this is not new. Fine dressing also means having the dress that fits well, that is of quality. Many times it costs less to buy a suit made well, with good fabrics and quality, ad has a higher price but that lasts for a long time, than to buy three low-priced, low-quality suits that are no longer usable after a short time. With the quality of fabrics we make, the problem is not durability, but the fact that after a while you might get tired of a certain pattern .