Milanese brand Allegri recently launched a collaboration with Italian designer Francesco Scognamiglio, who designed for them the "010109" line. You can read more about this collaboration in my interview with Scognamiglio on Dazed Digital.
Allegri recently experimented with new eco-friendly fibres and materials: a few classic trenches and single-breasted raincoats from the “Allegri Milano” collection were for example created using a vegetable fibre called Abaca from the Philippines that was once used to manufacture mooring and ship ropes.
You can learn more about this fibre and the new Allegri collections in the following interview with Gianmaria Argentini, general manager of Dismi 92, the legal company that owns the Allegri brand.
The images used in this post feature S/S 2010 designs from the "010109", "Allegri Milano" and "Allegri" lines and are all courtesy of Allegri.
Question: Can you tell me more about the new Allegri collections?
Gianmaria Argentini: Our brand offers three collections: Allegri Milano, the contemporary classic collection that features garments ideal for everyday needs; the Allegri Blue Label, that is dedicated to the free time and then the 010109 collection, designed by Francesco Scognamiglio. The target in this case is a consumer who would like to have something special, almost tailor-made, that shows a great attention to details and materials and that can be worn on more formal occasions such as special evenings out and formal dinners.
Question: Why did Allegri choose Francesco Scognamiglio?
Gianmaria Argentini: He is a talented Italian designer, our brand is Italian and we would like to keep the manufacturing in Italy. I think these are the key points to understand the company that is a genuine part of the so-called “made in Italy”.
Question: In the past Allegri collaborated also with other designers, how do these collaborative projects usually work?
Gianmaria Argentini: We usually focus on the market and try to understand what we want to do and what the consumer wants. Then the designers get a brief for what regards the materials, costs and consumer needs and start working on the collections. After they provide us with the first sketches, the company makes the first prototypes and, from there on, there is a huge job for what regards the details of each single garment, from the zippers to the stitching, until the final trial, where all the team, myself included, authorise the manufacturing of the product. I would say that the whole process is about getting different know-hows together and trying to achieve great results.
Question: Allegri collaborated in the past with different designers, what has changed between these first collaborations and the present collaborations?
Gianmaria Argentini: Everybody who worked with Allegri perfectly managed to get into the spirit of the company, but I think there is a major difference nowadays. All the designers who are working with us now are part of a team who looks to constantly improving the company. I would say that nowadays designers are better integrated in the company: Francesco Scognamiglio and Mauro Ravizza Krieger joined us into an investigation of the market, studying the history of the brand, analysing which are our consumers’ needs and creating a product which has all the Allegri characteristics, from the fitting to the materials, and pays attention to the consumers’ confidence. We have been lucky since there was a great chemistry with these designers.
Question: Do you think you will continue collaborating with these designers?
Gianmaria Argentini: Our consumers need continuity, so I think we will definitely keep at least three or four key elements from these collections and one will be the designers. I see this collaboration as a medium-to-long term project, not as a short-term project.
Question: The fabrics you used in some of your garments are very light, have you been developing innovative researches for what regards new fibres?
Gianmaria Argentini: We have some shapes and silhouettes in our trench lines that are timeless, but the materials constantly change also thanks to the developments occurred in technology that offer us great opportunities to improve our collections. There has been a huge research for what regards fabrics. We work a lot with different fabric manufacturers: some of them are specialised in natural fibres, others in synthetic fibres, but we also have more sophisticated manufacturers who are able to mix two different fabrics to improve the garment performances. Usually, synthetic fibres are automatically water repellent, but when you use natural fibres you must instead use some chemical treatment to make sure they become waterproof. This year we were lucky to find a vegetable fibre coming from the Philippines called Abaca that is naturally water-repellent, and that helped us creating eco-friendly products. The consumer will find a tag attached to all those products made with specific fabrics that offer a particular performance. The tag will explain the story of the fabrics employed in that garment. Consumers don’t usually know the technical differences between the different fabrics, but this tag will make them more aware about the product they are buying.
Question: Do you think consumers can benefit from the crisis, since now more companies are looking up at quality products that can really make a difference?
Gianmaria Argentini: That’s a good question. Crises are the manifestation of an economic cycle. We all have good and bad economic cycles and this is a serious one, probably one of the most difficult to deal with, and it was also followed by a deep recession. Yet a crisis is always a good lesson as it often helps companies refocusing on their products. We are not a large company, so we are already more advantaged compared to bigger companies, but what makes the real difference is that we present our consumers with functional and sophisticated quality products.
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