Page 11 - Sustainability report 2018 Ratti Group

sinuous and noble material such as silk. In the years that followed, the Group continued to expand through a number of acquisitions.
In the early 2000s, economic changes in the world of fashion and, most of all, the silk industry drove greater synergy and a subsequent strengthening of the balance sheet. In 2010 an agreement was reached with the Marzotto textiles Group and with Faber Five Srl, which became shareholders of Ratti SpA, holding a controlling interest. Donatella Ratti, daughter of the founder, is currently Chairman of the Ratti Group, one of
the largest manufacturers in the world of fabrics with a high technological and creative content. Ratti SpA is a member of organisations including Confindustria (Unindustria Como and Sistema Moda Italia) and Centro Tessile Serico; in 2018 it also became a member of the BCI (Better Cotton Initiative, an association consisting of producers,
“Experiencing silk is an art, today as it was yesterday” Antonio Ratti
intermediaries and non-profit groups) to promote the cultivation of sustainable cotton that is less harmful to the health of farmers and which respects the environment.
The other companies in the Ratti Group are not members of any national or international associations.
The manufacture of silk had been brought to Europe from the Orient a short time before that, risking the death penalty prescribed by the Chinese and Japanese emperors for anyone betraying the secret techniques used to manufacture the precious fabric.
A decisive boost to the world of silk was provided by Ludovico Sforza, Lord of Como. The duke forced farmers to plant mulberry trees in the fields, since silkworms eat only mulberry leaves.
As a result, within just a few decades, the traditional production of wool had been replaced by silk. This was a forward-looking vision which, according to many historians of economics, represented the first seeds of Lombardy’s characteristic entrepreneurial spirit.
The start of this trend in the seventeenth century meant that Italy, and Como in particular, became a centre of excellence
in the production of wonderfully designed and coloured fabrics. The industrial revolution, between the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, spread twisting and spinning machines throughout the area. Growers of mulberry trees and producers of spinning machines became entrepreneurs in the most modern sense of the word – they were able to create a new culture as they
were the unique custodians of a wealth of knowledge and inimitable craftsmanship. The twentieth century then became the century that consecrated Italian style throughout the world, with Como at
the forefront of the great Italian and international luxury and fashion groups.
2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT | RATTI GROUP
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