I took advantage of the May public holidays to go to Italy. I had wanted to visit Italy for a long time, and in particular a woolen mill. Indeed, our transalpine neighbors have managed to maintain cutting-edge know-how in the production of fabrics (as I quickly said in the article on textiles made in China ).
Note: And as usual this was not a "press trip": I stayed in Italy at my own expense, and of course we received nothing to write the article .
History of Biella and the Cerruti spinning mill
The Cerruti spinning mills were founded in 1881 by the grandfather of Nino Cerruti (the architect of the industrialization of the family spinning mill and founder of the ready-to-wear brand of the same name), and great-grandfather of Julian Cerruti (who currently runs the spinning mill with his father and is developing Natural Born Elegance , which we will present in a future article).
The factory is a spinning mill that does both spinning (making yarns from fibers) and weaving (weaving yarns to make fabrics). It is located in Biella, approximately 80km west of Milan, in the very center of a still very active textile area.
The heights of Biella.
The textile industry of Biella does not go back to yesterday, since we find mention of spinning mills as far back as in documents from the 13th century. This is explained by the ideal geographical location of Biella, landlocked in the foothills of the Alps which provide pastures for sheep and pure water for washing, dyeing and other stages of wool processing. Despite the waves of relocation over the last 30 years, there are still many spinning mills and textile workshops in Biella, such as the Zegna spinning mill, also very well known.
The arrival by road in Biella is impressive. We first pass industrial zones and a few factory outlets of little interest in the plain...
One of the garment factories on the outskirts of Biella.
… then we arrive in the center of the city, where the witnesses of the flourishing past of the small weaver capital still stand: private mansions, the duomo, its Italian Renaissance church, and its arcades (town hall) and of course its spinning mills, veritable cathedrals of the industrial era.
View of the city center, with the Duomo in the middle.
An old mansion in Biella .
The duomo (town hall) of Biella.
But on closer inspection, we realize that many of the industrial buildings are abandoned. We then notice the broken tiles in places and the vegetation which invades the industrial wastelands in the city center. It almost feels like I Am Legend with Will Smith.
One of the abandoned spinning mills in the city center .
Another abandoned spinning mill on the edge of a torrent in Biella.
To reach the Cerruti spinning mill, you then wind through the foothills of the Alps which plunge into the town, sometimes catching a glimpse of the mountain streams which irrigate the spinning mills and make their activities possible.
The Cerruti spinning mill operates on the edge of one of these torrents, in a modern building, a few meters from the old abandoned spinning mill: one more wasteland.
When you go down the small path to arrive at the spinning mill, you find yourself between two eras, with on your right the old building abandoned but still magnificent, with its facades covered during the Second World War with an ocher camouflage, which time has since largely skated.
This building dating from the 19th century is today unsuitable for modern developments in textiles: heavier machines, better-developed infrastructure to allow just-in-time production, and increased production capacities.
Former Cerruti spinning mill, partly abandoned.
Remains of camouflage from the Second World War.
Spinning arcades which are over 100 years old.
The new modern building makes it possible to operate at just-in-time flow, with a minimal stock of fabric and raw materials (stock is money that is sitting, not working, and therefore costs a company a lot of money) . This is also called “ just in time ”, a set of production rules developed by Toyota in Japan.
Cerruti's fully automated stock,
a veritable cathedral of crates and fabric.
On the other side of the road, the new building houses textile know-how combining ancestral traditions and cutting-edge technologies. The construction of this building and the modernization of the spinning mill is the work of Nino Cerruti, considered by many to be a genius of the textile industry.
Period view of the old factory (those in the previous photos).
Photo of the new factory.
Aerial view of the two factories.
Nino Cerruti was born in 1930 in Biella. He undertook philosophy studies to become a journalist, which he finally abandoned at the age of 20, to take over the Cerruti spinning mill founded by his grandfather.
Nino then innovated in many areas . First of all, the technical field: it creates new types of yarns and new fabric collections, to meet the technical, stylistic and economic demands of a still nascent ready-to-wear industry.
This involves a modernization of the industrial tool, but also the creation of a small research and quality control laboratory which makes it possible to evaluate the characteristics of color, elasticity, thermoregulation and resistance of each yarn and fabrics produced by spinning.
Nino Cerruti also launched into luxury ready-to-wear, which was not very common at the time because when a man wanted a suit or a shirt, he did not go shopping but instead went to his tailor or his designated blouse. The first line was released in 1957 in Milan: it was HITMAN, the first luxury suit line to be launched.
Then Nino Cerruti moved to Paris in 1967, then the undisputed fashion capital of the world. This resulted in the creation of a label: Cerruti 1881, on which Giorgio Armani worked in particular before launching his eponymous brand. It is then the first to distribute a men's collection and a women's collection side by side, and above all it is the only designer to produce its own materials .
First Cerruti boutique in Paris, place de la Madeleine.
Innovation in brand communication as well: Nino made his brand appear in Hollywood films from the end of the 80s (Pretty Woman, Basic Instinct) and sponsored sporting events by, for example, dressing the Ferrari Formula 1 team: the scuderia Ferrari .
Nino Cerruti and Sharon Stone.
However, Cerruti 1881 was sold in 2000 to an Italian investment fund . We therefore have two very distinct companies today: the Cerruti spinning mills (Lanificio F.lli Cerruti) and the ready-to-wear brand Cerruti 1881 (with its variations). If the spinning mill produces hyper-quality fabrics that are often very interesting in terms of style, Cerruti 1881 is of little interest, and does not meet the quality standards that we recommend on the blog.
After the resale, Nino Cerruti stopped looking after Cerruti 1881 to concentrate entirely on the spinning mill, which he still manages today at the age of 83, alongside his son Julian who was kind enough to welcome me to the Biella spinning mill.
Nino Cerruti next to the looms.
The spinning mill employs around 400 people , and produces nearly 3.5 million meters of fabric per year (which makes something like half a million suits cut from Cerruti canvas each year: this remains quite exclusive on the scale world).
Visit to the Cerruti spinning mill
Wool in its raw state
There you go, we set the scene. Now let's go back to the spinning mill.
It all starts with wool, mainly imported from China, Mongolia and New Zealand, which are the main world producers. The wool arrives in its raw state, literally, that is to say that we simply shear it on the animal and then deliver it as is.
Balls of wool.
The Cerruti spinning mill uses different types of wool: mainly sheep, but also alpaca and vicuna (literally overpriced! so much so that even vicuna wool waste must be subject to anti-smuggling traceability ). I learned that certain qualities of sheep's wool can far exceed the price of cashmere and vicuna, contrary to what one might think. Finally, the Cerruti spinning mill also uses silk, linen and other fibers.
These fibers are used pure or mixed to produce materials that combine new characteristics, for example combining the silkiness of silk with the thermoregulation of wool.
Here we mixed colors, but we would have
could mix wool from different animals.
Wool washing and carding
The first step in processing wool is washing it. This is done in industrial machines which respect the characteristics of the wool: it should not be burned or subjected to too aggressive treatment.
We then dry the wool, letting it drain in a humid room (hamam atmosphere, I tested), so that it rehydrates slowly. Because we must not forget that she made a long journey from China or Australia.
Then comes carding or combing (depending on the length of the fibers of the wool used). The fiber is passed through machines with interchangeable teeth (= combs, which are changed regularly because they become dull over time). The comb will clean the wool of its impurities, but also remove fibers that are too short and unsuitable for spinning.
It is also these two stages which can mix the different types of fibers that are inserted to make mottled materials (fibers of different colors) or mixed materials (for example wool/silk, or wool/cashmere).
The wool comes through the bottom of the machine to be combed.
If you are imagining a simple mechanical comb, think again, because these machines are extremely technical: they must operate without destroying the quality fiber. Those of Cerruti are built by Schlumberger , which is a historic manufacturer located in Alsace (the region was a large textile basin at one time) and one of the world leaders for textile machines.
Wool dyeing
Dyeing can be done at different times depending on the results you want to obtain. You can dye raw, unspun wool if you then want to mix the wool and obtain a yarn of a mottled color. Or you can dye the wool directly in the form of thread. And if we weave with two threads of different colors, we will obtain what we call a mottled material (like on the BonneGueule x Belleville t-shirt ).
Using threads of different colors also allows you to create patterns on the canvas, which we will see later.
Room with vats for dyeing yarn, balls or raw wool.
Here we dye the rolls of worsted wool directly.
You should know that it is very difficult to reproduce a precise shade, because it depends on many factors such as the wool used, the quantity of pigment, the temperature or even the duration of the dye bath. As a result, the Cerruti spinning mill methodically keeps a sample of each color with the conditions that made it possible to obtain it, in order to reproduce the shade more faithfully.
Color Archives.
The dyed materials are then passed through a spectrum analyzer to check that we have obtained the desired color (this is sometimes hard to tell with the naked eye, especially since a color is perceived differently depending on the light). of the place and the shades that are next to it). A spectrum analyzer is a machine that breaks down color into the different shades that make it up, from infrared to ultraviolet.
Natural light benchtop.
Wool spinning
You then have to spin the wool: you pass the fibers into balls of very regular thread. Spinning machines separate piles of fibers into smaller filaments, which are then intertwined and "twisted" to make yarns.
The wire thus produced is sometimes more fragile at certain points and it could give way where the wire becomes too fine. He therefore passed in front of laser optics which activate a small blade which cuts the wire when this is the case.
Wool weaving: birth of the weft
We now use the bobbins to form the weft of the future fabric. Each wire corresponds to a spool, and it is stuck with a sort of metal key that separates the different wires.
We fix each wire in the right place by delimiting them with keys.
And the frame appears.
The weft then passes through a loom, which passes the warp thread through the weft, to form the weave of the fabric. This is done very quickly, and it is impressive to see the precision of the craft that assembles each thread. The keys are propelled via an electrical system, or compressed air for more modern professions, at a speed that is well beyond the perception of the eye.
And this is where the magic happens: the fabric appears little by little, a bit like a sheet coming out of a printer.
Ironing, finishing and quality control
The fabric being a little tight and the thread having been shaken quite a bit at each stage of manufacturing, the rolls of fabric are passed through giant ironing machines which soften and relax the fabric.
Ironing the rolls once woven.
Relaxation room.
Other very sophisticated treatments can then be used , such as light waxing of the canvas for example. Other treatments based on water, steam, pressure and heat give different hands (= touch) to the fabric. Julian tells me that it is these treatments, the result of a history and technological know-how, which make a spinning mill like Cerruti competitive with emerging countries, because these production methods are not yet mastered elsewhere: they are secrets well kept by the house.
The fiber is then left to rest again for a few hours in a room where it is damp and cold.
The rolls then undergo a final quality check , where an operator slowly unrolls the rolls looking for imperfections. A specific light helps him spot them better. I have said little about it beforehand, but quality controls take place at each stage of production: quality of the fiber, the color, resistance to abrasion, traction, quality of the twist of the yarn, the weaving, and final fabric.
The textile laboratory of Cerruti spinning mills
Some of the controls take place during R&D. When Cerruti spinning mills develop a new fabric, they also put it through a whole battery of tests to find out if it has the desired properties (such as thermal insulation and the thermoregulatory power of the material).
This is done in a laboratory where a small team works which checks each of the properties of the material and establishes analysis reports which are then delivered with the fabric to customers.
Collection styling
Cerruti spinning mills do not only stand out for their technological know-how and the quality of the materials. They have also thrived on their understanding of the market and trends.
Stylists’ workshop.
For example, the range was very early segmented into either traditional or technical materials, including in-house inventions such as the Oxygen range, which is particularly thermoregulating.
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Certainly, the Cerruti family stopped producing clothes for around ten years. But the fabric ranges still work with a collection logic. Every year, new fabrics are developed to follow trends in terms of compositions, patterns and colors.
Other old materials are also frequently reissued, and the house can then count on these immense archives which date back to the first half of the 20th century.
In a future article, I will present Natural Born Elegance, which marks the revival of ready-to-wear at Cerruti. It is a line of accessories and larger parts of very high quality and technicality. But we'll save that for the next episode!
The final word
Benoît recently wrote in an article that he was increasingly convinced that the success of a brand or a company was closely linked to the personality of the manager. I think Cerruti is no exception to the rule, because I really appreciated the proximity and simplicity of the welcome from Julian Cerruti and Serena who takes care of press relations.
Orders ready to send.
The treatment plant returns clean water to the ravine.
And a cogeneration station supplies the factory with electricity.
I did not have the pleasure of meeting Nino Cerruti, but on the way, Serena told me that tradition and education played a very important role in the company, and that “Mr. Nino” was always very pleasant. and gallant, going so far as to remain standing until the ladies were seated in the small kitchen of the factory where the Cerrutis had lunch.
It's probably not much, but taken together, these attentions create a state of mind which conditions each process of the company and involves the people who work there. This is how companies span the ages and legends are forged.
Julian Cerruti on the left and Nino Cerruti on the right.
Thanks to Serena and Julian for their welcome (and the archive images), as well as to Ugo the marketing director, and to the production manager who accompanied me on my visit with a lot of patience.
And to EM For everything.
