Segre & Schieppati was founded in 1897 when Giuseppe Segre, an enterprising young man of twenty-four, working in a spinning mill in Milan on the Navigli, joined up with his friends Schieppati and Dacono to found a small weaving, dyeing and finishing company in Milan.

After the end of the First World War, he remained the sole proprietor along with his sons, Alberto and Amedeo Segre. Over the years, the company expanded and became an important point of reference for firms producing shoes and leather goods, which chose Segre & Schieppati fabrics for the production of their own high-range products.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, the company still managed to remain active for some time, until it was confiscated by the regime and then closed. At the end of the war, Amedeo Segre, left alone, reopened a small textile activity and, with time, managed to achieve the past success.

Italian fashion was becoming the point of reference that the world’s greatest designers turned to for their collections and, in the Eighties, Segre & Schieppati consolidated their position on the textile market, while the management passed to Amedeo’s adopted daughter, Liliana Segre.

After more than a century of company history, the baton has passed to the fourth generation with Liliana’s daughter, Federica Belli Paci.

Today the company no longer exists, but the trademark, its history, archives and expertise, have been granted under licence to Tessitura Attilio Imperiali, where Federica Belli Paci is a consultant for the development of new creative projects.

The best known products, past and present, are untreated fabrics, yarn and piece dyed, made exclusively of natural fabrics, such as the famous Olona Canvas 3212 available in a wide range of colours, untreated Olona Linen and Mixed Linen 0204, both yarn and piece dyed.

Quality and tradition are the key words that have characterised the production and history of Segre & Schieppati ever since the company was founded. From the production of Olona Canvas and Genoa fabric or denim, to the advent of the most technological new-generation fabrics, the company has always focussed on a few but fundamental standards, to ensure customers of long-lasting, high-quality products.

The denim produced by Segre & Schieppati is deeply rooted in the textile tradition of the Maritime Republic of Genoa and in the production of the sturdy fabric, very similar to fustian, which was used throughout Europe from the sixteenth century onward. Highly appreciated for its strength and cost, denim was used both to make garments and, with Olona canvas, for fitting out sailing ships.

The fourth generation ran the company from the Eighties, concentrating on the development of new and ever more performing products to reply to the growing demands of Italian and international fashion houses, in full expansion. In those years, Segre & Schieppati introduced collections that varied one after another according to the current season, considering especially technological developments and, at the same time, making good use of the company archives: in this way the company is able to offer its clientèle real fashion collections, in line with the trends of the season, or to create specific projects.

To this long journey, in which the tradition and history of Segre & Schieppati represent the real values and assets, was added the innovation linked above all to the possibilities offered by new machinery and to the different techniques for treating fabrics, so as to present on the market products that are always new but which, at the same time, guarantee quality and the respect of tradition.

The strong points of this brand are deeply rooted in the philosophy of the company that grew from the small spinning mill on the Navigli and tackled the market with the desire to remain a family business, where human relations are a value and where the customer deals directly with the owner, who answers in person for his products and the quality that he guarantees.

For their products, Segre & Schieppati have always preferred natural fibres made in Italy such as cotton and linen to make fabrics that reveal the respect and skill of a long manufacturing tradition.

The reference markets of Segre & Schieppati are mainly leather goods and footwear, without forgetting sports clothing and furnishing.

The company’s pride and joy is Olona Canvas, made of 100% double-twisted cotton, which over the years has been proposed in more than 36 colours always available in stock, including ready for dyeing, ready for printing and untreated. The latter is a particular fabric in which the imperfections of the cotton enhance the product, making it unique.

Olona canvas is a base that can be used alone, bonded with other, lighter fabrics, or enriched with processes such as embroidery, printing, stone-washing, colour-washing, perforation, padding or laser-treating.

Alongside this ongoing product, the Segre & Schieppati brand creates seasonal collections that take into account fashion trends, technological innovations and market demands, ensuring that the company is always able to reach new customers and markets.

The collaboration with Tessitura Attilio Imperiali is leading to new fabrics that combine the traditional products, which are so textured and natural, with others that are more glossy, evanescent, luxurious and light: continuous experimentation and innovative influence, to bring together two very different worlds and styles that can still offer many different creative and expressive opportunities.