Braccialini
Braccialini is an Italian manufacturer of bags and coordinates in leather and fabric, including clothing, accessories, and shoes. In 1953, Carla Braccialini and her first husband Roberto left for Liguria with a very small catalogue of items ranging from bags to clothes and a few hats.
A leather goods company
It was a simple product line made by a small group of women, all masters of crochet. The firm was a family-run and immediately understood that the Italian market was ready for leather goods and for experiments in combining new materials. The staff, directed by mother Carla, availed itself of the collaboration of her three children, Riccardo (since 1980 taking care of strategy), Massimo (Carla’s creative right arm), and Lorenzo (since 2000 taking care of communication).
Accessory and non-accessory
In the last fifty years the distinction between an elegant, exclusive bag and a straw bag (which characterized the 1950s in Italy) has disappeared. Today, it is an accessory and a non-accessory: a piece to wear on its own, and a piece to match with the rest, in which the mix between leather and straw makes it unmistakably a Braccialini creation.
The first Braccialini boutique
The first models were created in a four-room apartment on via delle Pinzochere in Florence, from the sketched model to the maquette on which to apply the leather inlays, a job that was given to an outside leather artisan. But during the 1960s this process was recombined into one. Carla opened her first workshop in which every production step was carried out, from the initial sketch to the sewing of straw and leather. She herself admits to have “experimented” with everything and to have tested Vinavil glue. Her workers even taught her how to obtain a better result with normal mastic. The situation was doomed to change drastically with the floods of 1966, which damaged the small workshop, although the tenacity of Mrs. Braccialini allowed her to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix less than a year after the disaster.
Braccialini Trademark
The fantasy of colors and the liveliness of the chromatic combinations became the company’s trademark. And there was more. The boundless experimentation produced results that the market could also enjoy, such as the first wicker baskets, which had delicate lace and embroidery added directly on the leather inlays. Then came the 1980s and Braccialini, by now tops in the field of bags, surprised everyone again and invented a new, fresh and optimistic style, whose key was a constant drive towards experimentation and to being a kind of pioneer in a market that, at the time, was much more competitive than in the 1960s. It was a time of aesthetic revolution with a mix of ribbons and passementeries, small flowers and inlays, and small beads and laces. It was also the start of distribution in Germany, the U.S., and Japan.
Vivienne Westwood
The product line diversified and in 1986 the company left Florence for Pontassieve, just a few miles away. One year later came a license agreement with Vivienne Westwood for the production and distribution of accessories. The late 1980s saw the establishment of Contromano, an associate company which soon obtained the Roccobarocco license.
Metrocity line
Time passed and tastes changed. Carla’s intuition shifted towards minimalism, which characterized the sobriety of the 1990s, a minimalism reinterpreted by Braccialini, in which liveliness and carelessness appeared through the stiffness of the new lines. Then, the brand decided to focus on the young generation with the line Tua di Braccialini. Later, it was the turn of Metrocity, a new dynamic line with metal angles aimed at an urban market. In 1993, the company opened a single-brand boutique on via della Vigna Nuova 33/a, in Florence.
Mila Schön
In 1997 it signed a license agreement with Mila Schön; in 1999 there was one with Contromano Bagutta, and another with Vivienne Westwood for the men’s and women’s shoe Collections. The year 2000 opened with the merger with Contromano and concluded with the agreement with the Mariella Burani Fashion Group, which had immediately excellent results. Also promising was the opening of new single brand boutiques. It was the start of a luxury pole and evidence of this important partnership were the new stores in Milan and Tokyo.
The Braccialini Franchising project
The turnover shot up, reaching as high as 80%, partly thanks to the Braccialini Franchising project and the establishment of Antichi Pellettieri, to which the shares in the firm held by the Burani group were sold. In 2002 there were openings in Treviso and Riccione. There was also one in Shanghai, thanks to a joint venture concluded in Hong Kong for a distribution network covering the entire Far East. The following year, there were Braccialini showrooms in Milan, Montecatini Terme, and Udine.
50 years of activity
A further strategic drive took place in 2003, when the French fund L Capital (the LVMH group) purchased shares in Antichi Pellettieri and the Braccialini firm celebrated 50 years of activity. An enviable anniversary which was celebrated in the best way. In 2004, new shops opened in Rome, Dubai, London, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chongqing, and these were followed in 2005 by shops in Seoul, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Paris, and Milan. In that same year, the headquarters at Pontassieve was enlarged.
Ninfea Collection
The winter collection of 2017 called Ninfea represented linear design enhanced by saffiano leather and chic colors including grey cognac and purple. The main characteristic of this collection is the traditional floral Braccialini logo that offered flow and feminity.
Sweety Collection
Moreover, the Sweety collection had the iconic printed heart texture that was re-interpreted with different colors such as royal blue to give a more casual look. Tua by Braccialini collection was made for clients who love colors and imagination, offering a range of bags with prints focused on camping and romantic getaways with original details for clients that like to dare with fantasy.
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