Fisac

(Italian Factories of Silk and Similar Fibers) A company making silk and velvet established in Milan in 1906. The acronym Fisac was adopted in 1932. The new company inherited weaving mills in Cermenate, Menaggio, Como, and Camerlata from its predecessor, Fabbriche Italiane di Seterie Clerici Braghenti & Co, which went bankrupt. It specializes in the manufacture of plain dyed and diapered fabrics for women’s clothing. Several professional men from the Como area acquired substantial blocks of shares, and Alberto Clerici became president, general manager, and general director. During the 1920s, thanks to support from various Italian banks such as Credito Italiano, Fisac began a strategy of diversification of production and gradually acquired textile plants (in Monte Olimpino), velvet factories (in Como), printing works (in Luisago and Grandate), and a dye works (in Como). In 1931, Alberto Clerici left the company, and his place was taken by the new president, Furio Cicogna, who was also a manager of ChÀtillion. In the first half of the 1930s, the IRI obtained several seats on the board of directors and appointed Luigi Morandotti as president. The weaving mill in Monte Olimpino was closed in 1953, and the Como plants that produced velvet were closed in 1955 and ’56. At around the same time, a new weaving mill was opened in Camerlata, on the outskirts of Como, thanks to investments by the Marshall Plan. In the late 1960s, Fisac joined the Montedison group, to be later absorbed by GIMI (Vicenza) in 1990.