Gallo

Italian company making men’s, women’s, and children’s hosiery. It was established in Desenzano del Garda in the early 1900s. Almost a century later, led by the general manager Giuseppe Colombo, it has sales of 10 billion liras a year, with exports amounting to 20% of that. It is a factory, but the production philosophy is artisanal, setting rigorous criteria for controlled growth in order to safeguard the quality of the product. The eighty workers are mostly relatives of those who helped to establish and develop the company. Every pair of socks is submitted to nine quality tests. Only pure yarns are used, from extra fine merino wools to Scotia thread cotton, linen, cashmere, and 100% pure silk, of which 6 miles of thread are needed for each pair of men’s socks. An in-house design department offers, for every Collection, 70 different patterns.
The company acquires 25% of the historic hosiery brand Doré Doré, which was founded in Fontaine-Les-Grès, France. Giuseppe Colombo, the general manager of Gallo, personally acquires the remaining 65% of the shares of the new company, called Doré Doré 1819, of which he becomes the president. The goal is to relaunch a brand that was born in the early 1800s in a small family-run atelier, quickly grew to become a leader in the field of women’s hosiery, and suffered a marked decline in recent years due to strong competition, with a turnover of €20 million.