Fire Destroys Piovano Mill But Weaver Plans to Rebuild
April 18, 2002
Chieri, Italy - The fire that ravaged the mill Piovano on the night of 18 February may have ended business for the company, but not forever, said the Piovano family.
"We are firmly determined not to let die the name ''''Piovano," said Guido and Leandro Piovano in a letter to the trade dated February 26, 2002. "With deep sorrow we are compelled to suspend our business until all insurance proceedings will be over."
The mill, which was purchased by the Piovano family in 1948, wove unique and highly stylized decorative fabrics as well as mid-range jacquards and toiles on its 54 looms, all of which were lost in the fire.
Piovano hopes to rebuild the factory within a year and a half if all goes well with insurance proceedings and if the company can procure financial help from other (government) sources. "But no one knows," admitted export manager Silvia Chiavario. "We don''''t want to upset our customers, so we are not asking them to wait. They are free to select other suppliers. We can only hope they will be back."
Three quarters of the 8,000 square meters of fabric produced annually by the mill were exported. Its tragedy has left many decorative jobbers in the U.S. as well as hundreds of distributors in Lebanon, the Middle East and all over Europe - especially Germany, France and Spain - scrambling to find other manufacturers to replicate the Piovano qualities until such time as the mill can be rebuilt.
"We use Piovano almost every season," said Lucinda Brandon, assistant to Jane Kappes, woven director of F. Schumacher. "We had a design slated for the spring 2003 collection for which orders had already been placed. We are scurrying to find others who can produce it for us." Piovano and its agents have been trying to help. Working from a building near the old factory, Mr. Piovano has made an arrangement with a nearby dyeworks company to continue dyeing yarn to fill orders, and has been trying to help others to replicate the construction of the products. Although the mill produced proprietary products for various wholesalers, Piovano has authorized them to send those orders to other weavers who could satisfy their immediate requests.
Determined not to miss a step, U.S. importers have turned to other weavers, but they also want Piovano to rebuild quickly. "We will take everything a step at a time, but we''''re not going to skip a step," said Brunschwig & Fils designer Ross Francis, whose company has obtained some of its best selling items from Piovano over the last 15 years. "We have a priority list and we''''re moving quickly ahead with Jerry Newman to get fabrics back into production."
Newman, Piovano''''s exclusive U.S. agent for the last five years, has been instrumental in helping U.S. merchants continue to fill their orders.
"We''''re in the process of trying to establish continuity," he said. "Piovano had a substantial placement of fabrics with most of the decorative jobbers and with select furniture manufacturers in the High Point area. They supplied a niche market of specialty fabrics, quite stylized and exotic."
The stylized qualities and constructions the mill produced lifted its turnover figures to an annual nine million Euros in recent years.
Though constructions can be replicated on other looms, the creativity and relationships that helped make the name ''''Piovano'''' cannot. Not only did U.S. customers call the mill''''s signature weaves "old, lovely, wonderful," but they also spoke highly of the Piovano family as professional and creative people. Some expressed the hope that the mill will be back in production in as little as six months.
Newman pointed out, that even in half a year the marketplace will have changed, but he was confident that Piovano could adjust.
"Piovano is a creative and adventurous mill. They will come back and establish other products. They will rebuild and be stronger and better," he said. F&FI
"We are firmly determined not to let die the name ''''Piovano," said Guido and Leandro Piovano in a letter to the trade dated February 26, 2002. "With deep sorrow we are compelled to suspend our business until all insurance proceedings will be over."
The mill, which was purchased by the Piovano family in 1948, wove unique and highly stylized decorative fabrics as well as mid-range jacquards and toiles on its 54 looms, all of which were lost in the fire.
Piovano hopes to rebuild the factory within a year and a half if all goes well with insurance proceedings and if the company can procure financial help from other (government) sources. "But no one knows," admitted export manager Silvia Chiavario. "We don''''t want to upset our customers, so we are not asking them to wait. They are free to select other suppliers. We can only hope they will be back."
Three quarters of the 8,000 square meters of fabric produced annually by the mill were exported. Its tragedy has left many decorative jobbers in the U.S. as well as hundreds of distributors in Lebanon, the Middle East and all over Europe - especially Germany, France and Spain - scrambling to find other manufacturers to replicate the Piovano qualities until such time as the mill can be rebuilt.
"We use Piovano almost every season," said Lucinda Brandon, assistant to Jane Kappes, woven director of F. Schumacher. "We had a design slated for the spring 2003 collection for which orders had already been placed. We are scurrying to find others who can produce it for us." Piovano and its agents have been trying to help. Working from a building near the old factory, Mr. Piovano has made an arrangement with a nearby dyeworks company to continue dyeing yarn to fill orders, and has been trying to help others to replicate the construction of the products. Although the mill produced proprietary products for various wholesalers, Piovano has authorized them to send those orders to other weavers who could satisfy their immediate requests.
Determined not to miss a step, U.S. importers have turned to other weavers, but they also want Piovano to rebuild quickly. "We will take everything a step at a time, but we''''re not going to skip a step," said Brunschwig & Fils designer Ross Francis, whose company has obtained some of its best selling items from Piovano over the last 15 years. "We have a priority list and we''''re moving quickly ahead with Jerry Newman to get fabrics back into production."
Newman, Piovano''''s exclusive U.S. agent for the last five years, has been instrumental in helping U.S. merchants continue to fill their orders.
"We''''re in the process of trying to establish continuity," he said. "Piovano had a substantial placement of fabrics with most of the decorative jobbers and with select furniture manufacturers in the High Point area. They supplied a niche market of specialty fabrics, quite stylized and exotic."
The stylized qualities and constructions the mill produced lifted its turnover figures to an annual nine million Euros in recent years.
Though constructions can be replicated on other looms, the creativity and relationships that helped make the name ''''Piovano'''' cannot. Not only did U.S. customers call the mill''''s signature weaves "old, lovely, wonderful," but they also spoke highly of the Piovano family as professional and creative people. Some expressed the hope that the mill will be back in production in as little as six months.
Newman pointed out, that even in half a year the marketplace will have changed, but he was confident that Piovano could adjust.
"Piovano is a creative and adventurous mill. They will come back and establish other products. They will rebuild and be stronger and better," he said. F&FI