Max Mara

Max Mara was founded by Achille Maramotti and established into the fashion industry in 1951. Maramotti started designing prior to that in 1947 with designing couture apparel and then in 1951 was when he publicly established the House of Max Mara. The name “Max Mara” came from his last name “Mara”motti and “max” as in a rarely sober and always fashionable man called Count Max. He was one of the first designers of his time to use mass production of designer clothing. Over the years Max Mara became particularly notorious, and he even was the start of many other designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Charles de Castelajac, Dolce & Gabbana and Narciso Rodriguez. Max Mara is still ran by and controlled by the Maramotti family and they are generally a very secretive company and keeps things confidential.


Max Mara is a very family orientated business, the Maramotti family consists of the father Achille Maramotti, is two sons Luigi and Ignazio, and last but not least Ludovica. Ludovica was the one who followed into the leading the business. Luigi remains the chairman of the company. But the legacy of Achille Maramotti began when he was born on January 7th, 1927 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He later went to school at the University of Parma in Rome and received a degree in law. He leaned away from law and began designing to contribute himself to haute couture. Haute Couture was a family passion passed down from his great-grandmother Marina Rinaldi, who in the late 1800s managed a luxury fashion house in the center of Reggio Emilia. Hard work paid off and Achille finally made the Forbes Rich List of 2005, he was one of the richest men with having a fortune of $2.2 billion. The later died on January 12th, 2005 in Albinea. He was always a lover for art history and showed a great passion toward Expressionists, that in his will a large and significant assortment of contemporary art from Europe and America was released to the public.


There are numerous brands and labels that Max Mara has launched. There are 35 labels for all different kinds the of the Max Mara woman; they are Sportmax, Sportmax Code, Weekend, Max Mara, Marella, Pennyblack, iBlues, Max & Co, and Marina Rinaldi. The Max Mara collection still remains the core of the company, and Max & Co is the new trendy collection for the youth division, and lastly Marina Rinaldi is the the latest and was found in 1980. Marina Rinaldi was named after Achille’s great grandmother and she was known to be the independent woman.


Max Mara has over 2250 store locations all over the world, but the main headquarters continue in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Max Mara’s target market is “a woman that is full of Passion, commitment and tradition at the service of a fashion interpreted with personality and rigour.” The Max Mara group is one of the most significant groups worldwide because all the collections share quality, style, and the respect of being distinguishing. His number one desire in life was to produce high-quality manufactured women's clothing. This was a fairly an extreme idea in Italy at the time. Fashion at this time was still an entirely handcrafted hobby and not an ideal goal for many. The very first collection was a camel coat and a geranium red suit, this definitely incorporated the ideas of production in the future. This collection was essential and defined, clean cuts and influential lines. There were many French inspired designs, but Maramotti reinvented his designs through a traditional Italian style, they were very unique and classic.


There was immediate success for Max Mara. It was in the 1960s that he evolved the production techniques, as well was expanded into a wide range of products. Max Mara kept their “typically mannish broad double-breasted coats,” these coats were known to include elegant suiting lines as well as more sporty lines. During this time Max Mara had some of the most creative designers working with them such as, Luciano Soprani, Lison Bofis, Graziella Fontana, and Emanuelle Khan. The mix of all these personalities and styles created some of the best designs. This lead to new collaborations and new collections were called “pop” and “my fair”. As time passed they produced even more stylish partnerships like, Anne Marie Beretta, Nanni Strada, Jacques Delahaye, Guy Paulin, and Jean Charles de Caselbajac. The ideas through these designers were endless and Max Mara had success.





The suppliers of Max Mara decided to increase the value of the brand, but without publicity. They just followed the company viewpoint, which was mainly displaying and the visibility of the brand, it was more that just individual names. At the end of the 1960s, when London was the biggest fashion city in the world, Maramotti was once again in the middle of the first to get hold of the creative commotion, and moved a new collection there. There was a big thank you for the help of Laura Lusuardi, which is now today’s fashion coordinator of the group. Then there was a new concept, it was called Sportmax, and this was dedicated to all the young women who wanted to individualize their look.





Then in the 1980s we saw the beginning of one of the symbols of the Maison, it was the double-breasted coat which was also known as "101801". It was created by Anne Marie Beretta, it was in mixed cashmere wool with wide kimono sleeves. This was no doubt the best seller of its time and is now even offered in every winter collection without any changes or modification in the design. In the 1990s we saw a strong consolidation of the Group, there were famous photographers such as Peter Lindbergh, Arthur Elgord and Richard Avedon, and they were expanding a trendy development with the brands "Sportmax Code” "Occhiali Max Mara" and "'S Max Mara".






Finally today Max Mara is one of the biggest role models and references for any Italian and International ready-to-wear company. There is just so much passion and determination in Achille and his company that it has been willingly held by the new generation of the Maramotti family, they still to this day keep continuing to innovate tradition to continues what they have started over 50 years ago.






Overall the brand Max Mara originally began as The House of MaxMara and was a well-known opulent Italian fashion house. With all its publicity through the years and broad range of knowledgeable designers it became recognized for its luxurious ready-to-wear clothing. Achille Maramoti was the founder of Max Mara and in 1951 he decided to establish this brand as a contribution to his family since his great-grandmother, Marina RInaldi, was so passionate about haute couture. Max Mara has expanded so much over the years to opening over 2250 stores in over 90 countries. They have 35 different labels including Sportmax, Sportmax Code, Weekend, Max Mara, Marella, Pennyblack, iBlues, Max & Co, and Marina Rinaldi just to name a few. Unfortunately Achille Maramotti died in 2005, but his family run business is still going strong with his son Luigi being the chairman and his daughter Ludovica controlling his other labels. The design director who has been with the company for a very long time is Laura Lusuardi and she also stepped up in the company when Achille died. Max Mara is a multibillion-dollar company that is classic and contemporary and has a label to suit at least one of everyone’s needs.