The Determinants of the Emergence of Turin as the First Capital of Italian Fashion Industry (1900–1960)

Abstract

The article aims at exploring how Turin emerged as the first capital of the Italian fashion industry in the inter-war period. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Turin had already a well-established history in the industrial production of clothing. In 1902 and 1911, the city hosted national and international exhibitions that included entire pavilions devoted to illustrating the relationships between fashion and industry. The article focuses on the determinants of the emergence of Turin as a fashion capital during the interwar-period: the establishment of a new technological basis, with the development of the man-made fiber industry in Italy; the birth of new institutions and organizations, such as the Ente Nazionale della Moda and the first truly Italian fashion shows; the emergence of a new market for ready-to-wear clothing and the building of an industrial identity thanks to the first large industrial companies in Italy. During the 1950s and 1960s, while Florence and Rome flourished into the international high fashion scene, Turin was still the main fashion center and hosted SAMIA, the most important trade show in Italy for textile and ready-to-wear clothing. It was only during the 1970s that Turin started to decline in parallel with the emergence of Milan as Italy’s new fashion capital.

Keywords:

• clothing industry
• fascism
• fashion capital
• ready-to-wear
• Turin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elisabetta Merlo

Elisabetta Merlo is Associate Professor at Bocconi University, Milan, where she is also a fellow of ICRIOS – The Invernizzi Center for Research on Innovation, Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship. She focuses her research interests on the history of the Italian fashion industry. Her main publications include articles in Business History, the Business History Review and the Journal of Modern Italian Studies. [email protected]

Mario Perugini

Mario Perugini is adjunct professor of Economic History and Business History at Bocconi University, Milan. His main research interest focuses on the history of Italian industry. He is author of the book “La Montecatini fra le due guerre mondiali” (Franco Angeli, 2014) and of articles of the history of the Italian industry in the 20th century. [email protected]