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LUBIAM is a historic Italian men’s clothing company started in 1911 in the city of Mantova in the Lombady region of Italy.

Lubiam is the oldest continuous men’s clothing company in Italy.

Lubiam invented the production process for men’s clothing and was one of the 1st companies to establish a showroom in Milan and one of the 1st men’s Italian clothing labels to enter the US market in the late 1960’s.

HISTORY

The Beginning

It is not possible to tell the story of the LUBIAM label without telling the history of one man, Luigi Bianchi, who in 1898 at only 16 years of age, left his town in the province of Mantova – San Michele in Bosco – to go to Turin to learn the secrets of the tailoring trade.

He wanted to become a tailor, a master tailor, to dignify the family tradition of his father Paride and his grandfather Giuliano, who were door to door tailor and barbers in the towns around the countryside.

Much time has passed since then but the courage, the commitment and the passion, are all still there, passed on and developed from the creative inspiration of the founder, Luigi, through the enthusiasm and pragmatism of the sons Edgardo and Giuliano and the grandchildren Giuliano and Luigi .These same feelings were later absorbed and projected into the new century by a team of young people full of drive and dreams: Edgardo, head of company strategy with his father Giuliano; Giovanni, product manager; Gabriele, head of technological research; and their cousins Andrea, sales director for the American market and Laura, designer and architect.

LUBIAM is a company that knows how to renew itself remaining loyal to its tradition, with strong ties to the region, to its culture and to the social fabric of a city intertwined with the events and the successes of this company as much as of its own history.

Thanks to the contribution of each member of the group and its intense productivity, Lubiam has succeeded, in a short time, in crossing national borders into all of Europe, America, Canada, Asia and Japan.

The Second Decade

In 1911 the project to open its own shop was accomplished. The leading tailor shop of “LUIGHI BIANCHI” – MEN’S CLOTHES AND DRESSES AND SUITS FOR WOMEN, opened at No. 11 Via Pietro Fortunato Calvi, in Mantova, whose stock boasted a large assortment of materials of the best national and foreign houses and where sophisticated made to measure dresses were soon accompanied by the first examples of pret-à-porter garments. Thanks to his great passion, Luigi Bianchi thus succeeded in launching a successful company: his name and the quality of his clothes attracted Edward Prince of Wales into the shop to order an entire wardrobe of clothes.

The Twenties

Towards the end of the twenties the women’s line of clothing was dropped in order to concentrate all energies and attention on the men’s line. The collections of clothes, made in Luigi Bianchi workshops, have always been identified by the deep commitment to wearability and a great ability to satisfy the wide ranging demand.

The Thirties

The company passed from 250 employees in 1933 to 400 in 1936 and to the ‘LUIGI BIANCHI INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION’, the result of a long process of specialisation and innovation deeply desired by Edgardo the eldest son of Luigi, and aimed at improving the production time while guaranteeing top quality results with the same characteristics as bespoke tailoring.

In 1938 the new plant opened on the outskirts of the city with 500 employees. In 1939 the LUBIAM label was born, an acronym for LUigi BIAnchi Mantova, to underline the deep ties to his city of origin. From this point of the story, the company launched by Luigi and Edgardo Bianchi, is a continuing chain of events and successes among which the expansion of the Italian clothing line labelled LUBIAM first to the United States and then progressively into all the countries in Europe and the world as far as the shores of China and Japan.

The Forties

These years saw a turning point from the past, with a global renewal in the organisation of the work and quality of the product. At this time, LUBIAM was one of the first brands to open a showroom in the centre of Milan.

The Fifties

In the decade from 1950 to 1960 a revolution occurred in Mantova in the economic productive sector as in the whole of Italy: manufacturing alone created more than 5000 jobs and the clothing industry was important, both in the ready made clothing, mainly due to LUBIAM, and in the rapid expansion of the production of sweaters and shoes. LUBIAM made its presence felt powerfully with a loud burst on the national arena appearing first on “Carosello” (national television publicity segment) thanks to the publicity genius of the time, Giulio Giuli. A strong campaign for LUBIAM started in “Carosello”, based around the slogan “Wearing LUBIAM will make you feel like another” and on the stylised “L” that recalls the lapel of a jacket. The same “L” became the company logo.

The Sixties

Major campaigns were launched, accompanied by billboards, street posters, cinema advertisements, radio publicity and window dressing competitions. The appearance of the LUBIAM logo on matches and “Minerva” cigarette packets made a great social impact. In this decade the television campaign ended with a fictional character: Pierino who, in “Carosello”, wanted to turn all the world LUBIAM.

The Seventies and Eighties

Between the end of the seventies and the first half of the eighties, the capture of the foreign market reached its peak. LUBIAM has had a solid presence in the American market since 1974 with its own subsidiary.

However, in Italy the seventies marked the arrival to the company of a new third generation of leaders; Luigi and Giuliano. Giuliano directed his energies to the technical and productive areas whilst Luigi attached his energies to the company’s image with public interests such as the LUBIAM Prize, an initiative to bind the company image to the world of figurative art. Young students from the Italian Fine Arts Academies competed for scholarships of half a million of the old lire. The reaction of the public and media was highly positive and enthusiastic and the LUBIAM Prize continued for eleven years.

In addition to this, Luigi continued to raise the company’s exposure and image through company sponsored events such as the Giro d’Italia’s tour through Mantova and the World Middle Weight Boxing Championship between Benvenuti and Griffith, thanks to the brilliant public relations advisor Enrico Pirondini.

The Nineties

The Bianchis have always passed on their commitment to Lubiam from father to son. With the arrival of Giuliano the engineer in the seventies, a new internal restoration was undertaken to give the label a renewed life to be continued by future generations.

An additional sign of recovery for LUBIAM was its entry into the world famous “Harrods” of London in addition to its other acquired positions in “Barney’s” in the United States, “N.K.” department store in Stockholm and the many “F.One” department stores in Japan.

Today

Today the LUBIAM label continues to be profoundly tied to the principles in which Luigi Bianchi believed at the end of the eighteen hundreds , loyalty to the ancient craftsman format and attention to detail, now combined with the most advanced technology.

LUBIAM is today one of the few Italian companies still in the hands of the founder family. The fourth generation of Bianchi – the sons of Giuliano, Edgardo, Giovanni, and Gabriele, together with their cousins, Andrea and Laura Benedini – are assuming the role to fuel the LUBIAM company spirit with new collections designed to meet the needs of a younger market.

In particular with the launch of the new LUIGI BIANCHI MANTOVA label, officially presented at the 68th edition of the PITTI IMMAGINE UOMO in Florence, the past and present met through the garments that mark the ‘arrival of the new formal men’s clothing’ thanks to the excellent relationship between high quality, the choice of exceptional fabrics and an extremely competitive price.

To this is added a wide range of services for the retailer amongst which is the “Made to Measure” service that guarantees delivery of a garment, of tailor made quality and fine finishing, production in ten working days plus shipping time.

LUBIAM LABELS

LUBIAM is today an international reference label representing Made in Italy among the most prestigious foreign commercial outlets .

The numerous retail and specialty stores demonstrate this with the LUBIAM collections – labels include:

Labels carried in the United States:

Luigi Bianchi Mantova – Clothing Lubiam Studio – Diffusion Line L.B.M.1911 – Sportswear

Labels around the world (Primarily Europe, Russia, Middle East and Far East):

Luigi Bianchi Mantova – Clothing Lubiam Studio – Diffusion Line L.B.M.1911 – Sportswear Lubiam 1911 – Classic Historic Clothing Label Lubiam1911 Cerimonia – Tuxedos and evening wear. Brando – Sportswear (Not carried in the US due to copyright infringements).

LUBIAM IN LITERATURE

The Rise and Fall of the House of Barneys: A Family Tale of Chutzpah, Glory, and Greed By Joshua Levine

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

LUBIAM UN UOMO UNA STORIA by Renzo Dall’Ara – Editoriale Sometti, Mantova 1999

LUBIAM IN THE ART WORLD

Sponsorship is of vital importance in the marketing and promotion of a company’s image.

Specifically, LUBIAM has always aimed at activities of a lasting, cultural nature. The company philosophy has never been to make donations. It has always taken responsibility for what it does, choosing projects it can follow through to the end.

This cultural DNA can be seen in the Lubiam Prize, the restoration projects of Susano, Le Grazie Sanctuary and Palazzo Te, as well as in art collections of great value and splendour such as “La cacciata dell’invitato indegno” [‘The Ousting of the Unworthy Guest’] by Fra Semplice of Verona, and the works of Ferruccio Bolognesi, which are on display in the Lubiam Head Office.

The Lubiam Prize

The Lubiam Prize was created in 1971 and is open to young students in Italian Fine Arts Academies, who can compete for 8 grants, each of around € 250.

The settings of Palazzo Te, in Mantova, the sumptuous summer villa designed by Giulio Romano for the Gonzaga family, was used as the exhibition hall for the extensive collection of the 229 works included. The head of the very first Prize panel and still President is Aligi Sassu. The organization of the Prize was the work of Enrico Pirondini. The success of the Awards, acknowledged by the general public and by reviewers alike, encouraged continuation for a further 11 editions, the last being associated with illustrious “godfathers”: Corrado Cagli, the Frenchman Gustave Singier (when the Prize became international, inviting one foreign Academy each year) and the Swiss artist Pietro Salati who rounded off the Palazzo Te venue in 1975.

After this, due to space restrictions, the Prize was moved to the “Little Athens” of Sabbioneta, the fifteenth century city and the home of the court of Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna. This was the height of the naïf period and the Yugoslavian master Josip Generalic acted as curator. The list of illustrious names continued with Graham Sutherland, Hans Hartung and Edward Pignon. The dimensions of the Prize grew to include continental pieces and was then opened to young artists under the age of 35, chosen by Italian art critics.

1980 was the year of the Turkish-Greek artist Mario Prassinos and young international artists still in Academies . At the tenth anniversary edition in 1981 Renato Gattuso paid homage to the great Latin poet Virgil, from Mantova, on the two thousandth anniversary of his death. The last edition of the Prize was organised by Remo Brindisi in 1982. He produced an extremely high quality edition as can be seen by the catalogue, published by Gabriele Mazzotta.

Susano Saved

Susano is a complex of buildings 12 kilometres from the centre of Mantova. It was built between 1615 and 1620 by Count Paolo Emilio Gonzaga who donated the buildings, along with the church and surrounding grounds, to the Dominican Friars. The many styles are the work of the leading architect of seventeenth-century Mantova, Antonio Maria Viani, of nearby Cremona.

In 1787 the convent was closed and the property passed into private hands, first the prince/bishops of Trent, then Maria Teresa Cybo D’Este, the duchess of Modena followed by the famous Rothschild bankers and finally Baron Raimondo Franchetti, before the estate was divided up.

Continuing dismemberment and the allocation of the buildings to farm use further degraded the site.

In 1975 the Susano complex was declared unfit for use, was left to ruin and stripped of furniture, shutters and valuable marble right down to the flooring and roof tiles.

A salvage operation was begun in 1992 by which time some parts of the complex had collapsed.

Alfa, a company in the Lubiam group, purchased the complex to save it from complete destruction. The difficult renovation work included conservation and the restoration of a large number of buildings, and soon became a means of revitalising and creating a new future for Susano, by bringing out the architectural merits and unique appeal of the complex.

Today it is a jewel in the heart of the Mantova countryside and an attraction to the tourist elite. It contains some ten antique shops, an elegant restaurant ( il Conventino) and an auditorium, in the deconsecrated church.

Ferruccio Bolognesi

If designer clothes come out of Viale Fiume, then why not an identity “label” for the surroundings? In 1986 the reception areas and other areas open to the public were “dressed” in the style of Feruccio Bolognesi: a Mantova painter from the great period of the Italian naïf (as can be seen in the Luzzara museum).

The artistic talent of Bolognesi extends to theatrical scenery and, in his daily contact with the public, to graphics and objects in his Mantova studio behind the apse of the basilica of San’Andrea.

Palazzo Te

The 10-year life of the Lubiam Prize did not prevent other events taking place at the Palazzo Te. At the beginning of the eighties the Mantova City Authority began an immense restoration project on Palazzo Te.

Lubiam made a significant contribution to the renovation of the “Napoleonic wing” of the Palace, returned to its original glory after nineteenth-century adaptations and subsequent abuse. The pictorial restoration of the room of the tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses includes frescoes by Giulio Romano, Agostino Mozzanega and Anslemo de Gianis.

La Cacciata dell'Invitato Indegno

Lubiam celebrated its 75 years by linking the anniversary to an event intended to enrich the artistic patrimony of Mantova. The famous auction house Sotheby’s of London, in the catalogue of its auction on the 8 July 1987 there was a large canvas depicting “the Ousting of the Unworthy Guest” painted by Fra Semplice from Verona, capuchin (approx. 1589 – 1654) and dated 1622.

The painting was among the works of the Gonzaga collection sold by Vincenzo II of Nevers to Charles I of England somewhere between 1627 and 1628. It finished up in the castle of Holyrood in the collection of Sir James, first Duke of Hamilton and remained there until the Sotheby’s auction when the Bianchi family purchased it.

So it came home after three centuries: in need of restoration work, which was carried out by the studio of Prof. Augusto Morari of Mantova, at Lubiam, viale Fiume. The documentation of the work and its iconography were entrusted to the art historian professor Rodolfo Signorini.

It was displayed to the public for the first time in the Palazzo Arco in Mantova, a venue that had already hosted two other works by Fra Semplice. The painting then found its final home in the Lubiam showroom in viale Fiume a wonderful complement to its surroundings.

Santuario delle Grazie

It was 1998 when Lubiam launched a project for the 2000 Jubilee. The Bianchi family and a group of entrepreneurs renewed their relationship with Mantua and the region .

The Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located at the riverside village of Grazie (in Curtone) on the Upper Lake, 8 kilometres from Mantova, has a special place amongst the religious monuments and places of worship in the province.

It was built by Francesco I Gonzaga, fourth Duke of Mantova between 1399 and 1406 as thanks for keeping the town free of the plague. It is generally agreed that Bartolino of Novara designed the sanctuary. Through the centuries the sanctuary was turned into a unique place of pigrimage by the faithful, thankful for blessings granted. The sanctuary’s most unusual feature, unique in Italy and perhaps in the world, are the tall wooden joists painted in Pompeian red, with 53 statues constructed by superimposing layers of canvas and sheets of paper stuck together with starch and natural glue.

The oldest statues, attributed to Giovanni Francesco of Acquanegra, can be traced to the sixteenth century, while others are from a later date.

At the end of 1998 Lubiam took over the restoration of the joists and the statues.

The entire job was entrusted to the Progetto Restauro company of Mantova.

After the restoration work, which was carried out among others, by Anna Bianchi great grand daughter of the founder Luigi Bianchi, the statues were put on show at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantova, from 12 February to 2 April 2000.

The exhibition included the splendid Missaglia armours, that also come from the niches of the joists at Le Grazie. They were exhibited in the Diocesan Museum adjacent to the Palazzo Ducale, Mantova.

References

LUBIAM UN UOMO UNA STORIA by Renzo Dall’Ara – Editoriale Sometti, Mantova 1999

External links

• example.com