Founded 1911 in Biella by brothers Ettore and Giansevero Fila as knitwear makers; the 1976 Settanta track top became a signature piece after Björn Borg wore it at Wimbledon from 1975.
Best for Settanta polo, tennis heritage; Settanta Borg polos; Heritage sportswear
FILA was founded in 1911 in Biella, in the Italian Alps, by brothers Ettore and Giansevero Fila, initially producing knitwear and underwear for the local Alpine population rather than sportswear. The company's transformation into an athletic brand came decades later, under managing director Enrico Frachey from 1968, culminating in the 1973 'White Line' tennis collection that broke with all-white club convention by introducing color and bolder silhouettes to tennis apparel.
From 1975, FILA sponsored Björn Borg, designing the tracksuits, shorts and polos he wore through his Wimbledon-winning years. The Settanta track top, designed in 1976 with its jersey construction and contrast piping, became the piece most associated with that partnership and remains one of FILA's most recognized archive designs today.
The brand's roots as an Alpine textile maker, rather than a sportswear label from the outset, are part of what distinguishes its history from competitors founded directly as athletic-wear companies.
Piacenza traces its textile business to 1733 in Pollone, within the Biella district of northern Italy. The house now sells knitwear and ready-to-wear alongside scarves, drawing on a range of natural fibres. Its factory is in Pollone, while the published ready-to-wear showroom address is in Milan.
Best for Knitwear and natural-fibre scarves
Piacenza's knitwear has its roots in Pollone, in the Biella textile district of northern Italy. The company's range includes ready-to-wear and accessories made with natural fibres. Its account of production is useful for understanding what sits behind a finished garment, beyond the name on the label.
An order begins with a technical sheet specifying the yarn and model, with instructions prepared at the Pollone plant. Knitting machines make the main body separately from sleeves and collars. Assembly then combines hand work with specialised machines. This is a sequence of different operations, rather than a claim that the whole garment is hand-knitted.
Washing brings out the fabric's softness before machine pressing and hand finishing. The finished knit is folded and packed with its technical sheet and identifying code. Piacenza describes that code as a way to follow a garment through the process. When comparing pieces, the fibre composition and construction therefore offer a more useful starting point than a broad promise of craftsmanship. The house's own explanation makes those production stages visible without turning the shop into a factory-tour destination.
Lanificio Luigi Colombo, an Italian cashmere and noble-fiber mill based in Borgosesia (Valsesia, Piedmont) and founded in the 1960s, spins cashmere, vicuña, guanaco and yangir into fabric supplied to houses including Hermès, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
Best for Cashmere, rare fibres, polos; Rare fibre polos
Lanificio Luigi Colombo is a vertically integrated Italian textile mill specializing in cashmere and other rare 'noble' animal fibers — kid cashmere, yangir (wild Central Asian goat), guanaco, vicuña and camelhair alongside standard cashmere. The company is based in Borgosesia, in the Valsesia district of Piedmont at the foot of the Alps, a region with its own long-standing wool and textile manufacturing tradition, geographically close to but distinct from the better-known mill town of Biella. Colombo runs production as a fully integrated process, handling raw fiber selection, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing within its own plant rather than outsourcing stages to separate specialists — a structure that lets it control the fiber's handling from source material to finished cloth. The mill's dye operations recycle a large share of process water, part of a broader environmental program the company describes. Colombo supplies fabric to a roster of international luxury houses, with the company's materials cited in connection with Hermès, Chanel, Dior, Céline and Louis Vuitton collections, among others. Within the cashmere and noble-fiber trade, mills that work with vicuña are relatively rare, since the fiber can only be shorn from wild or semi-domesticated herds under strict international quotas — a supply constraint that keeps vicuña cloth, whichever mill produces it, among the most expensive textiles made anywhere.
Biella menswear label founded 1970 by Luciano Barbera, from the family behind the Carlo Barbera wool mill; sold in 2014, then repurchased by the family in 2019.
Best for Soft tailoring, luxury
Luciano Barbera grew out of the Carlo Barbera wool mill in Biella, Italy, which Luciano's father Carlo took full control of in 1949. Luciano Barbera gained early visibility in 1962 when photographer Ugo Mulas shot him for Vogue wearing a suit cut from the family's own fabric; according to brand lore, Louis Boston retailer Murray Pearlstein saw the look during a mill visit and encouraged Luciano to launch his own collection, which he did in 1970. Ownership shifted over the following decades: in 2010 the family sold a controlling stake in the Carlo Barbera mill to the Neapolitan tailoring house Kiton, and by 2014 had also let go of the Luciano Barbera apparel brand itself. The family returned to the label in 2019, repurchasing it and reestablishing it as a family business, with Luciano as part-owner, his daughter Carola Barbera as creative director and managing partner, and his son Lodovico Barbera as global brand ambassador.
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Biella knitwear can be bought in two quite different places. Artknit Studios has its own shop at Via Italia 39 in the city, selling merino and recycled cashmere knitwear.S1S2Lanificio Colombo sells through an outlet at Regione Pralini 5 in Ghemme, outside Biella. There, clothing and accessories sit alongside home textiles and fabrics.S3
Compare the label and the fit of the actual garment, and ask how it should be washed. If you want a particular colour or size at the outlet, ask the shop to confirm it before you make the trip.
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