The latest luxury knitwear collection arrives in shop with a tremendous showing for Spring 2024 at Marc Allen. A range of summer weight cashmere, silk & linen unconstructed jackets, tobacco colored outerwear vests, cashmere & silk lightweight crews & more for the season...
Lanificio Luigi Colombo is the world’s largest producer of cashmere and noble fibres fabrics.
Transforming cashmere, kid cashmere, yangir, kid wool, guanaco, vicuña and camelhair in products expressing the family's passion for noble fibres.
Interpreting the spirit of our times through the culture of quality.
THE HISTORY
Lanificio Luigi Colombo was named after its founder. A highly charismatic artist and explorer, from the very beginning he focused his attention on the niche sector of precious fibres.
The 1970's brought the second generation into the company. Having laid the foundations of a solid entrepreneurial capacity, the generational shift was the turning point towards the company’s success at international level.
Important and continuous investments in technology and R&D, in support of a labour force rich in precious craftsmanship, have been the guidelines of the company's development.
Their precious fibers collection range:
CASHMERE
This precious fibre is obtained from the fleece of the Hircus goat, which has been bred by Asian populations for over 7,500 years in the most inaccessible areas of the Himalayas. Today this species can be found in the Xinjiang region as well as in Tibet and Mongolia.
The Hircus goat’s hair has been processed since the Great Mogul epoch. It can be white, the most valuable color, or various natural tones ranging from beige to brown.
The long and rough hair hides a soft, warm and precious undercoat called duvet. Such undercoat allows the animal to maintain steady and constant body temperature even in the cold climatic conditions of the Asiatic mountains. The duvet, gathered in Spring, is collected by combing the animal. Each goat produces a few ounces of fibres per year whose diameter is about 15 microns.
KID CASHMERE
Kid Cashmere is an excellent yarn that is obtained from the underfleece of Hircus baby goats only during their first year of life.
The natural shedding allows to collect the precious fibre, very exclusive and extremely light, fully respecting the animals and the environment.
The raw material is then expertly processed, drawing on the experience and high technology of the Colombo tradition, in order to obtain the Kid Cashmere yarns. Unique, exclusive and very soft knitwear items are then created for both men's and women's collections.
It is a long and fascinating process of transformation of one of the rarest and most precious noble fibres that represent true excellence.
KID WOOL 12.8
KID WOOL is one of the rarest and most precious fibres in nature. It is the result of the research and selection of Lanificio Colombo, among the finest wools in the world: only 12.8 microns.
It is a philosophy that expresses Colombo's devotion to the research of the most noble and precious fibres while fully respecting the animals, the environment and the people. These values, transferred and shared with a small group of Merino breeders, have made it possible to reach a great goal: KID WOOL 12.8 microns.
The properties of this rare and valuable fibre are lightness, softness and natural thermoregulation which, thanks to the density of the fibres, is particularly functional even in very different climatic conditions. The garments are very unique and exclusive for their handfeel and weight, among the lightest in the world.
GUANACO
Guanaco is the South American camelidae with greater ability to adapt to various environmental conditions. It can be found from the Peruvian plateaus to the Strait of Magellan. This animal was the source of maintenance in the Land of Fire, where it has grown without causing the actual desertification which is imputable to sheep farms introduced by the Hispanics in 1500. Gifted with natural graceful movements and haughty beauty, in ancient times it was considered a mythical animal, playing a fundamental role in the Pre-Hispanic society. Thanks to the introduction of special systems of shearing and releasing the animal back into the wild, its hair is now used to manufacture textiles of the highest quality. Extraordinarily fine, its fibres range from a thickness of 13.5 to 14.5 microns. After shearing, which happens once every 2 years, the hair is separated to eliminate thicker fibres and impurities thus obtaining a lightweight, warmly coloured tuft similar to vicuña.
VICUNA
Vicuña is the smallest member of the Camelidae family (guanaco, llama, alpaca) and lives in the wild on the Cordillera of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. In ancient times it was considered a gift from Inti, the Incan god of the sun who could melt snow and change it into streams to fertilize the soil. The vicuña embodied the divine thanks for the presents the Incan people made to the beneficent Inti. Only the royal family was allowed to wear the precious fibre and, still today, deeply-rooted legends in the Andean countries abound regarding the magic properties of the most honoured vicuña. Vicuña’s wool is the finest fibre which can be processed, with an average diameter of 12-13 microns. An adult vicuña can produce only 250 grams of wool every two years. Its coat is the softest, shiniest and warmest in the world. It is usually of a reddish-brown colour while the white or albino Vicuña is extremely rare.
This animal is protected by Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), an international agreement that was signed by numerous countries in Washington in 1973 with the goal of regulating the trade of fauna and flora at risk of extinction. While fully respecting these safeguards, Lanificio Colombo uses this fibre to create unique and prestigious garments.
YANGIR
YANGIR is a family of fabrics created from the precious fibres of the Siberian Ibex, an animal that lives up to 5700 meters of altitude in the Himalayas, in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia and Kazakhstan, and in Kyrgyzstan.
Its soft and glossy undercoat has a natural golden colour and fibres measuring 13.5 microns, with an extremely limited availability.
Lanificio Luigi Colombo, drawing from its experience and skill in spinning and processing precious fibres, highlights the qualities of YANGIR in fabrics that offer unparalleled softness and sheen.
YANGIR can thus be considered the new frontier of timeless luxury.
THE DREAM TAKES SHAPE
It all started from the most precious noble fibres. A 50-year long journey guided by passion, research, creativity and investments that has marked the path of the extraordinary adventure of Colombo's lifestyle.
The distribution in the most important department stores and in the prestigious speciality stores was followed by the opening of self-brand boutiques.
What Luigi has sown is now ripe and flourishing. The younger generations will have to continue on the tracks laid by the founder sharing the same goals with undiminished passion.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
In 1995, Lanificio Luigi Colombo SPA was awarded by the European Union as the company that had grown the most in the previous five years and for the average age, the lowest in Europe. Lanificio Luigi Colombo was included as the only textile business in the Europe 500.
In 1997, Roberto was awarded “The Best European Entrepreneur of Medium-Sized Enterprises" as a result of the growth and of the work carried out by all the employees.
In 1999 Roberto Colombo received the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award in the Research and Development category.
In 2012 in Shanghai, on occasion of Messe Frankfurt, the organizational authority of Intertextile exhibition, awarded a special prize to Lanificio Luigi Colombo having been one of the pioneers of the event.
In 2013, the Jury of Première Vision Awards, selected one fabric made by Lanificio Colombo as "the best and most innovative in the world".
In 2016, Roberto Colombo was honoured with the prestigious title of Cavaliere del Lavoro by the President of the Italian Republic.
In 2019, Lanificio Colombo was the winner of the prestigious Gran Jury Prize at the Premiere Vision Awards. The winning fabric was rated the most innovative, with the highest technological content enhancing the characteristics of modernity and absolute luxury.