HISTORY

Style, quality and tradition. These are the key elements that make a brand like Facis unique. The brand’s history began in the 1930s in Turin, when the Donato Levi Company and the Rivetti wool mills merged into a single entity to conceive GFT (Gruppo Finanziario Tessile) and the Facis brand (Fabbrica Abiti Confezionati in Serie). In 1932, Facis was immediately identified with manufacturing men’s garments and suits, thanks to its use of the best raw materials and high quality production techniques. Consequently, stores carrying the Marus and Facis brands began to crop up.

After World War II, Facis revolutionised the formal menswear market, thanks to the instincts of its young owners, Franco, Silvio and Piergiorgio Rivetti. Inspired by the American prototype, they set all their sights on sized ready-made clothing. At the beginning of the 1950s, GRT literally measured more than 25,000 Italian men in order to permit Facis to dress the entire nation, for the first time, with non-tailor-made suits.

The 1960s were identified with revitalisation, and consequently revolutionising the manufacturing and distribution methods and how products were marketed. 
Communication became essential for the brand to the point that the first advertisement of the company was created and designed in 1954 by Armando Testa.
The well-known image of a man running with a suit under his arm was paired with the then-famous slogan: “While rushing to get dressed, there is a Facis suit”.
During the 1960s and the 1970s, Facis was known as being the largest Italian manufacturer of men’s clothing.

With the expansion of the world of fashion starting from the 1970s, the group launched itself as licensee of the rising stars in fashion, amongst which were Giorgio Armani and Valentino.
Made-in-Italy Ready-to-Wear began to stand out thanks to its evident creativity. 
It was especially during these years that collections with extremely high quality finishing touches came out of Facis’ manufacturing establishments.

During the 1990s, the GFT group survived important changes of which the transfers of brands like Facis and the Valentino collection. The year 2001 marked a turning point: three brothers, Carmelo, Piero and Giovanni Bucalo, owners of Mediconf S.p.A, purchased a 100% stake in Facis and its manufacturing establishments. A new corporate strategy was created, directed at relaunching the brand: new collections and new investments aimed at making Facis recognised as a reference point for men seeking elegance for all occasions.