Stefanel

Stefanel is an Italian fashion label rooted in the Veneto region's textile industry. Carlo Stefanel, born in 1925 in Ponte di Piave, began working in his aunt's spinning mill in nearby Oderzo and started selling wool and fabric at local markets from 1947. In 1959 he bought four knitting machines and founded Maglifico Piave, initially supplying wholesalers across Italy and Europe from the Treviso area - the same region that later produced Benetton and Diesel. His son Giuseppe, born in 1952, joined at the end of the 1960s, taking charge of yarn and textile production. Through the 1970s the company began designing and selling clothing directly under the Stefanel name, and in 1979 developed its own retail-store concept and began franchising.