About us
Lanificio Menchi was born in Prato in 1961. The company creates outerwear fabrics using high-quality natural fibres, mainly wool, cashmere, alpaca and camel. From the beginning, trust and transparency are the basis of the collaboration with the contractors who take care of every single phase of processing ensuring a high-quality fabric. The textile designer and the team create unique collections, named after Mimì and Menchi. Mimì collection is characterized by the use of the best fibres, the creation of exclusive blends and the innovation in the fabrics finishing. Menchi collection, a historical heritage that has its roots in the carded tradition of Prato, is marked by synthetic fibres and technical finishing to create fabrics with a more contemporary style. Besides the collection, the team collaborates with customers to develop stylistic projects on request and satisfy every need.
Today the company aims to create “timeless” fabrics, with the aim of encouraging people towards more conscious and sustainable consumption. The highlight of the company is to combine quality and sustainability, mixing recycled and virgin raw materials to create high-quality sustainable fabrics.
Mimì Menchi:
a love and determination story
Mimì was born in Pistoia in 1927 and she spent her childhood on the mountains. At the age of twelve, she moved to Prato to work in the company of his brother-in-law as a mending in finishing and sampling. She is fascinated by the textile world: young, ambitious and driven by the desire for independence, she dreams of opening her own wool mill. A dream that Mimì realized in 1961 thanks to her enterprising and determined nature and strong passion for fashion. An avant-garde woman, in the ’60s she was able to assert herself in a masculine environment, making the company grow thanks to her combative personality.
Mimì was a woman with an authoritarian character, dedicated to working and attentive to the care of the details. At the same time, she was respectful to everyone, loving and ready to pass on her wealth of experience and the passion she put into her work to her employees. The figure of Mimì and the values that she transmitted still guide the company: a whole line of the collection is dedicated to her.
1961
Mimì funds Lanificio Menchi, which immediately specializes in the production of fabrics for outerwear.
1961 – 1984
Menchi operates on the Italian, English and German markets, focusing on creativity and product quality.
1984
The company strengthens its presence in the textile scene of Germany, which becomes the reference market until 1995.
1994
Massimo Menchi becomes part of the company as sole director, supporting his mother and helping her in business relations and in the management. Massimo wants to bring the wool mill to work on a higher product range, specializing in the use of noble fibres, especially cashmere and alpaca.
1999
The company starts a process of internationalization: it opens to the American market.
2005
Menchi enters Russia, reference market until 2014.
2010 – 2015
The company starts trade relations with China, Japan and Korea.
2022 – 2023
Menchi acquires the majority of Manifattura Tessuti Pantex, a tangible reality in the Prato textile district founded in Vaiano in 1989. An operation that is part of a broader project to consolidate the Menchi brand.
TODAY
The wool mill has entered full capacity in the high-end to which Massimo aspired. This process has taken 25 years and even today the company is working to improve more and more.
Massimo Menchi: a passion handed down
Massimo Menchi was born in 1965 in Florence. Since he was a child he grew up surrounded by female figures, his mother Mimì, his nanny and his aunt, and he distinguished himself by being very curious and very active.
During his high school years, an innate love for philosophy grew in him: a passion that he also cultivated at the university graduating with a thesis in philosophy of law with 110 cum laude. His dedication to studies makes him the ideal candidate to work in the university field: he is offered a chair, but he declines the offer preferring a more dynamic environment.
After graduation, he began his military career in the Lancers of Florence stationed in Grosseto as a cavalry officer. The years of service are very happy for Massimo: he loves the sincerity of social relations within the army, but his love for freedom, subjected in that environment to important constraints, leads him to reject the proposal to continue his military career.
In 1993, intrigued by the textile world, he decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps. Mimì transmits her raw materials and finishing knowledge to his son, becoming for him a source of fundamental knowledge. The following year Massimo became part of the wool mill as sole administrator until becoming the managerial and commercial role of reference. Since then, Massimo has been guiding the company towards continuous growth, focusing on a higher product range.
Tessuto Menchi: a team effort
Menchi team is the heart of the company: teamwork is fundamental for the realization of a high-quality product. The collaboration between the various departments guarantees a high and constant quality standard overtime, taking care of every single detail. The team dialogues with the customer and accompanies him in his choices to meet his individual needs.