Tintoria Finissaggio Iride is located in the Biella area, in the heart of the Cervo valley, along a stream after which the area is named. In spite of its location, Iride is a newly born business, established in July 2013 after the acquisition of Finital srl, with its experience, capacity and customers. A visit at the historic premises covering approximately 5,000 sq.mt. offered us the opportunity to notice a feverish activity in all departments. In fact, Tintoria e Finissaggio Iride srl is innovating both the kind of machinery and the space. In the last few years, the company has invested to improve its advanced specialisation in the dyeing process of mixed fibres fabrics (silk, linen, cotton, viscose, wool, etc.) and in the study of finishing processes to obtain a special hand and look of the fabric. Another important detail is the bright colour of processed fabrics, which differentiates Iride from other companies in the Biella textile district, where, usually, the prevailing shades are black, grey and dark blue. «At Iride’s we both finish and dye fabrics made of all fibres, with wool being most in demand and increasingly required. We can dye fabrics made of any materials, both for clothing and furnishing – explains Adolfo Marchetti, general manager, Iride srl – our customers deal with women wear too; this is the reason of a wider range of shades, with blue and black still on top of the list. In order to be able to offer a full service, in February 2011 the company obtained the GOTS certification covering dyeing processes using organic dyes; designers and top names in this industry are more and more conscious of the environment and of sustainable products, a field in which we are well trained and reactive».
The Checking Center
Wishing to deliver a full service, they organised an independent checking centre within the company. «The centre rents a space within our factory; it works autonomously while helping us offering our customers the required certifications, thus supporting customers to take care of this issue. 
Such a service makes both ourselves and our customers save time», adds the general manager. Iride processes approximately one and a half million metres of ennobled and dyed fabrics in a year, in cooperation with Italian as well as foreign companies, mainly British customers. Marchetti adds that the economic crisis is still there, though not being the same as in the past. A different market has emerged, where planning is difficult and customers are more and more demanding. In such a situation expertise, flexibility and innovation are winning ingredients that require continuous investments and skilled workers, not so easy to find. «The human factor is the core of our business; one obtains a good product and a good service when all team members work properly – Marchetti states. It is not so easy and we face some difficulties from time to time; our employees make the difference; however, when some of them retire it is difficult to replace them; as a consequence of the economic crisis, we sometimes succeed in hiring somebody left at home, coming from other companies. They are older people, yet very experienced and highly skilled. This is a great advantage, their knowledge being highly valuable. We often hire young people to be trained and coached, who then move to other businesses; fortunately, our turnover is low».
Filo d’Oro, a business network
Though being part of the historical Biella textile cluster, Iride stand out for being a member of a non-territorial district, which builds a supply chain from the yarn to the finished fabric. In fact, Iride is part of a business network named Filo d’Oro (F.D.O.) which offers the full manufacturing cycle of textiles. It meets all requirements of the customer thanks to an integrated and certified supply chain. Besides Iride, the network includes the weaving mills A. M. Taborelli and Clerici Tessuto & C., the printing house Saraink, the spinning mill Filatura Ongetta, the warping mill G.T. 2000, the dyeing mills Ambrogio Pessina, Comofil, Filati Portichetto di Como and the commercial company T.o.t. Companies wanting to align themselves to the global market, where you have to be flexible and to deliver quickly, created Filo d’Oro. 
Overcoming a local logic, these entrepreneurs decided to invest their efforts and their know how in a common project in the certainty that the entire manufacturing and distributing system will be covered through the network, with every member maintaining its own business identity. Marchetti adds, «The consideration of the market requirements and of the needs of large groups gave birth to this supply chain that unites the excellence of several provinces. More and more customers require the check of every single process. Hence, processes carried out within a qualified and well working supply chain offer the required guarantee. It is an integrated manufacturing process to be more innovative, more flexible, reactive and competitive». This supply chain connects some excellences of the oldest Italian textile industrial areas (Como, Biella and Prato) to make a product internationally perceived as representative of a high quality made in Italy. Well known designers, the leading names, the biggest global competitors know that at Iride’s, and at the companies in the network, they can find the quality and creativity that have established our country’s industrial history.
by Carla Fiorio
