Miss Tricot and GF Knitting Yarn’s rademark, introduced by its owners and partners Fiorenzo Ghinelli and Carlo Aimonetti; the range includes exclusive quality yarns, from Biella and Riccione to the global knitting yarns market.
The creative workshop, with a design department and a showroom is located in the heart of the Italian textile and knitting tradition, in Cossato, Biella province. The headquarters, with company management and warehouse are in Riccione, in the Romagna area. GF Knitting Yarn is a young, dynamic company established a few years ago, however it boasts a great experience, i.e. that of partner Carlo Aimonetti, product manager and of the designer Giuliano Marelli. With the help of a network of reliable suppliers in the Biella area, as well as via proprietary machinery, yarns go through a careful supervision, accurate checks to offer high quality and the excellence of Italian tradition. Co-owner Fiorenzo Ghinelli talks with us about the business.
When was GF Knitting Yarn established and what does it deal with?
Three partners established GF Knitting Yarn in 2009: beside myself, mostly involved in sales and management, Paolo Casotto takes care of our agents in Lombardy, while Carlo Aimonetti, our creative resource, is involved in yarn selection, development of the sample set, patterns, knitting sheets and shade trends. We started as a project-based company, working to customer order to make collections for top Italian and international labels. Following a rescaling of this business, end of 2014 we decided to develop the Miss Tricot Filati trademark. Today, we sell to top retail stores in this industry.
Let us talk markets and product distribution…
The international market covers 40% of our turnover. We manage sales through a network of sales agents and dealers. We sell in over 25 countries not only in Europe. In particular, the Asian market gets a great percentage of our export. We are talking about China, Japan and Korea. As well as France, Spain, Germany, Canada and Australia. We are also looking for new distribution channels in the United States, while the remaining 60% of our sales goes to our agents. Of course, we exhibit at the major trade shows, from both Pitti Filati events to the Cologne trade show, both of them essential to unders
tand the coming trends. Our efficient stock service can meet any requirements.
Our sales are supported through a style and design conscious study of patterns and knitting stitches identified by the motto “Italian style quality”, while we focus our efforts on this highly rated target. We are fortunate to be able to rely on the help of a great designer like
Giuliano Marelli, a professional who has worked for over forty years inthe knitting yarns industry, also teaching Knitting Design at the Politecnico di Milano.
What about the yarns in your catalogue and your suppliers?
Our style and design department – Carlo Aimonetti says – being located in the Biella area, we can monitor the entire manufacturing process of our yarns, from raw material to the final packaging stage, going through spinning, twisting, dyeing and ball winding. Our range includes noble fibres like cashmere, alpaca, super kid mohair, pure merino wool and mixed wool/synthetic yarns. Beside our own yarns, we can rely on a number of domestic and international suppliers.
