Rifle prepares a mega sale
The Italian brand will go to auction after the court decision
Fashion
February 4th, 2021
February 4th, 2021
UPDATE 5.02.21: After the news of the bankruptcy, Rifle is preparing to sell over 70 thousand items at ridiculous prices. Jeans, sweatshirts and shirts recovered from the unsold goods of the brand's 13 stores throughout Italy will be sold for very low prices in a sale of goods organized by the judicial sales institute. According to some rumours, the event will take place in March in a dedicated temporary outlet.
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5.10.20: Since October 1st, the historic Italian brand Rifle has been declared bankrupt by the Court of Florence. For some time in dire straits, the company founded in 1958 by the brothers Giulio and Fiorenzo Fratini had seen the entry of foreign capital in 2017 with the acquisition of the majority stake by the Swiss company Kora. Last May, the company asked for an agreement on continuity in order to be able to continue the business by agreeing on a plan to settle the company's debts, a plan that never arrived, thus leading to the Court's decision.
Specializing in jeans, the company based in Barberino di Mugello was born after the Fratini brothers' trip to North Carolina where they found the canvas that would make their fortune. In particular, Giulio, who bought used American military clothes and then resold them in Prato, discovered the jeans produced by the Coney Mills company, then managing to reach an agreement to import them in Italy.
After the exploit in the 1980s, the next two decades had begun to see the company decline until bankruptcy earlier this month. The success of the brand was not limited to Italy, even opening stores around the world. In addition to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Rifle also managed to reach the former Soviet Union, becoming one of the first brands to open a store in Russia and managing to sell over 3 million pieces in 1988. Rifle, as well as Fornarina and Energie, was part of the Italian pop fashion imagery of the 80s and 90s, made up in many cases of exaggerated garments alternating with the basic jeans of the Italian company.
