Herno, from the riverside to a global fashion.

Herno was born in 1948 from the commercial intuition of Giuseppe Marenzi and from the technical expertise of his wife Alessandra. Emotionally and closely linked to its territory, the name Herno takes its cue from the river Erno, which soon flows into Lake Maggiore, and since 1948 has labeled the most used product in that area: the raincoat. In fact, the Herno outerwear is an icon in the fashion world: down jackets, single or double-breasted coats, waterproof and for all seasons. But also formal jackets and suits for men, clothes, shoes and leather accessories such as backpacks or wallets.

It was just after the war and Giuseppe found a new job with a company that manufactured raincoats, where he learnt how to make cotton waterproof, using the castor oil, the same substance used in making military aviation fuel, and it was thanks to his previous experience that Marenzi decided to found his own business. The climate around Lake Maggiore is extremely humid and rainy, so well made raincoats are in demand.

Herno was thus founded on the basis of opportunity, intuition and inventiveness. Its story starts with water; water from Lake Maggiore and the river Erno, which runs close to the company and gives it its name. It is a company still firmly connected to its roots.

Raincoats, first for men and later for women, were Herno's first products. Then in the 1960s, cashmere coats were added with a focus on double-faced items and exports within Europe started during the same period. The collection diversified in the ten years that followed, and for women, it included jackets, suits and dresses too. In 1971, Giuseppe Marenzi was among the first in Italy to expand into the Japanese market opening the first Herno boutique in Osaka. The 1980s were spent consolidating its collections and markets and entering the new, strategic market of the United States.

Giuseppe Marenzi's story is followed by that of his son, Claudio, who is the current President and Managing Director of Herno. He joined the company in his early twenties, starting in production, moving on to the sales and marketing department and then to strategy. He was the one, who led the changes that the business underwent in the years following 2000: the business needed new direction and, taking inspiration from the past, the Herno brand once again became the company's strategic focus.

The product is at the heart of the brand. It is the fruit of the ability to create and innovate to reach the perfect balance between functionality and aesthetics, for which the collections are known. Herno's outerwear garments, made for modern consumers, are symbols of exquisite workmanship and excellent taste. Stylistic coherence and garments that result from that exquisitely Italian ability to create products of the highest quality are the distinctive traits of the Herno clothing brand. They are products that come from a factory conceived as a creative centre, where tradition and modernity coexist.