Citius, Altius, Fortius
When the Fila brothers first opened shop in 1911 in Biella, a small town in the foothills of northern Italy, they had no idea how far their legacy would travel. Originally in the business of creating quality textiles for local townspeople, the brothers sought to produce fabrics that combined luxury, art and utility, drawing inspiration from their homeland to create product as exquisitely textured and evocative as the Italian landscape.
Throughout the years, the business grew beyond the borders of Biella to become a well-known quality knitwear producer for Italy. In 1942, the company merged with the FRATELLI FILA company. By 1972 had sales of over one billion lire and a total workforce of more than 250 people
Wishing to further expand the company, Giansevero Fila hired Enrico Frachey as the managing director in 1968. Frachey shared Fila's vision and it was his creativity and managerial resourcefulness that ultimately transformed Fila into a global sportswear brand. The 20th century saw a new form of individual expression: sports, particularly tennis. It was becoming the epitome of grace, style and an example of the robust vivacity of the human spirit.
As of the company prepared for its bold debut into the sportswear industry, Frachey tasked two men with ensuring its success: the innovative designer PIER LUIGI ROLANDO, the artist behind our most iconic designs, and ALESSANDRO GALLIANO, the superbly knowledgeable engineering director. Inspired by Frachey's own climbs on the cliffs near Biella, Rolando and Galliano began their work with the understanding that sport is life expressed through motion, and that sportswear must complement, not overpower, the athlete. They set to work creating fabric designed to mirror the movements of the athletes themselves, adhering smoothly to the body like a second skin yet providing a sense of total freedom.
The product of this collaboration was Fila's premiere outerwear collection, which debuted in 1972. Rolando's designs, utilizing wool and cashmere in novel ways, quickly became renowned for their seamless combination of grace and vigor. The following year, Fila's name was firmly established through the sports apparel industry with the introduction of the now legendary White Line collection. Named as a respectfully irreverent jab at the traditional product lines and the ubiquitous presence of all-white garments that had long dominated tennis apparel, the White Line collection was a fusion of the provocative and exemplary. The collection, aesthetically astonishing in its novel design and unconventional use of vibrant colors, yet beautifully simple in its effectiveness and function, immediately took the world by storm. The premiere collection marked the dawn of a new era, not just in Fila's history, but in the sportswear industry as a whole.
The White Line Collection made a statement: Classic doesn't have to mean conservative, and timeless designs can still be contemporary.
Fila has enjoyed a special relationship with remarkable athletes, marked by indomitable passion and incomparable performance. Debuting on the courts with tennis greats Adriano Panatta, Paolo Bertolucci and Bjorn Borg, Fila has had the fortune of helping extraordinary individuals accomplish some of history's most iconic sports achievements. With the F-BOX LOGO proudly displayed on his signature polo and headband, Fila followed Borg as he ascended to the pinnacle of sports history. By winning five consecutive victories at Wimbledon, Borg firmly established his legacy as tennis' most dominant and unique player, both in terms of technique and style.
Ingemar Stenmark dazzled the world wearing Fila ski apparel and won an astonishing 1986 World Cup titles throughout his career.
An anatomically shielded jacket with hard plates was designed specifically for his constant style of acceleration and pushing aside of posts with his elbows and shoulder. In 1976, Fila created the SAIL-CLOTH JACKETfrom the same material as boat sails. It had four pockets with a side pleat designed to allow greater freedom of movement.
Fila continued its rise to fame in the 1980s. More and more athletes were wearing Fila apparel, from golf to tennis to mountaineering. With the expansion into footwear, the Fila F-Box grew into a globally recognized icon.
Fila begins sponsorship of the US Open and was the official supplier for the next 22 years. Tom Watson wins US Open wearing Fila golf apparel.
Fila burst into the footwear scene in 1983 with the Original Tennis sneaker. Produced in Maryland, the sneaker was created in exclusive licensee by Homer Altice. The Original tennis has lasted through the years and has become a well known staple of the Fila footwear brand.
In 1976, Messner began work with Pier Luigi Rolando designing garments and materials for mount climbers and hikers.
In 1986, when Reinhold Messner reached the treacherous summit of Everest, fueled by the spirit of adventure and the determination to be the first to scale the titan without the aid of additional oxygen, he wore high-tech mountain gear designed by Fila. Thirsting for more, he proceeded to scale 13 peaks of the Himalayas, leaving his mark on the history of mountaineering and raising the iconic F-Box logo proudly to the highest peaks of the world.
In 1989, history was changed again, as Boris Becker won the French Open, US Open, and Wimbledon - all in one year.
Fila continued as a company committed to crafting sportswear as exceptional as its wearer. They would jump higher, run faster, and hit harder. Throughout the 1990s, Fila athletes changed the game. The age of the endorsement began and Fila athletes became the style shapers of sports.
Seles became the youngest player ever to win the French Open. She goes on to become a 3 time French Open champion, 2 time US Open champion, and 4 time Australian Open champion.
In 1992, Fila started creating footwear catalogs. As the footwear business began to catch on for Fila, the company continued to expand into tennis, running, and lifestyle sneakers.
Fila expanded its team of athletes in 1994, as Alberto Tomba won the World Cup slalom. A Tennis professional since age 17, Tomba achieved success in Slalom and Giant Slalom, winning three gold medals in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics.
Silva won the first of two consecutive New York City Marathons after recovering from a wrong turn seven-tenths of a mile before the finish that put him 40 yards behind Benjamin Paredes. He ran a 5:15 final mile, including the detour to beat Paredes by two seconds.
Soldini and his boat rescued a capsized competitor in the 1998-1999 Around Alone Race, even though he was leading the competition at the time. Soldini went on to win and set a new world record.
Have the courage to defy expectations, to challenge the limits of both yourself and the world around you. Be bold and provocative. Remain vintage, but never conventional, and show the world that it is possible to radiate sophistication and style without sacrificing performance. Above all, commit to standing out, not blending in. Here's to our history of looking forward, and a future of making history.
Fila sponsored the Ducati Superbike Team in 2003.
Clijsters won US Open. Fila has been proud to support Kim Clijsters, first as she made history by coming out of an eighteen month retirement to win back to back US Opens in 2009 and 2010. She became the second mother to win a Grand Slam in the Open era and following in the footsteps of former Fila athlete and mother Evonne Goolagong-Cawley.
In 2011, our 100th anniversary year, Kim started out strong, winning the 2011 Australian Open, wearing a replica of one of Goolagong-Cawley's iconic outfits from the early 1980's. With the announcement of Clijsters' retirement after the 2012 US Open, Fila designed a special commemorative "TROPHY COLLECTION" for Clijsters to wear at the last Grand Slam tournaments of her illustrious tennis career.
Kim was the only tennis player to be featured in Time Magazine's Time 100 for 2011.
In 2007, Gene Yoon purchased theGLOBAL FILA BRAND and all its international subsidiaries, making it the largest South Korean sportswear company. Yoon was named an honorary citizen of Biella, Italy in 2009.
Fila becomes the official footwear licensee of Wimbledon in 2008.
Fila signed with ATP World Tour Member James Blake, ranked in the top 10. He won the ATP COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR after suffering a broken neck and shingles.
In 2011, Fila celebrated the 100TH ANNIVERSARY of the company.
A century after its humble beginnings, Fila has become synonymous with performance and sophistication. Worn not only by internationally recognized athletes, but also the fashion conscious, Fila uses premium fabrics designed to radiate the sophistication of Italian craftsmanship, while allowing maximum flexibility and performance.
Our legacy of style earns us admiration to this day. Whether you perform for the challenge of adventure, the rigor of competition, or simply the pleasure and well-being of an active life, Fila understands that the beauty of sport is that of a life in motion.
The grand opening of FONDAZIONE FILA MUSEUM in Biella, Italy was in 2012.
