STAYING POWER

Fashion has long been defined by upheaval, constant change. Now, as the unsoundness of the industry’s fundamental engine – firing up demand for the new and novel – becomes clear, fresh challenges lie ahead. For lessons in resilience and innovation, we look to three brands that have survived and prospered over the decades and are celebrating their half-century

- HARRIET QUICK

Sportmax

Established in 1969, Sportmax speaks of the vitality and liberation of the 1970s. Influenced by his trips to New York, its Italian founder Achille Maramotti envisioned the brand as the urbane, go-ahead sister of Max Mara, which he had launched from a small factory in Reggio Emilia in 1951. ‘The genesis of Sportmax was taking the idea of sportswear and introducing it into daily life,’ says Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, US retail director of the Max Mara fashion group and granddaughter of the founder.

Achille Maramotti, alongside Cacharel and Sonia Rykiel in Paris, forged the business of ‘ready-to-wear’. But where his vision really shone was in Sportmax’s focus on style-savvy, fuss-free, mix-and-match separates that could be worn seven days a week. The collection (first shown as a catwalk presentation in 1976) struck a chord with a generation of women newly entering the workplace.

Fifty years on, the team at Sportmax pursues the same ethos, introducing new techniques, hybrid garments and innovative fabrics. Over the decades, the brand (steered by Luigi Maramotti since the 1980s) has employed creative collaborators such as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Guy Paulin, but never revealed ‘names’. The anonymity allowed the brand to be the centerpiece.