Max Mara
The coat house — and the thirty-odd labels most buyers never realise are the same company.
Max Mara is an Italian house founded in Reggio Emilia in 1951 by Achille Maramotti, originally as Confezioni Maramotti and renamed Max Mara in 1957. It was built to bring industrial process into European tailoring culture — effectively inventing Italian prêt-à-porter — and it made the coat its defining garment, most famously the 101801 camel coat designed by Anne-Marie Beretta in 1981 in wool and cashmere. The Max Mara Fashion Group runs some 35 labels, including Sportmax, Weekend Max Mara, Marella, MAX&Co., Pennyblack, iBlues and Marina Rinaldi, so a garment can carry an unfamiliar name and still be Maramotti. The house remains family-controlled.
Reggio Emilia, 1951.
Achille Maramotti (1927–2005) founded the company in Reggio Emilia in 1951 as Confezioni Maramotti. The aim was specific and, at the time, unusual: to bring American industrial process into European tailoring culture — which is to say, to invent Italian prêt-à-porter rather than choose between couture and homemade.
In 1957 the company moved to new headquarters and took the name Max Mara. Max is a superlative; Mara a diminutive of Maramotti.
The house is still controlled by the founder's three children — Luigi, its chairman, Ignazio and Ludovica.
The marks of the house.
- 01The coat, deliberatelyMaramotti chose the men's overcoat as the iconic garment for a woman's wardrobe. From the 1960s the house ran a creative studio devoted to outerwear.
- 02The 101801The camel coat designed by the French designer Anne-Marie Beretta in 1981, in wool and cashmere, carrying a puntino stitch borrowed from men's tailoring.
- 03Camel, and the whole family of neutralsNot a season's colour but the house's ground — which is why the coats do not date.
- 04Industrial method, tailoring standardsThe founding idea: make the cut repeatable without making it cheap.
"One family, many names on the label — and most buyers have no idea."— Anemoia Vestiaire, on the Max Mara group
Marella is Max Mara.
So is Sportmax.
This is the single most useful thing to know when buying vintage from this house, and it is the thing most often missed. The Max Mara Fashion Group runs some 35 labels. A garment can carry a name you do not recognise and still come from the same Reggio Emilia company.
Among them: Sportmax and Sportmax Code; Weekend Max Mara; Marella; MAX&Co.; Pennyblack; iBlues; and Marina Rinaldi, founded in 1980 and named after Maramotti's great-grandmother.
They are not interchangeable — they were built for different customers, price points and cuts, and the flagship line is the flagship line. But a Marella coat is not a coincidence of naming, and knowing that changes what you are looking at on a rail.
Camel, wool,
cashmere.
The house's argument is made in cloth, so the cloth is where to look. Our cashmere note covers grading, micron and ply — what actually separates one camel coat from another when both look identical on a hanger.
Why vintage Max Mara
holds up.
Because the house never bet on a silhouette that had to be replaced next year. A coat built on camel, wool and cashmere, cut to a shape the house has been refining since the 1960s, has almost nothing in it to date — which is the same reason it is still worth buying twenty or forty years on. The cloth is doing the work, and cloth of that grade does not get cheaper.
Max Mara in the archive.
About Max Mara.
Who founded Max Mara, and when?
Achille Maramotti (1927–2005) founded it in Reggio Emilia in 1951, originally as Confezioni Maramotti. The company took the name Max Mara in 1957 when it moved to new headquarters — Max a superlative, Mara a diminutive of Maramotti. It is still controlled by his three children, with Luigi as chairman.
Are Marella and Sportmax the same company as Max Mara?
Yes. The Max Mara Fashion Group runs some 35 labels, including Sportmax and Sportmax Code, Weekend Max Mara, Marella, MAX&Co., Pennyblack, iBlues and Marina Rinaldi. They were built for different customers, price points and cuts, so they are not interchangeable with the flagship line — but they all come from the same Reggio Emilia house.
What is the Max Mara 101801 coat?
The house's best-known camel coat, designed by the French designer Anne-Marie Beretta in 1981. It is made in wool and cashmere and carries a puntino stitch detail borrowed from men's tailoring.
Why is Max Mara known for coats specifically?
Because Achille Maramotti deliberately chose the men's overcoat as the iconic garment for a woman's wardrobe, and from the 1960s the house ran a creative studio devoted to outerwear. The coat was the strategy, not a by-product.
Does vintage Max Mara hold up?
It tends to, because the house never bet on a silhouette that needed replacing the following year. A coat in camel, wool or cashmere, cut to a shape the house has been refining since the 1960s, has very little in it to date — the cloth is doing the work.
What is Marina Rinaldi?
A label within the Max Mara Fashion Group, founded in 1980 and named after Achille Maramotti's great-grandmother.