Fondazione Legler
The history of Legler in Ponte San Pietro: a cotton mill on the Brembo riverbank between economic development, social evolution and dreams of greatness
Legler Foundation – Looms room (1961-1975)Museimpresa
The first factory
6000 spindles, 200 looms and as many workers: it starts in 1877 with raw canvases, but soon it moves on to refined fabrics and doubles the production capacity. The following decades, despite the war tragedies, see the company grow relentlessly.
The technological challenge
Producing refined fabrics and proposing new processes to remain competitive on the market means accepting and riding technological change. Machinery is becoming more and more complex, but Legler invests as much in the tools as in the workers.
Legler Foundation – Sunday drawing schoolMuseimpresa
The Afterwork
Next to the factory, Legler's social activities develop and revolve around the Dopolavoro: sports teams, trips and a school dedicated to workers and their families.
Legler Foundation – At work on the loom (1961-1975)Museimpresa
Women's work
As per the tradition of the textile industry, the Legler Cotton Mill has always employed a lot of female labor. The possibility of paid employment constitutes the beginning of economic and social emancipation for female workers.
Legler Foundation – Bleaching machine and dryier (1961-1975)Museimpresa
After the Second World War
Technology accelerates together with market growth and the increase in demand for diversified fabrics. Legler responds with the reorganization of production and the search for new partnerships with Italian and non-Italian designers and stylists.
Icona di Verificata con community
Legler Foundation – Fashion week-end ‘60 (1960)Museimpresa
The golden years
The brand takes off in the 1950s, when it participates in the first Italian fashion show in Florence. The Legler Cotton Mill produces the fabrics, the stylists make the clothes. The following decades are full of innovations and satisfactions.
Legler invades the national and international market
The success of the brand also comes from high-profile collaborations with other national and international companies: an example are the no-iron fabrics developed together with the Cassera shirt company and promoted at large sector fairs in Italy and Europe.
Advertising becomes one of the fundamental assets and Legler does not hesitate to exploit it: sponsorships, fashion shows, films, newspapers, events - the brand imposes itself on the national and international scene.
Legler Foundation – Interior of the weaving factory (1961-1975)Museimpresa
The decline
Starting from the 1980s, the Legler brand begins to enter into crisis, unable to keep up with the pace of other operators in the textile market capable of producing at much lower prices. With the end of the twentieth century, the end of Legler also comes.
Legler Foundation – Opening the foundation (1995)Museimpresa
A new beginning
Once the company is sold, Fredy Legler decides to create a Foundation to safeguard the memory of the company and returns it to the territory: it's the birth of the Legler Family Foundation, which evolved into the Legler Foundation for the economic and social history of Bergamo.
