Athison is a brand of Manifattura di Domodossola, a company with over
100 years of history that has always looked to the future keeping its feet
firmly rooted to the values and traditions of the local territory.

1913

Giuseppe Polli founds Manifattura di Domodossola and starts to producecables, ropes for ships, braided items and trimmings.

1918

The Company was among the first ones to be registered in the American Chamber of Commerce and, immediately after the Great War, Giuseppe Polli was one of the founders of the Local Industrial Association.

1945

The company survives both World Wars and, in order to keep abreast with the times, shifts towards the production of “light textiles”: small braided items, trimmings, and shoe laces.

Giuseppe Polli manages the company with over 300 employees until the end of the Second World War, stepping down in favour of his sons Angelo and Gianfranco.

1970

The founder’s grandsons Giuseppe and Mauro Polli join the company and set Manifattura di Domodossola on a new course. After an intense research on the field and major investments in technology and machinery (many installations being designed in-house by its engineers), the company produces the first machine-braided belts in the world. Manifattura di Domodossola becomes world leader in the industry of “100% Made in Italy” braided items.

1980

The turning point in production brings Manifattura di Domodossola not only to develop research and experimentation, but also to take the decision to manage all production cycles internally. It was born the need to offer to its customers articles always new, but also high quality and ecological, which protect the workers involved in the processing phases as well as the final consumer.

2007

Giuseppe’s young daughters Giulia and Silvia join the company to support their father’s leadership. Almost one hundred years after its construction, the Domodossola plant can no longer meet the company’s productive requirements. For this reason, the company inaugurates the new ultramodern facilities in Villadossola: a covered area of 8,000 sq m and one thousand machines guarantee a very-high production capability and the total control of all production processes.

The new building is designed as a hawk with big wings, where the production process is performed, and a crystal diamond in the centre, with offices,showroom, the corporate museum and a restaurant for visitors.

2013

The company celebrates its first 100 years of business. From the very beginning, every generation has marked a new course and the current female leadership makes no exception, with the launch of two new brands: after Athison, Oxilla – specialized in luxury furnishings – is created.

2017

The first collection of Athison bags is unique in the world in terms of
technology, history, raw materials and production techniques. All models are designed and completely produced in our headquarters with sophisticated looms capable of braiding vegetable leather with thin copper threads. Quality, innovation and state-of-the-art machinery are the secrets of our highly-refined products, where technology meets elegance.

The Athison collection is one of the highest expressions of Made in Italy, being something completely new, and never seen before in the leather market.

2020

In 2020 the company gets ready to face a period of severe difficulty at international level: the COVID-19 pandemic. In such an emergency situation, with the same courage that has distinguished it for over a century, the Polli family firmly decides to engage in social work and starts the production of thousands of meters of elastic for masks, distributed throughout Italy.

The company’s R&D activities do not suffer a setback and, on the contrary, new models are designed, always with an eye to the future. The braided belts in recycled plastic are born as an eco-sustainable product designed to protect the environment, alongside with the Re-Circle collection, the first belts in the world completely made of leather threads obtained from scraps of recycled leather and finely cut into strips with a circular section.