Bassetti stabilizes U.S. business

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Bassetti/Zucchi

Milano, Italy

Ceo: Mario Zucchi int'l mgr: Umberto Scuri

Principal business: bedding

The exporting efforts of Bassetti, a bedding company known for fashion, started back up several years ago, after stopping. The company came across difficulties, said Umberto Scuri, international manager, such as the necessity of products to have counts used in the United States that weren't used in Europe.

In 1997, however, after a new line did particularly well in Europe, the company decided to try again. It now has two U.S. distributors — Sleep Innovations and Arley — and Scuri said that it hopes to do more "stable" business in this country.

Besides the Bassetti line, however, the company now offers more traditional and higher-end bedding in its Zucchi division, founded less than a year ago. Bassetti and Zucchi are a completely vertical company, he said, and its facilities include one spinning plant, two weaving plants, two printing plants (one of which is owned by Mascioni, who has the same parent company as Bassetti) and two finishing plants. Though both divisions use the same facilities, the design and marketing areas are completely independent, Scuri said.