Jean Baptiste Ennemonde Chavasse Frette was born on 12 June 1838, in Grenoble, France, from Jean Claude Chavasse Frette, a fabric dyer, merchant and manufacturer of socks and knitted shirts, and Marie Maréchal. After her husband's death, in 1840, Marie took up the activity of millinery to support her children. On 1 December 1860, Edmond Frette--together with Charles Chaboud and Alexandre Payre--established "Frette, Payre & Chaboud", for "the commerce and manufacture of fabrics." Charles Chaboud became the financial officer, and Alexandre and Edmond took the roles of traveling merchants. As a traveling merchant, Edmond started in Italy, which was not only an export market but also a source of raw materials. Edmond first established himself in the Versilia area in Tuscany. There, Edmond also met his future wife, the Italian Ersilia Bresciani. Between 1862 and 1863, Edmond Frette arrived in Monza. There, established another branch of the company, and in the second half of the 1860s, Edmond was able to concentrate production under the roofs of his own factories: in Concorezzo, products for the private individuals; in Sovico, coarse products for the large communities. The latter production represented by large the most important part of Frette's trade. In 1881, Frette won the Gold Medal Award at the National Exhibition in Milan for the quality of its products, and in that year Frette also became an official "Provider to the Royal House." Sales by mail catalog began in 1886, which was important at the time since most of Italy's population was agricultural, and a great part of the population lived far away from the big towns that had shops. Frette's mail catalog business ran for 90 years, and the last mail-order catalog was issued in 1976. Frette opened a store in Rome and, shortly later, in Turin. Frette later opened stores in Genoa and Florence. On August 29, 1909, Edmond Frette died at age 71. Until 1999, Frette was owned by the descendants of Edmond Frette's Italian backers, Giuseppe Maggi and Carlo Antonietti. That year, it was sold to the financial company Fin.part. JH Partners, a private equity firm, acquired Frette in 2005. In October 2019, Frette introduced a new capsule collection of fine bedding, loungewear and accent pieces called Album03.
Company timeline
1860: Jean Baptiste Edmond Frette, Alexandre Payre and Charles Chaboud manufacture and begin distributing home linens from Grenoble, France.
1865: Two plants established in Concorezzo, Italy near Monza with production of luxury fabrics on Jacquard looms.
1878: Opened its first retailing shop in Manzoni, Milan, in a building where it still operates today.
