Animo to Just Riding is like water to a tree, when we started our business we could only dream about working with Animo, we loved the clothing, we could feel the passion in the design and spoke often about who the creative mind was behind this pioneering brand. I always hoped and aspired to one day work with Animo and meet the brand's creator.
After a couple of years of working hard towards achieving this goal that day came for us in 2013, and we were not disappointed, Alberto the man behind Animo was exactly if not more than we could hope for, in our opinion he is one of life's true visionaries and a very, very rare human being indeed. We were astonished to learn that at this point there was no huge design team behind Animo and that the design ideas, textile choice and overall style of the ranges were coming from one mans head. I can not think of any major label in today's market that this can be said is also true, perhaps Georgio Armani when he was young or Coco Chanel of course among other world famous designers but to have a brand so well established, so well recognised with all the inspiration and vision pouring from one man, to our minds one word sums it up... miraculous.
I have often been heard describing a walk through the new offices of Animo as talking a stroll through Alberto's mind, the building itself is a work of art everything about it inside and out is bespoke and beautiful. It fits well with the entire ethos of Animo being on another level to anything else that is out there.
Alberto honours his brand by producing everything, and I mean everything in Italy. Which is why when you buy an Animo garment you will notice that the label doesn't refer to Italy as a mere afterthought it states it loud and proud - MADE 100% IN ITALY.
Animo is a family owned and run business, I have yet to meet a single person in that company who isn't willing to work as hard as possible and do any job that is needed. I feel like everyone involved with Animo shares the passion of it's creator and will do whatever is required to drive Animo forward and the mentality of this is felt throughout the building and the clothing.
In my opinion Animo is not simply a "brand" or a "label" it is an industry, a lifestyle and a benchmark for others to aim for.
As I said once already in the about us section, we are different at Just Riding for many reasons but one major factor is that we meet all of our suppliers, we visit Animo twice a year to choose our collections. We feel the passion behind the clothing and we feel the passion and love of the people.
Animo's stunning new office nestled in the valley in Bassano Del Grappa, Italy. At point number one you can just about make out the huge granite cat walk that sits in the centre of the building.
You can read more about Animo Italia here.
www.animoitalia.com
