Collu Group, “to be fashionable even after 60 years? Merit of the family "

It all started sixty years ago from a box office in Serramanna . And it's not over, quite the contrary. The twelve decades celebrated a few days ago with the fifty employees are "only" one of the goals achieved by a company that founds its history with that of the family that gave it life. The Collu grew up there, breathing the air of business from their birth, which took place a few years after that 1962 that started the adventure of Mr. Emanuele Collu, the progenitor, founder of the made in Sardinia group that imported the island the most famous clothing brands, becoming a reference point for Sardinian and Italian fashion.

History

The Collus are today four brothers, Emilia (54 years old) , Alessandra (53) , Daniela (52) and Massimo (48), four like the stores opened in southern Sardinia, one for each as desired by the father, who does not 'has been more for five years but continues to be the inspiration for the company's projects. With them, in the front row, mother Maria Bonaria Scalas , 75, with her husband-entrepreneur since the time of the first shop in Piazza e cresia in the village of Medio Campidano. "We are a big family", says Alessandra, who gives voice, on the occasion of the group's sixtieth anniversary, to the history of the company, where "family" does not only mean Collu but includes "all of you", that is the employees with whom they toasted, «With an Experience day in Su Gologone» for the decades 1962-2022 of activity.

Bread, love and imagination

The Collus tell the story of the company "just like that of a family: you live, work, go through happy moments and others of difficulty and the last two years - they underline - are proof that despite the unforeseen events and adversities, if the group is strong and cohesive, it is possible to face everything ». Also the challenge of the latest arrival, the fourth show room in Sestu, the largest bridal atelier in Sardinia with over 600 square meters of exhibition. "Our secret? Perhaps we have never settled down there », reveals Alessandra, presenting an entrepreneurial team that has been able to combine the experience acquired with that pinch of ambition that is useful in all competitions. Like the four set up in these first 60 years, starting with Serramanna, then Assemini, Cagliari ("seats opened by the pope") and, four and a half years ago, Sestu. "Every ten years we have opened one, even the last shop, when dad was gone, was strongly desired by him." The imprint of Emanuele Collu resists to this day: "He is our example, one who made himself, starting as a boy at Signoriello and then, before getting married, setting up his own business by opening his own shop".

Fidelity

Air of home that apparently managed to breathe even their customers. "It is thanks to them that we exist", Alessandra emphasizes, recalling how dad Emanuele managed to win them over, with his "great skills as a salesman". Resisting in the clothing sector was not easy, especially in Sardinia, where many shops give up. For the Collu group it was, «today we can say it», a great challenge: to accept the news, interpret the market trends and take advantage of the most propitious occasions. This is what made the difference in a company that sells dresses (formal and casual). "We travel, look at the world, select suppliers and merchandise, try on the clothes on us, examine the fabrics". More than a job, "a mission", such is the responsibility that one feels to be heirs to a family business. To make the task a little lighter is the "unity" of an enlarged group, where one works "together with the husbands, with the sister-in-law Sonia", alongside "passionate workers and precious collaborators".

From the island to Europe

And if the results are seen, it is also thanks to a brand that is worth a capital, invested to make those leaps in quality so as not to be left behind by anyone, in Italy and in Europe, even by focusing on online. "It is exciting to think that in 60 years of business we have" dressed "entire families, our customers today are partly children, grandchildren of our first customers who have allowed us to make our way and establish ourselves in the sector".

Carla Raggio