Giorgio Armani (1934 to 2025) founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in Milan on 24 July 1975, at 41, with his business partner Sergio Galeotti. By then he had spent about twenty years learning the trade in retail and menswear design. This first part of our five-part series follows that path and the company’s first decade, and what it can teach a family business.
The company stayed independent. When Armani died on 4 September 2025, aged 91, he still owned almost all of it, and his will now plans a staged sale.
Twenty Years of Training: La Rinascente and Cerruti
Armani was born in Piacenza on 11 July 1934. He moved to Milan in 1949, according to the International Directory of Company Histories. He began studying medicine in the early 1950s, left after a few years (accounts differ on how many) and did his military service.
His first fashion job was at La Rinascente, the Milan department store. He started on the window displays and became a menswear buyer, staying about seven years. He then moved to Hitman, Nino Cerruti’s menswear company, as a designer. According to the reference work Contemporary Fashion, he spent a month in one of the firm’s textile factories learning fabric and industrial tailoring. In 1970 he went freelance.
How Armani and Galeotti Started the Company in 1975
Armani met Sergio Galeotti, an architectural draftsman, in the 1960s (in 1966, according to Il Foglio). Galeotti pushed him to work for himself, and in 1973 Armani opened a design office in Milan. In 1975 the two formed the company as equal partners. Armani led design, and Galeotti handled day-to-day management.
The money was modest. Il Foglio and MF Fashion both put the founding share capital at 10 million lire, raised in part by selling Armani’s Volkswagen Beetle, a detail both papers present as legend. On the car, Armani is his own source. In a 2020 interview with L’Automobile, the magazine of the Automobile Club d’Italia, he said he sold his first car “in 1975 to found Giorgio Armani with Sergio Galeotti” (our translation). Il Foglio adds that revenue reached 569 million lire one year after the founding.
First Collections, a Manufacturing Partner and American Gigolo
The first men’s ready-to-wear collection was presented in October 1975 for spring and summer 1976, with a women’s line for the same season.
A key business step came in 1978. An agreement with GFT (Gruppo Finanziario Tessile), an industrial clothing group, allowed Armani’s luxury ready-to-wear to be produced industrially under his supervision. The International Directory of Company Histories says the deal also let Armani invest in a new headquarters, a palazzo on Via Borgonuovo in Milan.
In 1980 Armani designed Richard Gere’s wardrobe for Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo, which brought the label wide attention in the United States. In 1981 he opened the first Emporio Armani shop in Milan, a lower-priced line for younger customers. On 5 April 1982 he was on the cover of Time, the first fashion designer there since Christian Dior, according to the Gale reference Business Leader Profiles for Students, which estimates 1982 revenue at $135 million.
1985: When the Business Partner Died
Galeotti died in 1985. Because he had run the business side, some expected the company to suffer. According to the International Directory of Company Histories, he left his 50% stake to Armani. Armani took over management as well as design and, to some observers’ surprise, proved a capable manager. At Armani’s death, Italian and British obituaries described him as the sole shareholder (strictly, his foundation already held 0.1%). Part 2 looks at how the company funded its growth.
A fair caveat
Reference works and obituaries disagree on early details. La Rinascente is dated from 1954 or 1957, and the medical studies are placed in Milan or Bologna. First-year sales appear as 569 million lire (Il Foglio), $1 million (Company Histories) or $90,000 for 1976 (Business Leader Profiles), and English sources give the start-up capital as $10,000 or $100,000. Armani confirmed the car sale, but the interview gives no amount. Treat these figures as reported, not audited.
Five lessons to take away
- Learn the whole chain before you build. Armani spent about twenty years in retail, buying and design before he put his name on a company.
- Pair the creator with an operator. Galeotti ran the business so that Armani could design.
- Start small and keep the equity. A modest capital meant the two partners owned the company between them.
- Partner for capacity, keep control of the brand. GFT made the clothes at scale under Armani’s supervision.
- Plan for the loss of a key person. In 1985 continuity depended on one founder learning a new job fast.
For a family office
Many family companies rest on two people: one who creates and one who runs the numbers. Who would run the business if one of them left tomorrow? Where would their shares go? Is the succession of both roles written down, not only the ownership? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
