A history of Industria Textil Monarch S.A.

The factory of Monarch Socks and Stockings was acquired by the brothers Juan and Atilio Magnasco Macchiavello in 1937. Although its beginnings were confined to the city of Iquique, it was not long before they decided to grow and move to Santiago as a part of the corporate vision. The first plant was in Bustamante street, but after a few years they enlarged and moved to larger premises in Vicuña Mackenna street until mid-2009.
Now with a new building, they renewed machinery and began to take the first steps toward increasing production.
The results that these changes produced in the company were reflected in an increase and improvement of the quality of their products, to such an extent that by 1945 thirty operators were producing 1,200 pairs of socks and stockings a day.

A Family Affair

In 1946, Attilio Magnasco decided to retire from the company, leaving Juan Magnasco at the helm. It was then that his brother-in-law Aste Cánepa joined the company and together they transformed the family business into a limited company besides taking other measures aimed at stimulating growth: cutting edge technology was purchased and the staff was increased considerably.
During the nineteen sixties, the children of Juan Magnasco joined the company: Fernando and Aldo Magnasco Aste grew up with the firm, standing firmly behind an important part of Monarch’s rise.
At the end of the nineteen seventies, Darío Manuel and Roberto Aste Otondo, the sons of Dario Aste, came on board and it was they who contributed toward the diversification of Monarch. To the already well known brands were added Furor and Vigorella which, right from the start, became an important part of a Chilean woman’s wardrobe.
During the nineteen nineties, Eduardo Thieme Magnasco joined the company and it was he who introduced a significant technological tool aimed at achieving greater efficiency in the relations and work with suppliers and customers over the Internet.

Innovation and Market Leaders

Among the innovatory products of the nineteen fifties was the manufacture of seamless stockings known to the market as Voilá.

During the nineteen sixties, fashions changed and stockings gave way to pantyhose which became very successful among the women at the time.
In the nineteen eighties, the executives of Monarch imported new technology from Italy and Japan and this enabled them to remain in a market that was becoming more and more demanding and competitive.

In 1988, Industrias Textiles Monarch S.A. began exporting its products to Europe, the USA and other countries in Latin America.
As the years went by and thanks to the visionary mentality of its owners, the textile business grew with great strength and, in addition to the traditional brands such as Monarch, Furor, Vigorella and Viola, came Teen Class, Tais, Lasst, Glamour and Peruggi, with which the company became the largest and most consolidated textile firm on the market.

In the 20th century, and with the implementation of ERP Microsiga AP7 software, customer service was optimized and the logistics of dispatch and delivery of its products were considerably improved.

Three years ago, Santoni Machines were introduced into the workplace for the whole of the Trama business; first of all, for seamless sweaters and then for the whole of the reductive line. This was a very important step in terms of technology and the innovation of raw materials as well as updating the new business lines.

Market leader

At present, Monarch produces well over 2 million pairs of socks and stocks a month, which makes it the leading company in the sock and pantyhose industry.

To date, Monarch has 56 stores along the country and 4 productive plants, each one of them designed to achieve the highest possible efficiency and quality in the manufacture of the different lines of products. It also has its own dry-cleaning business where the latest and most fashionable colors are blended as well as a first class product manufactured with the most modern machinery in the world.

This is endorsed by the international prizes for quality it has received on more than one occasion.
Nowadays, the company is managed by the second and third generation of the founder’s descendants; chaired by its general manager, Claudio Magnasco Diez, together with his brothers Mauricio and Alejandro, the sons of Aldo Magnasco Aste, who contributed their own dynamism, intelligence and professionalism to the company, encouraging and developing all of its activities.

All of this just goes to confirm the corporate capacity of three generations, united by the strong spirit of effort and input of its over 900 stakeholders that has resulted in the existence today of a sound and modern firm, acknowledged as manufacturing quality products that are fashionable, whilst catering for the needs and tastes of its customers.
The Monarch Group of Companies , besides its textile business, is present in other sectors such as financial, agriculture and real estate. This is besides having its own chain of stores.

The company’s philosophy, born of family effort and its permanent search for innovation whilst remaining a market leader, has been replicated in each one its divisions, all of which is backed up by a group of top level professionals and workers.

Thanks to its constant growth, the Monarch Group of Companies, in mid-2009, relocated to its new Distribution and Sales Center at Marathon street 2239 in Macúl (Santiago), designed and built bearing in mind all of the requirements for space and installations it would require in the coming years to continue with its new challenges.

DIRECTORIO GRUPO EMPRESAS MONARCH

Fernando Magnasco Aste
Aldo Magnasco Aste
Roberto Aste Otondo
Darío Manuel Aste Otondo
Eduardo Thieme Magnasco
Francisco Del Río Montt
Claudio Magnasco Diez
Alejandro Magnasco Diez
Roberto Javier Aste Gotelli