Recommended Models/Series:
 
CLASSIC UMBRELLAS（全定制），     G.J. Cleverley Russian Reindeer Solid-Stick Umbrella，One-Piece Maplewood Lord Umbrella with Black Canopy and Horn Insert，Navy Pinstripe Umbrella with Bamboo Handle
 
If you're looking for top-of-the-line handmade umbrellas outside of the UK, then be sure to look to Italy. The bearer of the Italian umbrella is undoubtedly Francesco Jersey.
 
The situation of top-quality umbrellas outside the British Isles is not optimistic, one is that due to climate and habits, Europeans generally do not like umbrellas; The second is that under the impact of cheap industrial umbrellas in Asia, local umbrella manufacturers are struggling to survive. There are only a handful of traditional umbrella companies left in continental Europe, and in Italy, there are only three or two handmade umbrella manufacturers still active. However, the Italian umbrella represented by Francesco Jersey is more gorgeous and complex than the British umbrella in shape, and the materials of the umbrella surface, umbrella handle and umbrella stem are more rich and fancy.
 
Francesco Jersey is an Italian family-owned umbrella company, founded in 1854 by Francesco Maglia, the original umbrella workshop was located in Pavia, and after 1873 moved to Milan, where Maglia's workshop is currently located in Via Ripamonti in Milan. Like the brand's founder, one of the Maglia family's descendants will always be named Francesco, which means that for hundreds of years there will always be a Francesco Maglia who has managed their family business – the current head of the brand is Francesco Maglia, who is the fifth generation. Today, Maglia is Italy's most famous handmade umbrella brand and is internationally renowned, with exports to Europe, Japan and the United States accounting for more than 60% of the company's turnover.
 
Francesco Jersey's workshop consists of seven people in charge of different processes, all of whom have more than 30 or even more than 40 years of experience in umbrella making. From fabric selection, cutting, making an umbrella stand to sewing the umbrella cloth, making a Maglia umbrella requires 70 manual processes, each umbrella is composed of about 25 parts, Francesco Jersey will try to choose local suppliers in Italy, but as Asian umbrellas are increasingly crowded in the market, it is almost impossible to find certain wing parts in Italy, Maglia's umbrella bones have to choose to be supplied from China. Italy doesn't have the winds and rains of the UK, so there is not much attention paid to the wind resistance of the wing bones.
 
However, Maglia continued to prepare some of the parts by hand and became a supplier of components for several other handmade umbrella workshops. Maglia's lower pans (cylindrical sliders used to open and close the parachute) are usually made of cast iron, while string wire (a ring-mounted structure that binds the wing bones) must be milled from brass. Since there are very few artisans on the market who specialize in grinding these parts, Francesco Maglia mills them in-house by hand and makes them available to a handful of artisanal competitors.
 
Maglia follows the traditional handicraft umbrella, and the men's umbrella is basically made of two pieces of wood and one piece of wood. For consumers, Maglia's umbrella has a higher degree of freedom of customization, and the umbrella handle and umbrella shaft can be made of natural wood such as chestnut, ash, Malacca white vine, moso bamboo, cherry, maple, hickory, hazelnut, etc., among which chestnut, ash, hickory, cherry, Malacca white vine, etc. are quite classic. The use of a variety of luxury materials such as nickel-plated brass, decorative leather, and even natural horns, calfskin, crocodile or tortoiseshell is also widely used than in the English umbrella – nothing is impossible as long as you are willing to pay.
 
Maglia's canopy fabrics are custom-made from a jacquard blend of cotton, silk and wool with a Teflon coating for water resistance. Cut and hand-woven with a range of 58 cm or 75 cm, this fabric is durable and three times more durable than the rain pressure that a traditional umbrella can withstand. Many of Maglia's finishes are made of brass rather than steel or aluminum. In order to make the rib impermeable, Maglia will line a little extra fabric under the area where the rib touches the fabric, which increases the cost of making the umbrella but strengthens the durability of the rib. In recent years, due to demand in the Japanese and American markets, Maglia has also begun to resume the production of vintage parasols with lace and natural fibers.
 
Customized umbrellas are Maglia's main form of business, there is no inventory, everything is customized according to customer requirements. However, Maglia also offers off-the-shelf umbrellas that are manufactured to the same quality standards as custom-made products, ranging from one-piece umbrellas to spliced umbrellas and even folded umbrellas. In Europe and the United States, these umbrellas can be found in stores and e-commerce platforms such as Barneys New York, Gucci, Loewe, Bergdorf Goodman, Paul Stuart and more. In China, Francesco Jersey has extremely limited purchase channels, and it is recommended to buy the finished umbrella through international distribution e-commerce or buyer websites.