The origins of our company date back to the end of the XIX century. Since then our business has always been in the hands of the same family and is nowadays led by the brothers Lorenzo and Alessandro Crema, who represent the fifth generation. The founder Giovanni Cristina, as many umbrella makers, came from the Lake Maggiore and used to travel from exhibition to exhibition selling his products. He installed on his bike a leather bag where he used to place his working tools and umbrellas to be repaired. In 1890 he arrived in Montagnana, where he set up a little umbrella laboratory in his house. He started to manufacture his products on the kitchen table and to sell them at the local market.
Over the years our business has been handed on from father to son. In the 70s we mainly produced high quality rain umbrellas and we specialized in the manufacturing of foldable umbrellas. At the time we used to produce more than 100.000 pieces per year and Ombrellificio Crema, our first name, was considered a point of reference for the rain umbrellas industry in the North-East of Italy.
Over the 70s export in Europe intensified and in Italy seaside tourism started to take off. Grandpa Lorenzo decided to start producing beach umbrellas and he then felt the necessity of meeting the demand of expositions and markets for maxi parasols. Therefore, he decided to start producing them with frames in wood and aluminium.
Grandfather Lorenzo was in society with his brother Enrico, but at the end of the decade they decided to found two different companies. After few years our uncle decided to sell his, which became the starting point of a company that produced maxi wood parasols designed for gardens and for the advertising field that at the time was rapidly growing. Ombrellificio Crema was only marginally involved in this phenomenon, as at that time the company was trying to boost sales in the Contract sector.
In the 80s, rain umbrellas imported from East Asia started to appear in the European market. Many umbrella companies initially thought that it would be a good opportunity to satisfy the lowest market demands, but this wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, in a few years, the market got overwhelmed with cheap oriental products and our company was forced to scale down. Moreover, the sudden and substantial price decrease caused the shout down and the reconversion of many suppliers. These developments drastically changed both the distribution and the use of umbrellas, that went from being a fashion accessory to being a disposable good.
In the 90s the brothers Lorenzo and Alessandro joined the family business with the purpose of relaunching it with beach umbrellas for professional use in hotels and seaside sector. The aim was to offer a wide range of products such as sunbeds and outdoor furniture. The company grew but small spaces limited the production especially of maxi umbrellas, which were designed inside the company, but assembled by third parties in the nearby area.
A series of catalogues, the website as well as the participation in several exhibitions gave the company a good opportunity to develop and then set up a commercial net of reliable agents and distributors in Italy.
The company was flourishing and soon it started to outgrow the small place where it was located. For this reason, in 2011 we decided to build the building where we are currently operating from. The dream became reality: forging a modern and perfectly organized company that finally enabled us to realize what started as an ambitious vision.
2019 marks the new era for our business with the new company name Crema Outdoor S.r.l. The purchase of a new building, vertical warehouses and cutting-edge technologies for aluminium processing allow to look to the future by investing in high quality, customization and unique Italian design.
