Giordano Cremonese crosses the 90-year milestone in the company: today to work, tomorrow to celebrate with his children Dario, Alessio, Gioia, and Alberto, who all work in the family business, and with Steve Smith, the American manager who has become "the fifth child" and speaks dialect better than many Venetians.

Giordano Cremonese is a man of action, not of appearances: after graduating in medicine, in 1963 he decided to take over the knitwear business founded in 1946 by his father Olindo and mother Irma. Starting from a small workshop in Fonzaso, in the Belluno area, he built Manifattura Valcismon, the parent company of historic brands like Sportful, Castelli, and Karpos, which have been dressing great champions for years.

A sports enthusiast - who ran the 100 meters and won an Italian title in the sprint relay at the student championships in Rimini in 1956 - Cremonese turned to sports when he began his entrepreneurial adventure. Today, Manifattura Valcismon employs over 200 people and has a turnover of around 120 million. Castelli is also the pink jersey of the Giro d'Italia, and with Sportful suits or jerseys, everything has been won, from Olympic gold to world titles in cross-country skiing, with De Zolt and Pellegrino, and in cycling with Fondriest, Cipollini, Bettini, Ballan, and Sagan.

In a beautiful interview collected by Pier Bergonzi of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Giordano Cremonese recalled some key moments of his first 90 years.

COMPANY. "My greatest satisfaction is having all four of my children still working here together. And Steve is now one of us and has received a share of the company. We were far-sighted because in 2019 we brought the Equinox fund into our shareholders, which helped us grow."

KEY MOMENTS. "I'm very attached to Maurizio Fondriest's World Championship in 1988 and Maurilio De Zolt's gold, who won the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994 with our suits when he was already 43 years old."

CASTELLI. "The pink jersey represents the history of Italian cycling and we wanted to produce it already in the 90s when the Giro director was Carmine Castellano. It's nice that we succeeded with Castelli, a legendary brand that we acquired and relaunched and is now synonymous with quality worldwide. What pride to be on Tadej Pogacar's pink jersey, the new Merckx."

CHAMPION. "My champion is Gino Bartali! I fell in love when the Giro passed through Asolo, in front of my house, and then I always rooted for him, even though Coppi was much stronger. Fausto made him suffer hell, but I was always on Ginettaccio's side."

SAGAN. "De Zolt is truly unconventional, but I would say that the 'more' is Peter Sagan. He won 3 World Championships in a row when he was racing in our jerseys. And he's a 'crazy guy' in a good way. But he's also creative. He helped us design a line that bears his name."

WORK. "To my children, I say continue like this, putting the culture of commitment at the center of their days. I go to the office every day, but only in the morning because in the afternoon I watch sports on TV. Which one? All of them."