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Farewell to Armand Basi, co-founder of Armand Basi and René Lacoste’s partner
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Armand Basi, who co-founded his namesake company with his brother Josep, died at age 83. He was still working a few months before and has always set an example to the four hundred and fifty workers in the company, for he had never skipped a day at work.
His love and passion was focused in the factory located in Badalona, producing the successful collections for men and women, usually shown in Barcelona, Paris and London.
One of the landmarks of his professional life was his friendship with French tennis player René Lacoste, nicknamed “The crocodile”, for the way he swung his tennis racket. Brothers Armand and Josep heard Lacoste was going to market T-shirts with his own label and they offered to make them, so since 1962 Basi has been manufacturing and distributing Lacoste products in Spain, where the company also holds design rights. As a result of this business alliance, Armand Basi and his family were granted the French Legion of Honor.
Years later Armand Basi hired designer Chu Uroz, to develop the brand in Spain. The company has continued to grow in both national and international markets.
Basi is widely recognized as a successful company, by all industry sectors in the country, and the current designers have also contributed prestige to its name, with Josep Abril designing clothes for men and Markus Lupfer, for women.
Armand Basi has wholly owned subsidiaries in Amberes, Moscow and London and last fall, the company signed agreements to enter Chinese markets. The solid expansion actions include a number of lines like footwear and home textiles, the latter created jointly with Ferran Adriá.
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