Sita Murt

Sita Murt at The Brandery show, in 2010

Sita Murt (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈsitə ˈmurt]; 1946 – 1 December 2014) was a Catalan fashion designer and businesswoman. Her name Sita was a diminutive from Carmencita.[1] As a fast-expanding women's label, Sita Murt is designed with the young, feminine, fun-loving woman in mind and has an emphasis on soft, sensual fabrics.[2] The Sita Murt designs are marketed by the company Esteve Aguilera SA, that produces more than 200.000 jerseys and other pieces of clothing per year,[1] serving more than 1.900 sales locations, including international department stores such as Galeries Lafayette or Tzum from Moscow.[3] Some of her products were used in the film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.[4]

Biography

Sita Murt was born in 1946 as the daughter of the owner of a tannery in Igualada, Barcelona, and belonged to the third generation of a textile industry dynasty in Igualada. At an early age, she used to collect small pieces of leather at the family factory, which she tried to use for creating pieces of clothing. Sita studied at the Sarrià School of Textile Design, managed by Ramón Folch.[5] She married Toni Esteve Enrich, manager of the Esteve Aguilera company founded in 1924 and incorporated as SA in 1965. After some years, when her kids had grown, Sita started being involved in the design of products, mainly knitted jerseys.[6] Sita started to create her own designs. The early death of his husband Toni in 1984 changed all plans. Sita's father-in-law decided to appoint her as the company manager, despite the reluctance of some persons due to the fact she was young and a woman.[1]

From 1989 onwards, the company attended many fashion shows to present the new collections, including Salons Gaudí in Barcelona, Pasarela Cibeles in Madrid, Bread & Butter in Germany and Barcelona, The Brandery in Barcelona, Premium (Berlin), Gallery (Copenhagen), Coterie (New York City) and Modefabriek, Who’s Next and Paris sur Mode (Paris).[5] The company replaced the original brand Esteve, to Sita Murt, and opened several direct stores and an outlet store in Igualada. Sita's descendants, Toni, Iago, Isabel and Albert, have worked at the company in different positions. In 2005 the company recruited a new CEO, Julia Cher, previously Commercial Director of a Catalan fashion Company DIKTON'S, and in 2007 with the appointment of the new CEO, Jordi Balsells, formerly Sales Manager of Desigual.[1] In 2008 the company added a line of Fashion accessories and complements[5] and in 2010 a collection of shoes. The first direct store outside Spain was open in Paris in May 2010 sponsored by the actress Victoria Abril. Miquel Ramis was appointed CEO in 2011.

Awards

Death

Murt died of cancer on 1 December 2014 at the age of 68.[8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sita Murt.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.