Ferrino: founded in Turin in 1870, tested on Monte Rosa – now at SportFits

Ferrino is now available at SportFits. This adds one of Europe's most established outdoor brands to our range, with sleeping bags, backpacks and equipment developed for genuine mountain conditions over generations.

Cesare Ferrino founded a painting workshop in Turin in 1870 and developed a process for the industrial waterproofing of fabrics. Systematically making textiles waterproof was a novelty at the time. What began as a craft business soon became a go-to supplier for expedition teams, the military and the Alpine pioneers of the turn of the century.

In 1910, Ferrino launched the Cervino tent, named after the Matterhorn and one of the first industrially manufactured trekking tents ever.

From the mid-1980s, Ferrino worked with Reinhold Messner. The South Tyrolean extreme mountaineer set out to climb all 14 of the world's eight-thousanders in Alpine style, carrying only the essentials. Ferrino developed tents and sleeping bags for him that performed in extreme conditions while remaining light enough for his approach.

In 1986, Messner became the first person to stand on all 14 of the world's highest peaks. The partnership continued: throughout the 1990s, Ferrino also equipped him for his Antarctic and North Pole expeditions.

Today, the fifth generation of the family runs the company from Turin, with in-house manufacturing still based at the same site.

In 1994, Ferrino established a permanent high-altitude testing laboratory at the Rifugio Quintino Sella on Monte Rosa, at 3,585 metres. Sleeping bags, backpacks and tents are tested there for months in real conditions: minus 20 degrees, UV exposure and wind loads. What passes the HighLab goes into production. What does not work never reaches the range.

The Ferrino range at SportFits focuses on three categories: sleeping bags, the brand's core expertise; backpacks for trekking and freeriding; plus weatherproof clothing and gloves. The sleeping bags use RDS-certified down and are tested in Ferrino's own HighLab on Monte Rosa before going into production.