“Finishing lines are meant to be passed, targets to be achieved and dreams to be fulfilled.” You will never pass the finishing line without firm and precise determination to achieve your goals, or will to pursue them, or constant research, to anticipate future requirements. And for research’ sake, Barbanti has always been able to rely on his collaborators, as well as on precious suggestions coming from customers, whose appreciation or hesitation have been contributing to improve its products and achieve successful results.   Back in 1957, Ilario Barbanti, owner of a sale-and-repair shop for electrical equipment, tired of repairing iron power cables, which would constantly wear out and fall apart through continuous use in laundries, determined to find a solution to that problem. He shortly invented a simple and practical device, i.e. an inclined support for two irons, where the irons, properly modified, could be powered only while resting on the support itself. The invention was immediately called, informally, “Coppia” [Pair]. While the operator was using one iron, which was cordless and therefore very handy, the other iron was warming up on the support; as soon as the temperature of the operated iron lowered, it would be replaced with the other one; all the typical nuisances of traditional irons and the related wastes of time were thus eliminated. The invention proved right and immediately turned out a big success, becoming popular all over Italy. Suffice it to say that 70% of laundries in Rome used the “Coppia”. The invention of steam irons entailed the decline of the “Coppia”, but the contacts established with thousands laundries and ironing plants proved fruitful and induced Ilario Barbanti to close his shop and establish a company aiming at a more substantial presence in laundry and ironing sectors. His two sons’ contribution gave new impetus to the company, which was expanding itself; they first took part in the Milan trade fair in 1966. In 1970, the choice to concentrate on high-level products brought the Barbanti brothers to a separation; Barbanti Carlo was thus established and started producing and marketing machines under its own trademark, achieving very high specialization levels in the finishing sector.   In 1980, the company moved from Mirandola to San Giacomo Roncole, where, with an area of 1.700 square metres at his disposal, Carlo Barbanti, besides the ordinary production of steam generators and ironing tables, took great pleasure in designing and manufacturing more and more innovative machines. The more and more demanding needs coming from a market in constant evolution led to the creation of model “Maxi 90”, a unique form finisher at the time: besides the functions of common models with pneumatic sleeve tension, it offered some new big advantages, such as automatic detection of garment height and garment clamping and tensioning in all key positions; moreover, all functions were pneumatic and adjustable, and times and pressures could be pre-set, which was a real innovation. This new model allowed Barbanti to be introduced into a big foreign company and start producing several machines on a worldwide exclusive basis for them.   A short time later, Barbanti premises became insufficient and were enlarged. An important innovation, which gave further impetus to the company, was represented by the Shirt Finisher, designed and produced in 1992. This machine changed completely the concept of shirt finishing.