| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | 1930's |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, PA |
| Products | Clothing, wedding dresses, prom gowns, and other formal wear |
| Website | www.alfredangelo.com |
Alfred Angelo Bridal is a worldwide distributor and retailer of bridal gowns headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While the company is most recognized for their bridal gown fashions, the company also designs bridesmaid dresses, fashions for the mother of the bride, flower girl dresses, and other wedding accessories. Prom dress fashions are also designed by Alfred Angelo under a variety of brands.
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The company was started by Alfred Angelo and his wife Edythe Piccione in the mid 1930's in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Edythe started designing the dresses in 1935. Alfred's focus was on ensuring quality manufacturing and business development. The couple kept to simple white and ivory dresses until their children, Vincent and Michele Piccione, took over dress design in the 1960s. By the end of the decade, the children started actually managing the company. They hired Michael Shettel as Vice President of Design in the 1990s.[1] After becoming an industry leader in the United States, the company started selling internationally to places like the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand within years of starting out.[2]
Today the company continues to be owned by the Piccione family. Alfred Angelo bridal designs are sold at company-owned retail locations, named "Signature Stores" in the US, and also at thousands of partner stores throughout the world.
Alfred Angelo Signature Stores are located in 20 US states with a high concentration of stores in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Other US locations for Signature Stores are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Mississippi, Maryland, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.[3] Alfred Angelo also distributes wedding fashions to a large number of partner stores across the US and internationally.
In the retail locations, dresses are available from size 0-30 for brides and bridesmaids. Prom gowns in the retail locations are also available in the same size range. The stores have a selection of styles and lines from the Alfred Angelo collection[4], Alfred Angelo Sapphire[5], Piccione Bridal[6] and the Niki White collections[7].
Currently, Michael Shettel is in charge of the Alfred Angelo design team. Shettel studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, NY. He has been lead fashion designer for Alfred Angelo since 1999.[8] Shettel and his design team select fabrics by hand for all dresses designed from the 0-30 range but also in short, long, and regular lengths.
Notable additions to the Alfred Angelo fashion line under Shettel's guidance include the designs from the Dream in Color collection[9] that allow brides to choose between 55 different colors to add to a panel train, a trim on a neckline, or a sash. Alfred Angelo's eco-friendly bridesmaid dresses are also an addition to the fashion line under Shettel[10].
In September 2010, in a collaboration with Disney, Alfred Angelo announced the debut of a line of princess-inspired wedding dresses from popular Disney animated films like Snow White, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid.[11]