Paolo Trento and Pietro Mannato had been friends since childhood. They founded Plastimoda in 1968, which manufactured heat-sealed products. Ten years of experience and creativity lead them to intuit “Mandarina Duck” in 1976.
Their innovative talent generated new shapes and new attitudes. They shook up traditional leatherworking and redesigned it their own way.
Their Utility bag was born in 1977. Its functionality, lightness and simplicity were expressed through a multitude of plastics, tactile colors and innovative textures. Mandarina boldly challenged the perspective on new aesthetic codes.

Versatility in a bag
The Tank line was launched in 1981. High-tech and high-performance materials, such as the strong Cordura and the light Eva, gave the products a new and out bursting look. Freshness and creativity were able to seduce unexplored and yet demanding planets. For the first time ever, the worlds of design and architecture were conquered by travel accessories. This opened up a new dialogue that was rich with stimulating horizons and crossovers.

Image seduces functionality
The Centre Pompidou in Paris was the inspiration for Systema. It was based on a strong structure supported by an inner architecture that was visible from the outside. Traveling had found unprecedented lines and expressions that were totally free from standard rules. Objects were animated by versatile refinement and refined intuition.

The curious unconsciousness of innovation
Mandarina Duck opened one of the first-ever mono-brand stores in the world in 1984. This opened a window on brand philosophy, a chosen place where renowned designers and architects, masters of unconventionality, could launch a new design consciousness. They were free to dare, to experiment and to transform everything into a reflection of the Mandarina world. De Lucchi, Angelo Micheli, Droog Design, Marcel Sanders and Michael Young interpret this language now.

Audacious, offering new perspectives and ideas in motion
The strong, comfortable and linear Frog line arrived in 2000. It revealed the new nature of travel and movement. It did away with edges and accessories. Once again, MD gave a new shape to logic. Frog - with its half-soft, half-hard shell - is colorful, fast and capable, offering a lot of space with little clutter to people with a flexible mentality.