Rago Foundations LLC, was started in 1945 by Jack Rago and Matty Marchisella, who developed a product line with care and expertise unmatched in today’s world.

Both Matty and Jack were Italian immigrants with a flair for design and sewing technique. Over 52 years from 1945 to 1997, Matty Marchisella developed product design and construction with exceptional detail.

Matty’s design process including creating a support garment and fitting it on his close female companion, a former chain store girdle buyer. The finished Rago product shipped to over 1000 retailers in the United States. Based on their observations in the dressing room with consumers, the specialty store corset shops would relate changes to Rago that they thought would help. Changes were made to the product in collaboration with the shops until the garment was perfect for its intended purpose of shaping.

Over 50 years, this process developed silhouette patterns and construction detail for over 300 silhouettes — perfectly adjusted to accomplish the shaping tasks that the consumer desired.

The foundation and girdle, or shapewear business as it is called today, fell into hard times in the 60s and 70s when the general public resisted control garments. This change caused many companies to go out of business and all their design techniques to disappear.

However, Rago survived, and in the 80s and 90s there was an upsurge and a new demand for the shaping characteristics that Rago developed. Rago has maintained its Made in the USA credentials to insure quality control and the disciplines of construction and supply. Our long tradition of fit, function, and attention to detail is strictly continued.

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