Prada became an official supplier to the Italian Royal Family. Over the years, the Prada name gained increasing renown and prestige. the Group saw a tuming point in the development of its activities at the end of the Seventies, when Miuccia Prada, Mario's grand-daughter, launched a partnership with Patrizio Bertelli, a Tuscan businessman already involved in the leather goods sector with Granello and Sir Robert. This partnership combined creativity and business ideas to commence a new era.
Patrizio Bertelli set up I.P.I spa to consolidate the production resources that he had built up over the previous ten years, including those of Sir Robert and Granello. In the same year, I.P.I spa obtained an exclusive license from Miuccia Prada to produce and distribute leather goods bearing the Prada brand name. In the following years, the activities of the two families were gradually brought together within a single Group and, in 2003,IPI spa was merged into PRADA spa