Alessandro Marinella - Unpredictability is the secret of longevity

Despite his young age, 27-year-old Alessandro has the burden and the honour of representing the fourth generation of the Marinella family, whose surname carries the prestige of one of the best-known luxury accessories and clothing Maisons in the world, with more than 108 years of history behind it.

The ties of E. Marinella, and much else besides, are genuine treasures of refinement and taste, the result of the magic of true Neapolitan tailoring that comes to life every morning in the company's workshops.

With enthusiasm and determination, the young man born in 1995 works alongside his father Maurizio to carry forward the family philosophy, which he fully shares and which stems from the teachings of his grandfather and his great-grandfather Eusebio, who founded the brand back in 1914. In January 2017, after finishing his studies, he officially joined the Company and chose to begin his training and learning at the London store, where he stayed for about six months.

Back in Italy, he now works in the offices of the parent company, where he is learning and improving every organisational and operational aspect of the business, with particular attention to international, sustainability and digital projects. He was recently named by Gentleman magazine in its Top 30 Millennials list as one of the most elegant men under 30 in Italy, and then earned a place in Forbes Magazine's list of the 100 most influential Under 30s in Italy, in the Manufacturing and Industry category.

We met him at a splendid location perched above one of the most striking inlets of the Gulf of Policastro, the Hotel Spa Villa del Mare, which last July hosted the first edition of the Maratea Green Experience, where Alessandro Marinella shared his experience, and that of the historic family brand he belongs to, in the field of sustainability.

What are the elements that define E. Marinella and have made it a success?

“The craftsmanship of the hand finishing on our products. We have a tailoring workshop 50 metres from the shop that does all of this work on site. For us, the imperfections of the people behind it are added value. Then there is the parallel with England, with all the fabrics strictly hand-printed there.

Today most brands print their fabrics, mainly silk, digitally, which is a very fast method, with very short lead times and no particularly high costs. We still use a historic printing method called discharge printing, which takes about six months to produce the finished fabric, which is then worked by hand.

When you buy a tie in one of our shops, only three other identical pieces in that same pattern exist. Uniqueness is another strength, because we have never wanted wide mass distribution of our garments, precisely to keep the quality of the products at the highest possible level.”

How do Naples and its soul become part of the brand's DNA?

“When people ask me whether E. Marinella would exist without Naples, I always say no.

The company started as an importer of English goods, which in the popular imagination are seen as super classic and traditional.

We took that very British elegance, that classicism, and made it joyful and colourful, blending it with the colours, enthusiasm, warmth and spirit that are typically Neapolitan.

These days there is a lot of talk about business models and marketing and corporate strategies, while we have always put the customer, whom we treat as a guest, at the centre of everything. From the very start we wanted to build a friendship with the customer through what we might call an unconscious strategy, different from the fake, desk-designed one of many other luxury brands.

People come to see us in our stores even just for an informal chat, and we offer coffee or sfogliatelle to those waiting in line to be served. With these small attentions we try to make customers feel at home. We delayed e-commerce and online sales as long as we could, starting only after the pandemic, because front-of-shop selling and direct contact with the customer were, and still are, an integral part of our company philosophy.

People used to drop by, and still do, even just for advice. And the Neapolitan influence is present in our collections: think of the foulards, which feature lucky charm motifs, sometimes hidden. All these elements have made sure that E. Marinella is not just a clothing shop but a status, or, in the words of Matilde Serao, a real village pharmacy.”

What do you think is the secret of the brand's longevity?

“Unpredictability. E. Marinella is a real miracle in that sense. We have never looked at marketing strategies, revenue and balance sheets. We have simply paid the greatest attention to the relationship with the end customer, to the quality of the products and to craftsmanship.

Another important element is the continuity given by generational change, by children who wanted to and knew how to take up the legacy of those who came before them, carrying on their work with enthusiasm while bringing their own ideas into the company.

I represent the fourth generation, but before me there were my great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father. Each of us has brought something and made our own contribution to the cause.”

What challenges await a company like yours in the coming years?

“We are in the age of digitalisation, e-commerce and cryptocurrencies. At E. Marinella we asked ourselves for years whether to go online, whether to sell our products through a computer and how to do it without betraying the values we have always embraced.

During the total standstill caused by the pandemic, when the shops were closed and staff were on furlough, I pushed to open the e-commerce site.

Now we have a fulfilment warehouse with more than ten employees hired in a year and a half, and it has reached almost 20% of revenue.

Innovating without abandoning tradition is certainly the hardest challenge. We are doing it little by little, introducing this change in small doses of innovation, both in ourselves and in the customer, who is not yet really used to the shift. There is a line in The Leopard that says: if we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change.”

Another very hot topic is sustainability. What are you doing to protect the environment?

“We are living through a time of great change, climate change included. Hence the need for real, concrete action to protect the environment, because we have realised that certain practices are no longer sustainable, and those of us who work in clothing cannot stand by and watch.

First of all, we are trying to replace the plastic bags normally used to hold garments with containers made of a polymer material that contains a chain of bacteria, which biodegrades in about three months on contact with water or soil. On the other side, together with a Sicilian company, Orange Fiber, we have developed the first line of accessories made partly of silk and partly of a textile fibre obtained from orange peel, which is very similar to linen or cotton.

The research behind this line took more than a year, and the initial launch of the first collection was bought in full by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which then gave it to the heads of state of many nations as an example of Italy's sustainability in the world. These are the steps we are taking, in our small way, towards full sustainability.”

For a successful young entrepreneur like you, what difficulties have you had to face?

“Just over twenty, I found myself taking on a very important legacy, that of a brand with more than a hundred years of history behind it. That brings great responsibility, which goes hand in hand with very high expectations.

Having a father who has done so much is certainly a considerable pressure. Wanting to prove, to him and to everyone else working inside and outside the company, that newcomers like me can also create something significant pushes you to work even harder. That creates very heavy psychological stress. In all honesty, I have to say it was tough at the beginning and I suffered a lot. The fear of betraying the trust of my predecessors, and also of everyone who works with the company in various roles, is constant.

I fight this anxiety by giving 100% every day, to keep learning from my father and to be ready for the day when it is my turn to take the reins of the company.

Now that five years have passed since I joined the Company, years that have made me mature and grow as a person and as a professional, things have improved and I have gained more confidence and awareness of my abilities. I feel I am on the right track.”

Apart from the push towards e-commerce, what have you personally brought to the company?

“Certainly the digitalisation of processes. Before, none of that existed. E. Marinella was a brand focused on retail sales and single-brand stores. Now we have more organised management, including on a hierarchical basis, as well as a more structured work plan that leads us to reason about the weight of raw materials on revenue, to study the reactions of foreign markets, with some attention to target price and to choosing the right product categories for our goods.

In that sense, I think I have helped bring a degree of internationalisation into the company and a closer look at the new generations. How? By focusing on social media, the internet, digital and, as I mentioned earlier, sustainability.

Being sustainable today means being proactive, not just active, because it is not yet compulsory, but it soon will be. That lets you get ahead of the market and gain an advantage over competitors, but above all be conscious of what can and cannot be done.”

Narrowing it down to ties, which remain the jewel in the crown of your production and a trademark recognised around the world for decades. What does a tie need to be “perfect”, and what makes an E. Marinella tie a “perfect” tie?

“Every single square must be cut by hand, the design must be centred and have those small imprecisions from hand stitching that make it unique.

The idea and use of the tie have changed over time. Where it was once seen as part of a work uniform, for some decades now it has become an item and an accessory you wear to go to an event and to feel more elegant and more confident. So knowing that the tie is not an industrial product but something unique, associated with a special occasion, gives it priceless added value.”

What is your idea of luxury?

“In the past it was something linked to the cost and price of a good or service. Now I think it is separate from that and depends on its intrinsic value.

Luxury today is other people being unable to have something, whether it is free or intangible. It is the difficulty of obtaining it, but it also comes from the history behind it. When people ask us, for example, why an E. Marinella tie is a luxury tie, we always answer that that same model of tie has been worn by presidents of the Italian Republic and of the United States from the Kennedys onwards, and that it was exhibited at MoMA in New York among the 111 most representative objects of the Century.

The point is that one of our ties may even cost less than a competitor's, but its history speaks for it. That, for me, is true luxury.”

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