What are the needs that led the Marinella brand to launch a line produced with sustainable fabric?
Looking to the future without forgetting our roots is fundamental for us. For more than a hundred years, the Marinella company has dedicated its commitment to tailoring production, celebrating the Italian artisan tradition. Each of our products is the result of a passion handed down over time, which blends with an eye to the future and this collaboration with Orange Fiber is an example. Our ties are the perfect balance between history and modernity, a hallmark of style and refinement for men of today and tomorrow.
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As a partner you have chosen Orange Fiber, a Sicilian company that produces textile fibers from citrus waste: was it difficult to adapt their product to your needs? How did the collaboration start?
The issue of sustainability is not only very topical, but concretely relevant. A company is not an entity, but an actor inserted in an environment and operating in that context. The pandemic has led us to look at the world, in general and working, with different eyes, accelerating the need to become sustainable, environmentally, and socially, always preserving the excellence of products, craftsmanship and made in Italy.
The result is truly exceptional! Seven unique and colourful pieces, with patterns with a summer flavor: what inspired you for the patterns of these ties?
It is the result of continuous research of ancient, iconic designs that have been the heart of our style.
What are the first customer feedback?
From the first feedback to our news about the project with Orange Fiber, it seems clear that, especially a slice of customers, more social, is particularly sensitive to the topic. We had immediate expressions of interest.
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Started from a small shop on the seafront of Naples, today Marinella is in many European capitals and not only: where is the secret of this success?
The adaptation to the times, without forgetting style and elegance. We have never followed fashion trends in an impersonal way, we have metabolized them and made them ours, learning to always express our message and our style. The fundamental rule has always been not to follow excesses, to be moderate and sober, never over the top.
In addition, there is our complete attention to the customer, with whom we create a deep bond of trust, which we have never betrayed. We are always ready to welcome the customer in the store and respond to his needs; but we are also always there for a chat and a good coffee together: the customer from us never feels obliged to purchase.
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How difficult is it to maintain an artisanal-sartorial dimension in a sector, that of fashion, that seems to never stop running, devoured by the phenomenon of fast fashion?
Taste has changed, in the sense that we try to be more and more innovative; this must not involve abandoning the fundamental principle of elegance that, in our work, always remains the only true beacon of reference. We are faced with an important challenge: to combine the commitment to support tradition, the enhancement of craftsmanship and the constant search for quality. Demanding research but that allows us to maintain our being craftsmanship-sartorial: our goal is to make the customer feel an emotion again, since the choice of the fabric.
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How hard is it, instead, to innovate for a historic brand like Marinella?
The crisis that Italy, and the world, has experienced and still lives, has, in some way, also touched our company. We, however, are still a fortunate and positive reality; I believe that the difference lies in the fact that for 109 years we have been sending welcome to the customer: we have never wanted to transfer the sense of the increase and growth of turnover, but only complete availability to the customer. We believe that being a family business has facilitated the approach of customers to our story: they become friends, they know they are recognized, they feel part of E. Marinella.
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Over the years the house has expanded the range of tailoring products: knitwear, twilly, swimwear, bags... Are you also thinking of a sustainable line for these products? And for leather goods?
E. Marinella, unconsciously, has always carried out a sustainable activity, such as the regeneration and restoration of ties for its customers: for us it is an additional service that, in fact, results in giving life to an object, prolonging its life and therefore, avoiding unnecessary waste.
Today, in a more structural and conscious way, we are carrying out a series of projects: first of all, the project that we can define pilot in collaboration with Orange Fiber, a Sicilian company, that has patented and produces the world’s first sustainable fabric from citrus fruits. The fabric produced has an impalpable texture, silky to the touch and is designed to meet the needs of innovation and sustainability of fashion, interpreting the creativity. Then a collection of limited editions and numbered sustainable glasses, made of bio-acetate, a biodegradable and 100% recyclable material, in collaboration with TBD Eyewear, a brand of handmade glasses in Italy.
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One last question: for now, it is a capsule collection, a limited edition: is the maintenance of products like this planned?
We are at an early stage; we have just taken this road and we are taking the first steps. We need to understand how sustainability can be adapted to our reality, craftsmanship and family. We are making progress, looking to the sustainable future, but always with an eye to the past, protecting the values that have contributed to our growth.
Photos by E. Marinella
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