It was during the year 1914 that, demonstrating an undeniable dose of courage and enterprise, don Eugenio Marinella decided to set up shop in Piazza Vittoria on the elegant Riviera of Chiaia di Napoli. Far-sighted in offering to tourists and Neapolitans something absolutely original such as refined English products, at the same time he started up a handcrafted-type production of custom-made shirts and ties that soon set a trend among the more snobbish Naples and amid foreign tourists on holiday in Italy. Today, exactly one hundred years later, this “little corner of London in Naples”, don Eugenio’s dream, has made progress, having become an international trademark, the symbol of high-level artisanship, that is capable of affirming an enthusiasm for “Made in Naples” elegance both in Italy and worldwide.
The artisanal quality continues still today, thanks to Maurizio Marinella, in representation of the third generation, who has taken possession of the family’s inheritance with an entrepreneurial spirit that is in harmony with the laws of the modern market. He has succeeded in affirming the E. Marinella trademark also abroad, from the United States to Japan. “I represent an artisan reality that is profoundly linked to the city of Naples – Maurizio Marinella explains – and I don’t want this characteristic to be lost. I have carefully considered the commercial expansion, and have painstakingly chosen the cities in which to be present: ones that guarantee the reinforcing of my trademark on the one hand, and the spread of the “Made in Naples” image abroad, on the other. In our shops we want to transmit elegance and style, but above all the welcome and warmth that are typically Italian. In our shops, the customer must feel himself pampered and followed personally, both when he buys a ready-made tie and also when he chooses from among the numerous squares the one from which his custom-made tie is to be made.”
Allocation of the products bearing the E. Marinella signature, which is exceedingly exclusive, is limited to designer boutiques in Milan, Lugano, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, in addition to selected foreign sales points, such as Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche and the boutique of the Four Seasons Hotel Georges V in Paris, as well as Le Bon Génie in Geneva.
Today, together with his “genuine Neapolitan” ties, which are also “very British” and have made the trademark famous all over the world, E. Marinella also offers a wide range of accessories: from small leather articles to luggage, from watches to cuff links, not to mention unisex perfumes, briefcases, and foulards to satisfy the demands and tastes of an always more numerous clientele that is no longer limited to the male sex.
