Naples (Italy) (AFP)

We saw them around the necks of Jacques Chirac, John Kennedy or Prince Charles. Symbols of Italian elegance, the E.Marinella ties, entirely handmade, hold up well in a half-mast market, despite the difficulties caused by the coronavirus.

Glass and wood display cases, moldings and a huge chandelier on the ceiling: in Naples, the tiny shop is almost the same as in 1914.

"We are celebrating our 106th anniversary this year, we can speak of a kind of miracle because it all started and continued (here) in 20 m2 in Naples, where everything is a little more difficult than elsewhere", smiles Maurizio Marinella, 64 years old and third generation at the head of the company.

The adventure begins when his grandfather Eugenio decides to create "a little corner of England in Naples", by offering men's shirts and accessories with fabrics directly from across the Channel, which then dictates the codes of men's fashion. .

But, little by little, he focuses on the tie, which becomes his flagship piece.

Even today, the silk used is printed by hand in Macclesfield, England. The ties are made in the region, in particular in a workshop close to the shop, which employs 20 seamstresses.

- "Goldsmith work" -

Each tie requires about 45 minutes of work, from cutting the silk to the seams, including the addition of the loop and the label. Ten stages in total.

"It is precision work, comparable to that of a goldsmith. We work on half-millimeters", explains Maria Rosaria Guarino, 60 years old including 38 from home.

E.Marinella allows its customers to personalize their ties - length, width or thickness - according to their stature, size or ... lucky number.

If the brand achieved a turnover of 18 million euros in 2019, the fall will be "significant" this year because of the epidemic of coronavirus which led to the closure of workshops and shops for two months, the stop tourism, weddings and congresses.

Each day, an average of 150 ties leave the workshop. With the coronavirus, demand has approached this level of production, but usually it is double or even triple. And the three months before Christmas, "it can reach 900 ties per day," says Marinella.

From Italian presidents to actor Marcello Mastroianni, via Rainier from Monaco, personalities from around the world have endorsed E.Marinella. This was also the case of Chancellor Helmut Kohl - a "giant for whom we made ties 65 centimeters longer than normal" - or Jacques Chirac - who needed "slightly longer" because of its large size.

- "Manic care" -

Almost every day, including Sundays, from 6.30 am, Maurizio is there to "welcome, pamper customers, offer them coffee", in pure Neapolitan tradition.

Among them, Rudy Girardi, national vice-president of construction companies, started visiting the store when he was 17/18 years old and now has "thousands of Marinella ties", sold between 130 and 215 euros.

"The tie is fundamental", it is a sign of "respect" vis-à-vis its function and its interlocutors, he underlines, explaining to change it several times a day: colored in the morning, a little more institutional in the afternoon and elegant for high-end dinners.

He makes no infidelity to E.Marinella, which represents according to him the "must": "Maurizio sacrificed his life for this house, which now has an international dimension: this is the fruit of daily work, an enormous investment, manic care for every detail. "

Exports (in value) of ties, bow ties and necklaces decreased by 10% between 2015 and 2019 worldwide, reaching 1.25 billion euros, with 46.5% market share for products Chinese and 13.6% for Italy (170 million euros), according to the International Trade Center (ITC).

A direct consequence of fashion changes, when the younger generation wears it less and companies like Goldman Sachs have removed the obligation to endorse it.

"But fortunately, the fashions are cyclical. Lately we have witnessed a bit of an abandonment of streetwear to return to the classic fashion whose tie is the cardinal point," notes Alessandro Marinella, 25.

He who represents the fourth generation intends to direct the house more "towards the + total look +", including feminine "- a movement initiated in recent years and which has led the tie to represent less than half of the turnover.

© 2020 AFP