Journal

The Neapolitan Way, Reimagined

Running a family business is hardly unusual in Naples. It is, in fact, something that almost every tailor and craftsman in this city boasts about. And why shouldn’t they? Handmade garments, crafted in the same way as they have been for generations, are indeed a rare occurrence if you view it from a global perspective. The alternative costs are high, and therefore the end product tends to be more expensive than most other garments on the market. Rightfully so, as we are not only talking about the time spent making them but also the amount of skill it takes to produce such garments.

Eduardo De Simone runs a completely different type of company, though. Although the heritage can be traced back to the 1800s, the production is modern in several aspects—without compromising on quality or the finer details. Looking closely at one of their jackets, coats, trousers, or shirts will tell you right away that they are, in fact, more impressive than most tailoring coming out of this city—at least if we are talking about ready-to-wear. So, how can the prices be so competitive?

Well, Eduardo’s company is not really dependent on their eponymous brand. In fact, it’s more of a passion project, where Eduardo himself gets to unleash all his creativity in small collections made from some of the finest cloths in the world, often completely—or at least partially—handmade, by skilled craftsmen. The biggest revenues for the company come from making tailored collections for some of the most famous luxury brands in the world. Which brands are we talking about? When it comes to these details, Eduardo keeps professionally discreet. But the collections have been seen on red carpets at the Academy Awards, as well as on the most famous runway shows in the world—and many other places where the glitterati roam.

His business employs a greater number of people than most companies in Naples, and since he orders fabrics in such high quantities, he can afford to make these finely crafted garments at such unparalleled prices. We would even go to such lengths as claiming that he makes the most well-crafted garments at this price point in the world. Hell, you could even quadruple the price and still not come close.

The Company: Edesim

Tailoring has run in the De Simone family since the 1800s, as we stated above, but the company itself, Edesim, was founded by Eduardo De Simone Senior in 1954, in a post-war Europe where a new wave of industrialisation was sweeping across the West. Eduardo De Simone, ever the industrious entrepreneur, saw the potential in this growing economy. Making use of the family’s deep knowledge of tailoring, he chose to start a scaled-up version of the small family businesses that have earned Naples such a great reputation in the tailoring world. This business model has been refined through the coming generations, until the company was handed over to Eduardo De Simone Junior. Just like his grandfather, he is a visionary who wanted to honour the roots of the family business while still being business-savvy enough to keep it profitable.

As we noted earlier, the Eduardo De Simone line is born out of passion. Besides the ready-to-wear, he also offers a bespoke service, which is frequented by some of the most well-renowned men in the world of classic menswear.

Eduardo is not stuck in the past when it comes to aesthetics, though. His designs may take inspiration from past decades but are always looking toward the future, incorporating new materials (still provided by the best cloth makers in the world) and contemporary designs.

Even though it has become something of a cliché in the world of premium menswear, Eduardo really does combine the best of history with the contemporary and creates designs you don’t find anywhere else. It is, in short, the Neapolitan way, reimagined.