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Isaia

Italian menswear brand

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Isaia is a Neapolitan tailoring luxury brand founded by Enrico Isaia in Casalnuovo di Napoli in 1920. The brand is recognized by its tiny red coral logo, which is a good-luck charm in Naples. The brand describes its clientele as "passionate, sophisticated, irreverent, eclectic and elegant."

Gianluca Isaia is the chief executive officer.

01Stores

02History

Isaia was founded in Napoli by Enrico Isaia, who opened a fabric store for Neapolitan tailoring, and later a small atelier next to the store. In 1957, the brothers Enrico, Rosario and Corrado Isaia moved the business to Casalnuovo, a village near Napoli where tailoring was a large part of the economy, and Isaia became a men's tailoring company. Enrico Isaia died at age 84 on 7 March 2017.

Coral legend

In Naples, the mythical origin story of red coral is well known. As the legend goes, the Greek hero Perseus killed the Gorgon Medusa and wanted to deliver her head as a wedding present to the King of Seriphos, who was about to wed his mother. On his way home, he saw the beautiful Andromeda chained to a rock and about to be eaten by a sea monster. Wanting to save her life, he killed the beast and then sat on the bank of the water to wash his hands. When he set the sack with Medusa's head beside him, her blood dripped into the water and transformed into what we know as red coral. For this, Neapolitans consider red coral a sign of good luck, and they use it in everything from pendants to religious ornaments to jewellery.

03Products

Isaia is most known for its Neapolitan tailoring, often in bright colours to counteract the sun bleaching that occurs in the warm climate of Naples. The brand produces suits, blazers, neckties, knitwear, shirts, overshirts, swim trunks and leather goods for itself and select made in Italy retailers. In 2020, the brand produced denim with a customized selvage and a traditional Neapolitan proverb embroidered on the inside.

04Philanthropy

Isaia supports Capodimonte Museum in its hometown of Naples.

Watch videos about IsaiaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Isaia, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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