MILAN — When social media influencers Filippo Fiora and Filippo Cirulli founded their Edhèn Milano footwear brand in 2017, the industry didn’t seem to care much about quiet luxury. Quite the opposite — streetwear was getting the entire spotlight and the casualization trend had dressy men’s shoes giving way to sneakers.
The duo — known for their very traditional wardrobes filled with double-breasted suits and statement coats — debuted their brand in sync with their taste for classic menswear, best exemplified by their bestseller and seminal shoe style, the monk strap-inspired Brera loafers.
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The brand — a self-financed project — has withstood the most recent macroeconomic headwinds with resilience and the two creatives are ready to enter a new phase, opening their first showroom in central Milan to better oversee distribution, and venturing outside the shoe world with a beachwear line.
“Since its foundation we worked to ensure that the brand could live on its own, be independent from us… Clients should buy our products because they can relate with our references and align with the brand’s ethos,” Fiora said.
The brand is still small but is showing organic growth. “We never bit off more than we could chew… we carefully selected retailers where we liked to see our product,” Fiora offered.
Marking the fall 2024 collection’s presentation, Edhèn Milano will have a new home on Milan’s tony Via Borgonuovo, a stone’s throw from the 15th-century Palazzo Landriani, where the pair has hosted presentations in recent seasons.
“It’s about consolidating our relationship with clients,” Cirulli said about the move. Before going solo, Edhèn Milano was distributed through the Milan-based Massimo Bonini showroom.
The footwear firm currently has about 25 to 30 retailers with a sizable footprint in the Middle East ,where it signed an agreement with Dubai’s Level Shoes in 2018. The region is among the best performing, alongside Japan.
“Our next step is about growing in the U.S. where we do not have wholesale accounts, but we’re seeing e-commerce in the region [is strong]. The U.S. is probably our second or third best online market,” Cirulli explained. “We’re in talks with a local partner because we’re confident we’ll be able to do great there,” he said, declining to reveal details.
E-commerce sales account for 25 percent of the brand’s total revenues, which they declined to disclose.
They attribute the post-pandemic acceleration not just to the overall jump in luxury goods’ sales but also to a more-focused shift in their company’s strategy. “The year 2020 was among the worst but also one of unprecedented changes. When you’re so involved in a project it’s hard to change the terms and the pandemic did force us to do so. We’ve invested in e-commerce and new categories,” Fiora said.
Over the past few years Edhèn Milano has introduced a streamlined, carryover women’s range as well as the “Riviera” collection. While the former was launched in 2020 in response to female customers’ placing made-to-order orders on the site, the latter bowed in 2021 as a resort-leaning footwear offer combining the pair’s penchant for Italian and Moroccan cultures. The upper part of loafers made from raffia is hand-woven in Marrakech and then assembled in Italy.
Along the same lines — and in keeping with their flair for escapism, and lavish lifestyles filled with numerous exotic trips — the duo is introducing a beachwear line starting with swim trunks that are to be presented in Dubai next February and hit retailers and the e-commerce site for spring 2024.
Although the pair characterizes Edhèn Milano as a lifestyle brand, they “don’t want it to become a brand with too many categories. Rather, our aim is to think about different occasions and devise small wardrobes of timeless pieces that are fitting,” Fiora explained, pointing to the Fly design, an unlined, lightweight suede loafer they recently added to the range. “It’s a very candid approach in everything we do, which harks back, for example, to when we originally introduced our leather loafers as streetwear was dominating the fashion landscape,” he added.
“When Edhèn was launched we sought to distill key elements for the brand to be recognizable. We had few products but very distinctive. These codes have remained unchanged over time; we don’t want the label to be too fashion-leaning so we’ve been working on consistency,” Fiora noted.
Courting customers and clients has been key to strengthening their awareness globally, the duo said. In 2020 they designed a dedicated capsule collection for Harrods, followed by a holiday-themed capsule for Modes in 2022 and most recently a collection of slippers for The Dorchester hotel in London’s Mayfair.
Asked about luring investors, Cirulli said: “It’s a route we are exploring but not chasing. Should we find a partner willing to believe in this brand as much as we do, why not, but we’re proud to have carried the project forward on our own terms.”