He was one of the first to bring Italian flair to the Netherlands. Giuseppe Cavallaro is at the helm of his fashion empire Cavallaro Napoli and wants to make people look better with his company. And with success. He now gets to put his logo on nineteen stores and 250 outlets, and many a man is spotted in his sophisticated clothing. An interview with the fashion man - who breathes 'fare la bella figura' - about the special origin from his trunk, the fashion sensitivity of the Dutch man, the biggest challenges, his Italian heritage and Italian style.

"The business started with 20 ties, which I sold from my trunk," he said.

You are active in the fashion industry. What does fashion mean to you?

''It is my greatest love. I wouldn't want and couldn't do any other job either. It's the most attractive industry I know. You can use your own creativity and see it reflected. I always want to look good and I make a living out of it. Actually, it's also very rewarding. Clothes make the man and we hear and see that again. I sometimes talked to people who said: 'I have been wearing shirts for years, but since I started wearing yours I get compliments'. That gives you energy.''

The company has an Italian heritage. Where does your passion for Italian fashion come from?

''I come from a family with an Italian father, and he was very much into it. He wore tailor-made suits in the 1960s. He sometimes jokingly said that when guests came to Holland and they went out in their tailor-made suits, he sometimes ran into a Dutchman wearing wooden shoes. He was very much into fashion and also entrepreneurship. I founded the company myself, where I found la bella figura very important. A concept we know less about here. We do have something like Easter best or going to church in your Sunday clothes. In Italy, that's actually 365 days a year. It's very cliché, but it's really true. I had an aunt who lived above a store. In Italy you have a lot of tall buildings where people live upstairs and downstairs are the stores. That aunt made sure her hair was right and her clothes were right. She would take the elevator down, buy mozzarella and take the elevator back up. Even if they have to go around the corner for a while, they still make sure they look good. That's that bella figura. Here they would say, 'just put a long coat over your garment'. But you can't do that in Italy.

In the mid-1990s, I lived in Bérgamo, where I was a student. On Sundays I would go for a coffee in my tracksuit. And then there were more respectable older ladies walking there in their fur coats, which was still allowed then. And people stared at me and wondered how I dared to go out on Sunday in my tracksuit. That has changed in the meantime. In Italy now you also see jeans with holes, or worse among the youth. But I think it's still there. If you go to a wedding or funeral, you just look neat. How many people I have seen at a wedding or funeral in jeans... There is definitely a cultural and fashion difference between Italy and Holland. I got that from my Italian side. A certain passion was born from that. I always liked fashion and then I wanted to see how far we could get.''

So you have an Italian father and Dutch mother. So do you feel yourself Italian or Dutch?

''For a very long time I have been preoccupied with the question, 'Am I Dutch or am I Italian?' Actually, you're kind of a mix and I'm in a vacuum. I know too little about Italy to feel Italian and I was raised too Italian to feel Dutch. At one point I thought, 'I am best of both worlds.' I am neither Dutch nor Italian. I'm just a half-breed, as it's called. In particular, that best of both worlds has allowed me to build this company. I inherited from my father the passion, the piece of fashion and the creativity. And from my mother I learned to be very good with money and to be frugal. To not spend weirdly. More the down-to-earth and businesslike. I'm very happy that I inherited that.''

Cavallaro Napoli has been around for 20 years this year. How did the company come into being?

''The company started with twenty ties, which I sold from my trunk. These in turn I bought from the trunk of a representative from Naples.

It was the late 1990s and I was about 25 years old. I was working in IT and was not happy at all. I wanted to do business, preferably something with fashion, so I flew to Naples. I actually wanted to import shirts, but came into contact with someone who was in the tie business through the grapevine. He said, 'you're just out of school, don't have much fashion experience yet, so start with a tie.' Back then, everyone who had an office job walked around with a jacket and a tie. Now that's almost completely gone, but back then it was an accessory that a lot of people bought. So I could offer handmade Italian silk ties for a nice price, from my trunk. I sold them like hot cakes, so within two weeks - from the money I made - I bought another ticket and went to get new ones. And so a kind of import business of neckties was born. Very soon I was producing under my own name, and in 2004 the opportunity came along to open my own store.

I also thought a store in neckties was a bit sparse, but I already had some lines running with the shirt, which is what I was going for in the first place. And then I opened my first store in Utrecht, a small specialty shop of 40 square meters in ties and shirts. As you see a lot in Italy, specialty stores in mozzarella and socks, for example, I had a specialty store in ties and shirts. Compared to a men's store, I then had more choice in my product type. Then people would come to me with a suit on a hanger and then buy the rest of the outfit. With that specialization, I did have a little success in the early years. Then I thought, 'hey this could be something'. As of March 1, 2004, I had my first own store and our history began to count. I threw all my certainties overboard: quit my job, handed in my lease car and went full steam ahead with entrepreneurship.''

"Our mission statement is the phrase 'fare la bella figura,' which means something like making a good impression."

And what have been your biggest challenges in this?

''That was at the start of my second store. When my producers delivered late when my store should have been open already. Then you have just started and the money you had earned from your first store is already gone. That's when the entrepreneur in me came out. I would almost say the market trader. I just bought up a batch of shoes and then started selling shoes for the first six or seven weeks. I had to pay the rent and the staff walking around. That stove had to burn. The first period it was a junk store with racks of shoes.

Even during the corona period, you had to reinvent yourself. Things deteriorated so fast that our shelf life was not eternal either. In fact, it was so bad that the end was in sight. Of 'if no money comes in now, then in three months it might be finished'. At one point we closed all the stores. In the end we survived, came out stronger and reinvented ourselves. Corona was dramatic, but then again that process was fun. As an entrepreneur, it made me stronger and sharper. Where there was demand we produced. I went from suits to tracksuits.''

Are you still running the company all by yourself?

''Since then, the company has grown to 150 people with a headquarters of about 50. I don't manage all of them myself. There is a general management that oversees the general business and I myself actually deal with the collection and the product 24/7. You can have the best salespeople or the best marketing team, but it all starts with the product. If that's not good it's not going to be anything. I do see the importance of that and put my heart and soul into it.''

So you are very involved in the design process. So is there a signature in the collections?

''I always find that very difficult. Then when I get a message from an acquaintance with: 'hey I saw so-and-so with your clothes on TV'. Then I think: 'how did you see that?' Apparently we do have our own little style with a signature look and feel that people recognize. But it's hard to define. Just like artists, they have a certain hand. I think it's the same with fashion.''

What is the mission of the company?

''I have always had as a personal mission to want to send our last name out into the world in such a way that we are present on all world continents as a brand. And to create a beautiful, sustainable company in line with the Gucci's and Dior's. A company that will still exist 150 years from now.

The mission within our company is the expression "fare la bella figura," which means something like making a good impression. We think it is important that with our clothes people look better. Bringing a piece of Italy to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, in the Dutch market, we and many other companies have succeeded quite well. If we look at what it was like 20 years ago and now, the Dutch man has become very fashion-conscious and fashionable.''

You're talking about the Dutch man. So do you have a specific Dutch man that you are targeting?

''We actually never said, 'we want to focus on this'. We want to focus on the Dutch man and teach him a piece of Italy. We do something with our collection that makes it easy for the man without him having to spend thousands of euros for it. So we are fairly accessible with a very international, Italian look.''

So what is that typically Italian?

''When I look at typical Italian, it is a certain sense of taste of the Italian. It's always right: the sweater fits the pants, there's the right shirt underneath and a good color of socks. We try to do the same. That our garments always match. And we also always hear from our customers that it is very easy to look good with our clothes.''

"My father told me that when they went out, he still sometimes encountered people wearing wooden shoes," he said.

And is this typical Italian style already integrated with Dutch men today?

''It's getting better and better. A Dutchman will not be an Italian or Frenchman for the time being, but a lot has changed. My frame of reference is about from 20 years ago. Back then I sold white, light blue and pink shirts. Well, pink was very hard to sell. Because there were all kinds of associations with that. By now, pink has become sort of a basic color. But if I go back even further. My father has been in Holland since the 1960s. He told me that when they went out, he still sometimes encountered people wearing wooden shoes. You can't imagine that anymore. Those days are over now. In the last fifty to sixty years, the Dutch have become much more fashion-conscious. They are much more open to it, want to immerse themselves in it and also find it important to look good.''

What do you think is the reason for that?

''Men have become much more vain and are much more concerned with fashion. Clothes used to have more of a function and are now more for appearance. Fashion has changed. We go on vacation more, so you see what's going on around you. The world is so transparent that you are so fed and inspired, you go along with that flow. People used to come back from Lake Garda and then had shopped in high spirits. But that was one moment. Now they are inspired daily. Dutch men are adapting more and more to the Italian fashion scene.''

What are the future plans for the company?

''We now have nineteen of our own stores and about 250 outlets, mainly in the Benelux. I want to maintain it for the next generation. That the company has a good foundation, that it might still exist in 150 years. As an ambition, I do want to break through a little more internationally. Getting bigger is positive, but it doesn't have to be my goal.''

"Italian look and feel, but with the fitting range for the Northern European man.

So you have achieved quite a lot of success by now we can say. Why do you think that is?

''What caused a lot of success especially in the early years is that we brought a piece of Italy to the Netherlands. 20 years ago we were a little more unique in that than today, but still Italy is our DNA. What I also did back then was to apply it to the Northern European market. So I can introduce all kinds of items to the Dutch market that are totally hot in Italy, but the chance of it catching on here is not 100%. The same goes for the fit. A lot of people still walk past our store because they think: 'Italian, that must fall small'. While I've been working on that from day one. Italian look and feel, but with the fit range for the Northern European man.''

Is there anyone else who inspires you?

''Giorgio Armani. He is still active and that inspires me a lot. That man is 80 plus and is still styling a window display. I can imagine still continuing to do what your passion is if you can still do it physically. He is my inspiration to stay involved until late in life and because of what he has achieved worldwide. I also find him an inspiration for his side activities. For years I slept in his hotel in Milan. Sleeping upstairs, downstairs the restaurant and downstairs his store. The versatility of the brand inspires me and makes it a great example to watch.''

What do you always try to give people when they want to do business?

''When I have people at the table who want to be entrepreneurs, what I tell friends' kids or what I try to impart to my staff is that it always originates with a passion. If you do something just for the money, it's not a good entry point. That has never been my motive either. Your motive should always be: "what am I getting up for in the morning? If you do something that you put your whole heart and soul into then the salary and success will come naturally.

And also try to be financially healthy and independent. That has always made me feel good and contributes to creativity and entrepreneurship. Spend what you can spend. It brought me a lot of peace of mind to grow steadily. I did what I could afford and anything above that I didn't do. I knew I could open my first store with only 10,000 euros in savings and I knew I could only open my second store what I earned from my first store. So not of I want to have so many stores within five years, so then borrow. I can look back on a happy 20 years without stress. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I was allowed to dress Arsenal, be a clothing partner of the KNVB and employ 150 people I would have been like, 'dream on'.'

Speaking of dreams. Is there another dream you have?

''My second passion is really hospitality. We've had a boutique hotel in Haarlem for three years now. It's a profession of its own though, I learned that too. We have four rooms and we manage that just fine. We have a coffee line since about four years and chocolates. I enjoy expanding products that we can put our brand on. It is my big dream, though, to go bigger and have our own bedding line, for example.''

Get a piece of Italy in your home? Check out the women's and men's collections here.