The d’Avenza brand was born in 1976, but its origins came from Crewe – the parent company was Chester Barrie, which in 1935 revolutionized the market by offering ‘ready-to-wear’ on a large scale combined with the excellence of bespoke workmanship.

1976 was a difficult year and Chester Barrie was taken over by a retail giant and the general Manager, Tony Clay, was inspired to carry on the manufacturing where he saw a glorious future in Italy and so d’Avenza became a reality. The garments were of such high esteem that it took the luxury tailoring industry by storm, the label dedicated the name to the town of origin quickly became a world leader. It employed 600 people to make the handmade garment of an insurmountable quality. The company continued to grow until it had a three-year waiting list with requests from Europe and the United States from Australia to Japan, reaching its zenith in the mid-1980s.

Unfortunately Tony became ill in 1987 and the only one remaining from the Chester Barrie/Simon Ackerman dynasty returns from Italy to England in convalescence and leaves behind a board of directors that brings d’Avenza to bankruptcy. Renato Cecchi took over the company in 1994 and tried for twenty years to re-launch the brand, but failed by choosing a management team not up to the task. Cecchi then sells the history linked to the d’Avenza craftsmen to Cucinelli.