Fay is one of those discoveries that delights – a whole story you didn’t know, wrapped up in what is, in English at least, an unlikely brand name. In the UK, Fay has the literary meaning of a fairy or elf. See Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale and its image of the moon and its “starry fays”. The word comes from the Latin fata for “fates”, hence the supernatural element. But there’s nothing remotely fairy-like about Fay, the brand.
In fact, the Italian company’s origins lie in the USA, in Maine, where it was a maker of functional jackets for firemen and fishermen. Fay’s signature piece of hardware is the hook or, in Italian, gancio. In recent years, it’s become quite the thing, found in collections by the likes of Off-White, Hermès, Ralph Lauren, Loewe and Celine, to name a few.
But back in the ’80s, a man called Diego Della Valle, whose burgeoning Italian fashion business, Tod’s, already belied his love of a particular type of east-coast Americana (in that it had been built on a US driving-shoe style) acquired Fay with his brother Andrea. Today, Andrea, who runs Fay, takes up the story:
‘It was 1985, a time when everyone in Europe wanted a little touch of America. And when we in Italy did not really have casualwear, like the Americans.’ Struck by this utilitarian style from Maine, he imagined how it could be worn as a piece of outerwear by Italians at the weekend.
Tod’s was growing fast so he and his brother acquired the US business, moved its HQ and manufacturing to Italy and started to sell a cleaned-up version of the firefighters’ original. Soon the look was picked up by famous faces, Kevin Costner and George Clooney among them, as well as Jennifer Lopez and Madonna. But it remained under the radar. In 2025, Fay is still a hidden gem, bought by Italians but with a discreet global following.
To show the worldly character of the label, which has morphed from the original jacket style (still present in the 4 Ganci models) into a range of clothes and accessories, Secret Trips is publishing a portfolio of pictures by Michael Avedon taken in four world cities: Milan, New York, Los Angeles and London.
Avedon is the grandson of famous photographer Richard Avedon and, in true Italian famiglia style, many of our subjects similarly have connections to other famous folk – Bob Dylan’s grandson, the filmmaker, photographer and magazine owner James Dylan; model Ella Richards, Keith’s granddaughter. But what really ties them together is that they all epitomise Fay’s non-conformist approach, blending tough, practical DNA with contemporary fashion design.
It’s a winning combination that doesn’t date easily: the pieces work all over the world and last for years. Some designs, such as the Morning coat, a single-breasted style with a zip-out nylon insert, or the 4 Ganci jackets with signature metal hooks, are always in the collection, though the fabrics and colours may change. Other pieces are more seasonal, but all feel like wardrobe favourites, designed to do service as well as look good – just like the New England firemen’s style that captured the Della Valle brothers’ imagination all those years ago.
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and managing director of Secret Trips
Photography MICHAEL AVEDON
