Barena Venezia, a small, family-owned company has significantly influenced the way men dress in and outside of Italy over the past twenty-seven years. Before “sprezzatura” and “soft tailoring” became go-to terms for fashion editors, Barena was showing men how to dress casually and with class utilizing sartorial fabrics for rather sporty, workwear garments. The inspiration for Barena traces back to the style of the rural inhabitants of Venice. Barena maintains the fabric-first ethos it was founded upon. Pigozzo and Francesca Zara build each collection from the ground up, starting by looking for interesting materials and then basing their designs off the fabrics they find, often using original early 20th century patterns from the now rich brand archive.