Ellesse is a sports apparel company that was founded in Italy way back in 1959. It was quite interesting how the name came about. The founder, whose name was Leonardo Servadio, couldn’t think of a name for his new brand, so he set up a working party, enlisted the best marketing brains in Italy and, after two weeks of being locked in a darkened room with no TV, no mobile phones (they were as big as a spaceman’s backpack back then anyway) and no contact with the outside World, suddenly thought ‘Eureka-we’ve got it’! And they came up with the name of LS or, to use the longer version, Ellesse, which was really clever. Now this may or may not be true, or it could be something completely made up, but whatever the truth, Ellesse Heritage is pretty cool and part of the 80s Casuals collection at Indi Menswear.
The UK casuals/dressers adopted Ellesse in the ’80s as premium sportswear took off across British terrace culture known today as ’80s Casuals.
For the 80’s Casuals Dressers, one-upmanship, music, football and fashion was a way of life. It was all about dressing better than your mates at the match, House Music parties that went on all night and much more. One of the brands of the day was Ellesse-not for poncey tennis players but for the lads on the terraces – the Dressers.
Fast-forward to today and Ellesse Heritage is very much in demand once again. Stocked at only a few leading independent mens designer clothing outlets, Ellesse Heritage pieces can be difficult to track down before they are gone. All the old vintage styles are there-the Milan 3 Track Top, the Exhibition T Shirt and the Mundial Jacket and many more.