Marisa Minicucci

Marisa Minicucci is a Montreal designer of women’s ready-to-wear known primarily for her jackets and coats. In 2018, she began working for the company AJG Apparel, notably for Søsken, the outerwear brand she helped create.

A 1981 fashion design graduate of LaSalle College in Montreal, Marisa Minicucci began her career as a designer for Amerella of Canada, a coat importer. In 1983, she began working as a designer for Irving Samuel, ultimately staying with the designer for ten years.

In 1993, she started her own company with her partner Barry Bly. Together, they founded the company Zenobia, which operated MMLoft, a store on Montreal’s Park Avenue. Under the label Marisa Minicucci Collection, their products were manufactured in Montreal, Toronto and Italy.

Marisa Minicucci. Photo courtesy of Sosken Studios

Marisa Minicucci was part of the first group of designers to join the Design Network started by the Fur Council of Canada. This association enabled her to do an internship at the Saga Furs design centre in Denmark in 1998.

In 2002, she left Zenobia, which retained the rights to use the Marisa Minicucci name.

Now working alone, the designer founded a new brand under the name M Siamo. The M refers to the first letter of her first and last names, while Siamo means “we are” in Italian.

The label included women’s clothing, shoes and purses and over half of its production was exported to the United States. However, the economic crisis that began in 2008 forced her out of business in 2009.

Partnering with her daughter Anissa Marcanio, also a LaSalle College fashion graduate, Marisa Minicucci started another business in 2012 under the label Minicucci x Marcanio.

This enterprise focussed exclusively on women’s jackets and coats, which were sold to retailers as well as online. The partnership ended in 2014 and Anissa Marcanio moved to Toronto to pursue a career in the health and wellness industry.

In 2015, Marisa Minicucci was approached by a former colleague, Brahm Rosenberg, who had become the owner of AJG Apparel, a coat designer and manufacturer. He asked her to help launch a medium to high-end coat brand under the label Søsken.

As of 2018, this brand was sold online and at approximately 250 North American retailers. Based in the Montreal borough of Saint Laurent, AJG Apparel also owns the Novelti and NVLT brands in addition to designing and producing coats for various companies like Anthropology and Reitmans. Marisa Minicucci is design director for all of the collections. About 30 people work for AJG Apparel.