SESEÑA "Capas Seseña"

When you think about your business, what are you most proud of?

We are the oldest cape tailor in the world. We have been making mens and womens capes exclusively since 1901.

In our shop-workshop we handcraft the capes, one by one, with scissor cutting and sewing by hand and machine, for all the garments in our collection.

The "made to measure and to the customers taste" is one of our great passions and always a creative challenge.

We mainly use merino wool for its excellent quality and warmth properties, but we have also incorporated lighter weight fabrics for warmer climates.

It is a family-run company, currently managed by Marcos Seseña, the fourth generation.

In 2021, we will be 120 years old.

Jeff Bezos is a Seseña customer, and Pablo Picasso is buried in a Seseña cloak. A varied and rich clientele cultivated for more than 120 years: from Valle-Inclán, Fellini, Liberace, Mastroiani, to Bruce Springsteen, Loquillo, Hillary Clinton, Carolina Herrera, Alfredo Krahus, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Pierce Brosnan, Jeremy Irons or the King and Queen of Spain. People from all social and cultural backgrounds, from all over the world.

What is the history of your commerce?

Casa Seseña was founded in 1901 when the Spanish cape began to be abandoned in Madrid. Santos Seseña, its founder, decided to continue making it and his proposal soon brought him great fame. In 1927, Tomás Seseña, his son, joined the company and helped him to expand and internationalise the firm and the cape. In 1960, the business passed into the hands of the third generation in the figure of Enrique Seseña, Santos grandson, who shared the management with Conchita Díez, his mother. Casa Seseña specialises in capes and launches the first line of womens capes. Enrique, remains completely in charge and evolves with the times: collaborating with designers, parading on the Cibeles catwalk, opening two more branches in Madrid, and becoming one of the pioneers in Spain to open, in 1998, an online shop. The current director, Marcos Seseña, Enriques son, took over his role in 2012. Marcos renewed the firms image by collaborating with designers such as Marina Conde and Ulises Mérida, designing new collections, with a change of style that respects and incorporates the inherited heritage. Seseña currently sells from the shop-workshop in Madrid and from www.sesena.com all over the world.

What is your professional experience?

Marcos Seseña holds a degree in Economics and Business Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid. Economics and Business Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid and an expert in management in non-profit organisations from ESADE.

Before becoming director of Seseña, he was a director of two non-profit foundations:

Solidaridad Internacional, in the field of development cooperation.

Colegios del Mundo Unido, in the field of education.

Dedicating himself to Seseña today is a challenge and a source of pride for Marcos, not only for following the family tradition but also for giving free rein to a creative spirit that is deeply rooted in the family.

How has covid 19 affected your business?

Certainly badly, like everyone else. Perhaps the fact that we have international experience, a "niche" product and an e-commerce established and fully operational since 1998, has softened the crisis. Even so, we are not moving at around a 50% adjustment.

It must be said that Casas Seseña after 120 years has gone through all the calamities in the world, Spain and Madrid, and this, hopefully, is just one more.