Andrew Fezza was born in 1955 in Connecticut, and studied biology and sociology at Boston College with the intention of becoming a dentist. Following a visit to Florence where he saw Italian fashions first hand, he enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where he met his future wife, Marilyn.
After graduation, Fezza worked as a design assistant for the womenswear company Schrader Sport on Seventh Avenue, while producing a line of men's sweaters in the evenings that were bought by the New York menswear shop 'Camouflage'. In 1979, he and his future wife, Marilyn, launched their apparel company in a small apartment in Greenwich Village, specializing in men's sportswear and leather clothing. They added a womenswear line in 1984, which was designed by Marilyn.
Andrew Fezza was presented by the GFT USA Corporation (a subsidiary of the Italian company Gruppo GFT), which had already provided support to the successful designers Emanuel Ungaro, Louis Féraud and Valentino, and launched Giorgio Armani to fame. GFT, who in 1988, retailed Armani suits for $700–900 apiece, wanted to offer comparable quality but lower-priced (at $300–400) suits to the consumer with a tighter clothing budget, and following market research, decided that their new line needed a name designer, ideally a young American creating European-style garments. Fezza fit this profile, and as he was not a "big star", would not cost GFT too much money to acquire. His Firma line, offering the Armani look for lower prices, was a commercial success, and Fezza, according to the GFT marketing and image people, was "a designer people can relate to." Although the Firma line was in demand, GFT were careful to limit its availability, stating in 1988 that they were "building a whole romantic image [...] creating a hero" and wanted to keep the line exclusive and avoid overselling. By 1992, Andrew and Marilyn Fezza were taking in $21 million a year in clothing sales.

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