ABOUT BRUNELLO CUCINELLI

Brunello Cucinelli’s wife Federica was born in Solomeo. In 1978, when they were engaged to be married, a second love blossomed inside Cucinelli, his passion for her beautiful hamlet of origin. Federica ran a small clothing shop in their village, and here he came across the idea to venture into a knitwear business.

It took quite a lot of courage to take this step, since back then there were already 13,000 people working in this industry in Perugia only, one of the main centres for this manufacturing business.

He felt blessed from the very beginning with an innovative, as it seemed to him, intuition: coloured cashmere knitwear for women.

The market, above all the German-speaking one, showed a huge interest and appreciation for this unprecedented proposition and this allowed the company to quickly emerge.

And then over time he slowly fell under the rather special spell of cashmere, of the humanity with which the goats of the “Hyrcus” breed are reared; Cucinelli was fascinated by the warm hues of brown and grey of the soft and enveloping yarn that can be obtained from their undercoat.

He became firmly convinced that a very paramount quality of cashmere, besides its velvety softness, is its ability to last. And the concept of long duration was part of him, of his way of conceiving the world; a very high concept and meaning, namely, and from then on he approached every single creative and productive aspect of the business bearing this in mind. A cashmere garment lasts forever, you never throw it away, you must pass it on to your children, its ability to last is the symbol of its value.

All that followed is a success story that in 2012 prompted Cucinelli to list his company on the Milan Stock Exchange. It was an unforgettable and exciting success.

Almost drawing inspiration from the romantic hero by Antoine de Saint- Éxupery, the Little Prince, he presented his proposals without focusing on economic figures or formulas, but talking about people, the dignity of work, the ancient heritage, the ideals. He was sincere, he was trying to win people over with his enthusiasm.