Brunello Cucinelli

Brunello Cucinelli selects the very best material for his collections. They are made using only the very finest, softest hair of the cashmere goat which grows around the throat of the animal. This naturally white, brown or black hair needed a bit colorful innovation, so Cucinelli had the wool dyed in an array of colors.

Cucinelli's business philiosophy has earned him the nickname "The Franciscan of Cashmere".
He likes to characterize his hugely successful business philosophy as "ethical". How do ethics come into it? He says, "They are vital! Rather than looking to American super-managers, my models were Socrates, Seneca, Saint Benedict and Saint Francis. I wanted to maintain a relationship with people. If I make something, if I set up a business, I do it with the aim of improving the quality of life. We don't own the Earth, we are only its caretaker. It doesn't make sense to chase after enormous short-term profits. Because everything passes, but the best things are those that one can savour over time."

In response to an interviewers question concerning how his business near Perugia is run differently from large textile companies:
"I mean that they (the workers) have the keys, they come and go when they want and no one has to clock in. And they work as if they were at home. In fact, they actually work inside houses, those of the medieval hamlet at Solomeo on the road leading to Lake Trasimeno, where our centre of operations is situated. It was a beautiful place that had been completely abandoned. In 1987, with my first earnings, I bought a small part: the remains of an old castle for very little money. I bought the last part a few years ago and naturally I had to pay much more. I restored everything, but didn't modernize it. I left everything as it was: the eleven houses divided into small apartments, the church, the castle. And this is where we work, surrounded by eight centuries of history".

Brunello Cucinelli
Piazza dalla Chiesa, 6
Solomeo di Corciano (PG)
Umbria
Italy
p. +39-075-5293121

Cucinelli has recently opened its first US store in NYC.
Brunello Cucinelli
379 Bleecker St.
Greenwich Village
New York, NY

Luisa Spagnoli
Strada S.Lucia, 71
06125 Perugia
Umbria
Italy
p. +39-075 4591