Could it be because Brunello Cucinelli – from Passignano sul Trasimeno (PG), born in 1953 – is the King of Made in Italy Cashmere that he is fresh from a lunch at Buckingham Palace with the King of England?
Summit meetings
‘We met at the G20,’ – Cucinelli said, – and sent me a card for Christmas, to which I replied with a letter. Charles III invited me to Buckingham Palace to discuss his commitment to sustainable fashion. He told me mine was the most beautiful letter he had ever received ‘.
Not only that but during the meeting, Charles III complimented the quality of the grey suit worn by Cucinelli, who, for the occasion, was wearing a Shetland suit rather than Cashmere, as might have been expected.
Commitment to sustainable fashion
Cashmere and Shetland aside, an important outcome of the meeting is that from 2023, Cucinelli will also join the Himalayan Regenerative Fashion Lab, the important project wanted by King Charles of England and coordinated worldwide by Federico Marchetti, founder of YOOX NET-A-PORTER.
This initiative aims to create sustainable fashion chains involving small communities in the Himalayas. In the east of the region, the focus is on regenerative agriculture, with the planting of a million trees, while in the west, the work is on livestock farming, with the goal of warding off the threat of depopulation and the loss of ancient knowledge through a set of good practices. This project is a new piece in an entrepreneurial story that never ceases to amaze.
A dream come true
Brunello, the son of farmers, studied to be a surveyor and then attended engineering college but dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur respectful of the workers’ dignity ‘no one has to punch in. Everyone must have a key to the office ‘. In 1978, he founded a small company in the province of Perugia that bought and processed quality cashmere and surprised the market – especially the German market – with the idea of dyeing the precious wool. In 1985, he purchased the small Borgo Solomeo – his wife’s home village – which was in a state of neglect and presented a project for its restoration. After years of restoration, he moved the company headquarters there.
Humanistic capitalism
A great admirer of beauty as a positive value that cannot be renounced, he had this phrase from Emperor Hadrian written in the village: ‘I felt responsible for the beauty of the world’.
In 2012, his company was listed on the Italian stock exchange in Milan.
Philanthropist and theorist of ‘magic realism,’ Brunello Cucinelli is an enlightened entrepreneur attentive to workers’ quality of life and preserving craftsmanship. He is the entrepreneur who, more than any other in Italy, seems to have picked up the legacy of Adriano Olivetti. It is no coincidence that he has just declared that he will increase the salaries of workers and seamstresses by 20%.
In 2018, the Cucinelli Group celebrated its fortieth anniversary with Brunello as CEO. It maintains its headquarters in Solomeo and Corciano, has a turnover of hundreds of millions of euros, 1700 employees, hundreds of mono-brand shops, and a 45% growth in sales in America.
Congratulations to those who bring Made in Italy values and style to the world!
Read more stories of Italian entrepreneurship in the fashion world.