COPENHAGEN, Denmark – On the day of its IPO in 2012, Brunello Cucinelli issued an unusual ultimatum to buyers: in the event that they needed short-term earnings achieved by harming the atmosphere or damaging individuals, they need to not make investments.
In stark distinction to an business crammed with flatlining gross sales, the Italian luxurious home often known as “the King of Cashmere” is now bucking the pattern, reporting a 14% income progress within the first three months of the 12 months.
In the meantime, different main luxurious homes like Gucci and Louis Vuitton are weathering a sweeping downturn, barely recording progress in any respect.
Brunello Cucinelli’s success in making luxurious attire, together with knitwear lined with diamonds and $1,000 t-shirts, is tied to its ethos of selecting long-term integrity over short-term margin chasing, Co-CEO Riccardo Stefanelli advised CNBC.
“You do not have to be grasping,” he stated on the sidelines of the World Trend Summit in Copenhagen. “In case you are grasping, it means that you’re taking worth from the provision chain and you’re depleting somebody.”
Wearing white, matching Brunello Cucinelli’s “Solomeo in White” assortment, the 45-year-old CEO defined how the corporate is increasing with out dropping its soul: it consciously operates at decrease margins to protect a wholesome provide chain and what it calls “gracious” progress.
Its concentrate on moral operation is rooted within the expertise of its founder, Brunello Cucinelli, and has at this time advanced into what the corporate calls “humanistic capitalism.”
It is about the way you ship your earnings, the way you obtain targets, and the way you respect the worth chain by attempting to offer again earlier than pocketing a better return, Stefanelli stated.
Brunello Cucinelli, chairman and chief govt officer of Brunello Cucinelli SpA, heart, speaks throughout a information convention to announce the corporate’s preliminary public providing (IPO), contained in the Borsa Italiana, Italy’s Inventory Change in Milan, Italy, on Friday, April 27, 2012. Brunello Cucinelli SpA, an Italian maker of luxurious cashmere clothes, rose 37 p.c on its debut in Milan buying and selling after buyers sought to buy 17 instances the quantity of inventory out there in an preliminary public providing. Photographer: Michele D’Ottavio/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
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To guard its philosophy, the Cucinelli household retains 51% possession of the enterprise.
“It makes all of the distinction. We’ve got management,” Stefanelli, now son-in-law to the founder. “We’ve got to suppose on a long run as an alternative of the quick time period imposed by the inventory trade.”
Luxurious woes
Brunello Cucinelli has maintained a strict pricing precept, retaining the retail value at 7-8 instances the economic manufacturing value.
This system separates it from a lot of the business’s habits through the Covid-19 luxurious growth, which resulted in 2022. Many manufacturers aggressively hiked costs, reaching as a lot as 30% income progress, however with out a perceived uptick in high quality, it alienated prospects.
Gucci-owner Kering’s new CEO, Luca de Meo, not too long ago stated that value hikes “went too far.”
“We hope to nonetheless preserve a notion of between the true worth and the retail value,” Stefanelli stated. “If you miss that, you might have the issue, just like the final two years, the place the shoppers perceive, or perhaps they did not perceive, why the rise of value was not related to the rise of actual [value].”
“I respect additionally the success of the LVMH, of Kering. I respect them,” Stefanelli stated. “We do one other job.”
The posh market is at present experiencing a pointy polarization: generalist conglomerates catering closely to aspirational customers are struggling, whereas hyper-exclusive labels thrive.
A narrowed focus of solely having one single model, and the corporate’s comparatively small dimension, permits the corporate to focus on a gradual, managed annual progress fee of between 10% and 12%, retaining quantity progress modest to protect model exclusivity.
Brunello Cucinelli has a market capitalization of about 6 billion euros ($7 billion) and recorded 1.4 billion euros in income in 2025 – a lot smaller than lots of its friends.
Scaling exclusivity
By avoiding mass-market enlargement and focusing strictly on what it calls “absolute luxurious,” Brunello Cucinelli seems to have sidestepped the posh fatigue plaguing lots of its friends.
And whereas Stefanelli acknowledged that Asia specifically gives vital headroom for progress, the model refuses to change its DNA to chase tendencies, even when it means lacking alternatives.
“What we is not going to change is our home recognizability, our home angle, our Italian angle,” he stated. “We do hearken to the market, but when the market is asking one thing that does not belong to you, we should always not produce it.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: A common view of the environment on the opening of the Brunello Cucinelli “Solomeo In White” pop-up at Harrods on November 21, 2023 in London, England. (Picture by Dave Benett/Getty Pictures for Brunello Cucinelli)
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A few of its rivals tried to seize a bigger, extra aspirational buyer base to generate greater income, however meaning “you by no means come again on the highest of the pyramid,” Stefanelli stated.
Following the corporate’s quarterly print in April, Jefferies analysts stated it confirmed “the superior endurance of wealthier luxurious customers.”
Brunello Cucinelli shares over the previous 12 months.
Nonetheless, sustaining this premium picture has not come with out market turbulence.
In September final 12 months, short-seller Morpheus Analysis alleged that Brunello Cucinelli was deceptive buyers concerning its operations in Russia, circumventing worldwide sanctions.
The inventory plummeted greater than 17% on the allegations, marking its greatest every day drop on report. Whereas the corporate strongly rejected the claims, the inventory has but to totally get better the losses.
Italian luxurious manufacturers have additionally been rattled by current investigations into employee exploitation and poor manufacturing facility circumstances which threatened the distinguished “Made in Italy” picture.
Stefanelli insisted that the answer is easy: pay staff extra.
Increased wages are additionally very important in encouraging the following technology to enter artisanal trades like tailoring and spinning, the place labor shortages loom. Mother and father are unlikely to steer their kids towards these profession paths with out the promise of dignified compensation, Stefanelli stated.
“When you imagine that the corporate have to be there for the following 50 years, you intend like we do,” stated Stefanelli. “It is a value for positive, however it’s a selection.”
