Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A.: History, Business and Figures

Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion company based in Solomeo, a small village in Umbria, best known for its cashmere. It has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 2012 and sells its collections through its own boutiques, department store concessions and selected wholesale partners.

The company is in focus after two straight years of double-digit growth. It reported record revenue of about 1.41 billion euros for 2025, up 11.5 percent at constant exchange rates, and expects growth of around 10 percent in 2026.

Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A.: the Solomeo cashmere house and its luxury business — The village of Solomeo in Umbria, home of Brunello Cucinelli, 2024. Photo: Violakim99, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Overview and Founding

Brunello Cucinelli founded the business in 1978 as a small company that became known for dyeing cashmere. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy notes that it began by selling cashmere sweaters.

In 1982 the company moved to Solomeo, and in 1985 it bought the village’s 14th-century castle to serve as its headquarters. In 2000 it acquired a factory in the valley below the village and adapted it for production.

The company presents its model as contemporary humanistic capitalism, which seeks a balance between fair growth and fair profit and stresses the moral and economic dignity of its workers. When the Kiel Institute honoured the founder in 2017, it noted that the company employed about 1,000 families in Umbria.

Key Milestones

1978: Brunello Cucinelli founds the company, starting with dyed cashmere.
1982: The business moves to the village of Solomeo in Umbria.
1985: The company buys the 14th-century castle in Solomeo for its headquarters.
2000: A factory in the Solomeo valley is acquired and converted.
2012: The company lists its shares on the Milan Stock Exchange.
2013: The School of Advanced Contemporary Craftsmanship opens in Solomeo.
2017: The founder receives the Global Economy Prize of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
2018: The Project for Beauty is carried out in Solomeo through a foundation linked to the founder.
2025: The 2024 to 2026 production plan is completed six months early, with a larger Solomeo base and new workshops in Gubbio and Penne.

What It Does

The company designs and makes luxury clothing and accessories for men and women, with cashmere and Italian handcraft at the centre of its offer. Production is organised around Solomeo and workshops elsewhere in Italy.

Retail is its main channel and made up 67.3 percent of sales in 2025. At the end of that year it ran 136 directly managed boutiques and 57 concessions in luxury department stores, and it also sells through wholesale partners.

All three regions grew in 2025. Sales rose 11.9 percent in the Americas, 8.1 percent in Europe and 15.3 percent in Asia. In 2024 the Americas were its largest region with 476.5 million euros, ahead of Europe with 456.5 million euros and Asia with 345.4 million euros.

The pace has held up through the end of 2025. Fourth quarter revenue reached 388.6 million euros, up 11.9 percent at constant exchange rates, and full year growth beat the forecast the company had given at the start of the year.

Demand for high-end fashion is also spreading to newer markets, including the Kingdom, as our report on Saudi Arabia as the Middle East’s new luxury retail destination describes.

Solomeo itself is part of the company’s identity. Beyond the offices and workshops, the village holds a theatre, a Forum of the Arts and a Neohumanistic Academy, and staff work set hours from 8:00 to 5:30, with limits on work email after hours.

In 2025 the company invested 146.2 million euros, about 10.4 percent of turnover, much of it on the expanded headquarters and the new tailoring and outerwear sites. It said the investment would allow it to operate “with serenity for the next 10-15 years.”