Who Is Brunello Cucinelli? The Story of the Solomeo Cashmere House

Brunello Cucinelli is an Italian luxury house founded in 1978 by Brunello Cucinelli, who began by dyeing cashmere in bright colours for women at a time when coloured cashmere was a rarity. Today the company dresses women and men from a restored medieval hamlet in Umbria called Solomeo, makes everything in Italy, and has become the reference point for what the fashion press calls quiet luxury. Here is the story, and what it means for the pieces you buy.

The founder

Brunello Cucinelli was born in 1953 in Castel Rigone, a small village above Lake Trasimeno in Umbria. He grew up in a farming family. When his father took a factory job, Cucinelli watched him come home humiliated by the way he was treated, and he has said that this is why he decided to build a company that protects the dignity of the people who work in it. He started in 1978 with a very small sum and one idea: women’s knitwear in coloured cashmere. It was unusual then, and it sold.

The house still carries his name and he still leads it. He was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro, the Italian Order of Merit for Labour, in 2010.

Solomeo, the village that became the company

In 1985 Cucinelli bought the fourteenth-century castle in Solomeo, a hamlet outside Perugia, and moved the business there in 1987 after a two-year restoration. Over the following decades the company restored the village around it, moved its main offices into the valley below in 2001, and opened the Park of Beauty there in 2014. A school of arts and crafts in Solomeo teaches young people the hand skills the collections depend on.

That is not a backdrop invented for a campaign. Production is made entirely in Italy, mostly in Umbria, and the village is where the designs, the workshops and the people sit together.

Humanistic capitalism

Cucinelli describes his approach as humanistic capitalism: a business that makes a fair profit while treating its workers, its suppliers and its place with dignity. In practice that has meant restoring Solomeo instead of moving production abroad, and reinvesting in the community around the factory. The company listed on the Borsa Italiana in 2012 and joined the FTSE MIB index in 2023. In 2024 it reported revenue of 1.28 billion euros and 3,101 employees, and the founder still holds about half of the shares.

What the house makes

Womenswear and menswear sit at the centre, with accessories, shoes and bags around them, plus eyewear since 2022 and fragrance since 2023. Knitwear remains the heart of it. Cashmere is the fibre people associate with the name, and it runs through the tailoring as much as the sweaters.

The look is easy to recognise once you know it. A palette held to soft neutrals, browns and greys. Tailoring cut a little relaxed. Knits layered over silk and suede. And the monili, the fine bead chains the house sews along a lapel, a cuff, a strap and even the edge of a shoe, so that a quiet piece catches the light when you move.

What is in the Fall Winter 2026 collection

The new season we have just added to Luxury Handbags reads like a summary of the house. Monili appear on more than seventy pieces, from cardigans and blazers to flats. Suede is everywhere, in jackets, skirts and shoes. The Dazzling and Sparkling pieces carry embroidery and sequins worked so finely that they read as texture rather than shine. The colours stay in the house range: brown in several depths, anthracite, milk, ivory and grey, with burgundy as the one deeper accent. On the accessories side, the BC Duo bag family runs through minis, shoppers and shoulder styles. You can see the whole delivery in our Brunello Cucinelli Fall Winter 2026 edit.

How Brunello Cucinelli sizing works

The house sizes its clothing on the Italian scale. An Italian 36 is a UK 4 and a US 0, and every step up the Italian scale adds two, so an Italian 42 is a UK 10. At Luxury Handbags we list every Brunello Cucinelli piece on the UK ladder so you can choose the size you already know. Shoes are sold in European sizes. The full conversion, with the letter sizes, is in our Brunello Cucinelli size guide.

If you like Brunello Cucinelli

Women who buy Brunello Cucinelli tend to look at a short list of other houses with the same respect for fabric and the same dislike of logos. The Row is the obvious one, along with Fabiana Filippi, which also works from Umbria, and Gabriela Hearst. We compare them properly in brands like Brunello Cucinelli, and set Fabiana Filippi against the house in Fabiana Filippi vs Brunello Cucinelli.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns Brunello Cucinelli?

The founder, Brunello Cucinelli, holds about half of the shares. The rest trade on the Borsa Italiana, where the company has been listed since 2012.

Where is Brunello Cucinelli made?

In Italy, mostly in Umbria. The company is based in Solomeo, near Perugia, where it restored the village around its offices and workshops.

What is Brunello Cucinelli known for?

Coloured cashmere first, and then a whole wardrobe built on soft neutrals, relaxed tailoring and the monili bead chains sewn along edges and straps.

Is Brunello Cucinelli a quiet luxury brand?

It is the brand most people mean when they use the phrase. There are no logos on the clothes. The value is in the fabric, the cut and the hand finishing.

Shop the full Brunello Cucinelli collection at Luxury Shoes , starting with the designer knitwear the house built its name on.