Notice to the usual understatement, for once, because the numbers would also speak for themselves. Brunello Cucinelli defines the first half as “excellent”, which closed with revenues up 32.4% to 415.4 million and the EBIT index and net profit more than doubled: + 128% to 57.8 million the first, +131.4 % to 50.6 million the second.
The founder, president and creative director of the Umbrian company adds that 2022 will be “a record year”, foreseeing a closure with a turnover of + 15%. Optimism based, again, on numbers: the fashion and luxury companies have already sold and actually shipped the autumn-winter collections and are already working on the orders received for spring-summer 2023: hence the further forecast di Cucinelli growth of another 10% for the next year, which would bring the company to over 900 million in revenues, bringing it closer to the small group of one billion companies of luxury made in Italy.
Cucinelli believes that the excellent results of the first half, for a company with an export close to 90% (Italy is worth 11.8% of turnover) are also linked to the strong dollar, but the double-digit growth in every market, including the Italian one, indicate a success with much more solid foundations than currency fluctuations. Asia and Europe (excluding Italy), which together account for over 50% of Cucinelli’s turnover, grew by 27.2% and 20.7% respectively in the first half of the year. The basis of the success that the company further strengthened in 2022, from the craftsmanship of made in Italy to the effort to open up to a contemporary and global vision of elegance and lifestyle.
In March Cucinelli acquired the majority of the Lanificio Cariaggi and the schools of trades born in Solomeo, on the outskirts of Perugia, were expanded. In the style office very young creatives flank those with more experience and Cucinelli has never been tempted by the sirens of accessories, products with higher margins than clothing, present in the collections but not “driving”, because they do not fully respond to the vision that the entrepreneur has of the brand, which he does not want and must not “depend” on the trends or fashions of the season.
There are also numerous environmental patronage projects, which strengthen the link between the company, the territory and its image in the world. It is no coincidence that, when commenting on the order collection for 2023, Brunello Cucinelli defined it as “excellent, both in terms of quantity and image”: in times of great uncertainty, even cultural, and geopolitical tensions, that not even those with high spending capacity, like Cucinelli customers, he can ignore, the choices of consumers and investors are increasingly linked to ESG issues, in which Cucinelli has been investing for decades.