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A little over a year after the announcement of the new ownership, Gabriele Volpe’s Orlean Invest Holding, it’s time for the Umbrian knitwear brand Cruciani to take stock. «Now Maglital, the company that owns the brand, is safe, we have full control – says the commercial director Riccardo Antonioni, who arrived from Bologna in Umbria (according to him, with great joy) with a baggage of 35 years of experience in the sector -. We worked a whole year to define a new strategic and organizational set-up: we started again from the internal reconstruction of the manufacturing chain, also summarizing the resources that had been forced by the company’s slowdown to leave it, workers from the area who returned with great satisfaction. Then I wanted to reshape the style office, starting from the men’s collection and with the idea of investing in women’s too, under the creative guidance of Milena Motta (also involved in the success of the relaunch of Malo, ed). The goal for the near future is to propose a lifestyle offer, keeping knitwear as her heart ». In fact, Pitti Cruciani has brought total looks to this too, also experimenting with organic yarns, from cashmere to linen.
Arnaldo Caprai, progenitor of the family of Umbrian entrepreneurs also at the center of wine production in the Montefalco area, where they had relaunched the Sagrantino vine with great success, had founded the textile group named after him in 1955, specialized in the packaging and sale of trousseaus, lingerie feminine and masculine and home textile furnishings. Maglital di Trevi was also part of the group, from which the Cruciani brand was born, focused on excellent knitwear and cashmere, and within which a yarn research center was also active. In 2011, Luca Caprai, Arnaldo’s son, inspired by his father’s enormous textile collection, launched the Cruciani C macramé bracelets. A successful, transversal and widespread standard: tens of millions of pieces, limited editions, a single-brand store in Forte dei Marmi where it was not uncommon to find a queue at the entrance. In 2011, Cruciani’s turnover was around 20 million, two years later the success of the bracelets brought it to 51. Caprai had also thought of opening the company’s capital to outside shareholdings. Passionate about watches, he tried to get in touch with Nick Hajek, CEO of the Swatch Group, but nothing came of it.
However, due to incorrect management, to which Caprai’s health problems joined, the company lost its luster over time. Orlean approached, at first, attracted by the Caprai family’s stake in Cariaggi, the excellent spinning mill in the Marche region which is now 49% owned by Brunello Cucinelli and Chanel. But even if the Cariaggi operation didn’t end, Orlean decided to go ahead and take over the whole of Maglital, to relaunch a heritage of textile know-how, creativity and Made in Italy excellence that risked being lost.
«In one year the turnover has doubled – continues Antonioni, with satisfaction -. In 2024 we want to be present in 150 best shops for men and as many for women, expanding the markets. For now, those in the German area and Eastern Europe have responded particularly well, and we have also received orders from department stores».
The company’s relaunch plan also includes that of the Cruciani C bracelets, which had been put to rest pending an effective and functional rebirth for the recovery of the main brand. «Today we only sell them online – notes the manager -, we are thinking of a luxury repositioning, consistent with that of the main brand, which will bring them back to being a pop-glamorous object», notes Antonioni. Also for this reason it was decided to characterize them with an unprecedented progressive numbering. In 1993 Cruciani’s adventure began right at Pitti. Much has happened in these thirty years. And now it’s being built to make the next ones even better.