Brunello Cucinelli acquires 43% stake in Cariaggi Lanificio

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA

Published
Mar 15, 2022

The Italian luxury house Brunello Cucinelli announced the acquisition of a 43% stake in historic spinning mill Cariaggi Lanifico, its main cashmere supplier for its signature knitwear products. The transaction valued at 15.05 million euros was financed entirely with equity, as mentioned by the company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in a statement. 

Located in Cagli, in the Marche region, the mill was founded in 1958 by the Cariaggi family, which holds 57% of the capital and will continue to manage the company. The firm, which was previously owned by both the Cariaggi family and the Caprai Textile Group, has specialized in precious animal and vegetable fibers (such as flax) over the years. Before the pandemic, its turnover was reported to be around 100 million euros. 

”We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition, which will allow the company to continue developing products of excellence. We are more than happy with the agreement with Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A, our longstanding customer, with whom we share a vision of quality, service, innovation and a focus on our people, commitments that have always been featured in our company, recognized worldwide as an excellence,” said CEO of the spinning mill, Piergiorgio Cariaggi.

“The choice to enter the capital directly developed during the summer of 2020 with the primary objective of supporting the Caprai family, a lifelong partner of the Cariaggi family which wanted to sell its stake, and secondly for supporting this excellent Italian company,” explained Cucinelli, stressing that, “this is the first time that our house has decided to enter the capital of an external company that is part of our production chain.”

“I had the opportunity of starting my own cashmere business thanks to the personal trust that the Cariaggi and Caprai families placed in me. For this, I thank them very much. I have always believed that Cariaggi represents one of the jewels of Italian manufacturing, with products of great quality and craftsmanship; there is no doubt that it should be counted among the first industries in the sector in the world, if not the first, and that it represents something important for our territory and culture,” continued Cucinelli.

In 2014, the Italian brand acquired Avenza Fashion’s male tailoring business in order to enter the made-to-measure sector. With an acquisition of a stake in Cariaggi, the company will directly preserve part of its local production chain, following in the footsteps of other main luxury players and their current strategies.