Brunello Cucinelli was named 2021 Fashion Designer of the Year by British GQ. The award
might well have been Philosopher of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, or Community Organizer of the Year, because Cucinelli’s reach extends well beyond fashion. He is a thinking man, a
man of action, a man who sees to it that his good fortune extends to others.
Sound too good to be true? Maybe it is.
But the evidence suggests otherwise.
And it is for this reason that dig.ni.fy
magazine has chosen to highlight
Brunello Cucinelli and the company he
developed. The good work being done
stands as an example of what is possible
not only to individuals of dream and drive,
but to companies both large and small.
His Early Influences
Brunello Cucinelli was born into a
peasant family in Castel Rigone, a
15th century little hamlet nearby Perugia, in 1953. Cucinelli speaks fondly of the time spent with his family in the rural area when he was young – how hard they worked and how close they became. But these happy memories changed when the family was forced to move to town and his father took a job with a cement company. Cucinelli has spoken forcefully about the impact that change had on him, particularly when seeing his father unjustly offended in the workplace (“they treated him like a slave”), in witnessing the unfriendly pranks played on his weakest schoolmates, and in experiencing personally the actions taken by his classmates against him and his brothers simply because they came from the countryside.
Cucinelli also speaks honestly and openly about his education. Trained as a building surveyor, Cucinelli claims never to have been a great student. And it was not long after obtaining his diploma that he enrolled in the faculty of engineering, only to drop out. Where he did find inspiration and gained an education was when talking to his fellow classmates about ideas and social issues in the cafes. There, he engaged in formative debate and developed the world view that continues to form his character and practice today.
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