Brunello Cucinelli, Renaissance Man-The designer, best known for what he calls “sportivo chic,” has maintained roots in his native Italy, improving and restoring the town 

where his brand is based.Even as a child growing up in the rural Umbrian village of Castel Rigone, Brunello Cucinelli had strong opinions about clothes. “When I was 7, my 

mother gave me a pair of green velvet trousers for Christmas,” says the designer. “I buried them in the garden behind our house because I've never been too fond of green.

” A decade later, he dropped out of engineering school and, in 1978, launched an eponymous line of women's sweaters in punchy shades inspired by United Colors of Benetton 

but woven in fine cashmere and Shetland wool.

Today, Cucinelli designs ready-to-wear collections for men, women and, as of this month, children, as well as home décor, shoes and handbags. The 66-year-old overseas a 

factory and some 1,000 workers in the hamlet of Solomeo (population 500), which is nine miles from Perugia and 15 from his hometown. He's spent decades improving and 

restoring Solomeo — repaving roads, planting vineyards, erecting a 16th-century-style theater and founding an arts and crafts school — and over time it's become nearly 

synonymous with the label itself, which is best known for what Cucinelli describes as “sportivo chic.” That means plush and drapey cardigans and crew necks, softly tailored 

trousers and cashmere-covered collectibles (soccer balls, waste bins) in a serene earth-toned palette reflective of the landscape that surrounds those that work, eat and 

live at Cucinelli's domain. The designer's understated wares are popular with the Silicon Valley crowd — Steve Jobs's black mock turtlenecks were custom Cucinelli, as are 

Mark Zuckerberg's signature gray T-shirts — and yet the designer himself is proudly old-fashioned. “I want everything I create to be totally timeless, much like a good 

book,” says Cucinelli. "It should be something you keep forever and go back to over and over."

Brunello Cucinelli is a true rags to riches story. Born in a rural community in the area of ​​Perugia in Italy, Cucinelli grew up in a home that had no electricity or running 

water. But this proud Italian had bigger plans for his life. In 1977 he started making dyed cashmere in a small workshop, close to his hometown. Cucinelli founded his 

fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli in 1978 with around just 500 euros. With hard work and passion, Cucinelli was about to take his business from a small humble company 

to a global enterprise.

As his creations started to grow in popularity in Italy, he had the vision to take his company to a much larger scale. He found a gap in the market for colored cashmere 

for women and this saw huge attention and spent 20 years providing luxury quality cashmere to women. In the 1990s the businessman grew his product line with an o

ffering for men and by 1998 he was selling 200,000 cashmere jumpers a year. But this was only just the beginning. He started to get attention from America, where 

Customers were excited by the idea of ​​expertly made cashmere from Italy and in just six years his company generated revenue of around a staggering 450 million 

euros by 2013.

Today he is the CEO and Designer at the Brunello Cucinelli this global enterprise, but one thing is for sure, this hugely successful businessman remains true to his roots. 

With his company headquarters and factories mostly in Solemeo; the 14th-century hamlet that he grew up in, Cucinelli has provided jobs for thousands of local people 

over the years and has given back to the community in incredible ways by restoring much of the hamlet over the past two decades. Solomeo read deep in Brunello's heart 

as it represents the core of his family, business and spiritual life. He had restored many of the medieval buildings in the area, established the School of Art and Crafts, 

as well as the Theater Cucinelli, a Renaissance-style open-air theater that hosts plays, concerts and ballet shows that highlight the history of the hamlet.

In 2018, Cucinelli unveiled a monument titled “Tribute to Human Dignity”. The five-metre high monument was built according to an ancient technique using blocks of 

travertine. To express the universal nature of this structure, the name of the five continents of the world is listed under each arch, again in bronze: AMERICA, 

EUROPE, AFRICA, ASIA, OCEANIA. Africa is located beneath the central arch to commemorate man's original home. This iconic landmark was designed to last 

Centuries and represent the arts and crafts celebrated in this hamlet and their connection to the world of Brunello Cucinelli.