As Brunello Cucinelli drops its new Mediterranea capsule collection, the founder’s daughters, Camilla and Carolina, are not just living the sartorial dream, but taking it into exciting new territory.
The Italians have an expression—raccogliere una pesante eredità—that translates roughly as “take on an important legacy”. It’s equivalent to the English idiom, “big shoes to fill”. But for Carolina and Camilla Cucinelli, who have been steering their father Brunello’s eponymous brand for the last decade or so, this undertaking is a life calling. “Camilla and I actually grew up immersed in this dream of my father’s that has always underpinned our company,” Carolina, who serves as vice president and co-head women’s director, tells Robb Report.
The dream she’s referring to is “humanistic capitalism”: a modus operandi that insists profit must come alongside ethics, moral responsibility, dignity—and improving the lives of your workers and community. “We try as much as possible to perpetuate the values of the company, by working for the community that lives in the village of Solomeo,” says Camilla, also vice president and co-head women’s creative director, referring to the medieval Umbrian village on whose restoration their father has spent millions.
“This is why the family foundation supports the villa restorations, the theatre, the amphitheatre, the artistic initiatives and aims to enrich the lives of the people living there.” It is, Camilla points out, a symbiotic relationship. “It encourages this community to support the company, too, and helps us convey this ethos to new generations.”
For both sisters—whose mother Federica was also actively involved in the family business, until her retirement aged 65—sustainability is about more than just ethical sourcing and environmental responsibility: it’s about keeping skills alive through the ages. As well as advanced tailoring methods, Brunello Cucinelli garments entail labour-intensive knitting techniques, special embroidery, and other niche crafts—monili beadwork, intarsia knitting, braided leatherwork—rooted in Umbrian tradition. All are crucial to retaining the brand’s distinctive sartorial bravado.
“We always strive to keep the craftsmanship behind our products thriving,” says Carolina. “We’ve set up schools where we teach our crafts, and we pay tomorrow’s artisans to take these classes and learn. We want to give dignity back to these crafts. In this way, we can guarantee that there will be no shortage of workforce in our industry.”
A tangible example of where the sisters are taking their father’s empire arrived last year in the form of the BC Duo bag: something of a torch-passing moment, it’s the first product to be designed by the sisters in tandem. “Carolina and I really wanted to take on this project, as it’s one that really expresses our new approach,” says Camilla. “If you actually take a look at the cuts of the leather, you can see it as if it were myself and my sister, blending together, in the form of the bag. We worked so hard singling out the materials and also the colour palette. We also decided to employ different fabrics and different yarns for different seasons, and adopted some of the techniques that are used in knitwear and transferred them onto the bag, so there is a sort of dialogue between the bags’ different collections.”
Further expression of Brunello Cucinelli’s direction has now arrived in the form of Mediterranea: a capsule collection for men and women, created for summer 2026, characterised by coastal charm, desert tones and an extra dash of that nonchalance par excellence Brunello devotees find so seductive. Expect light linens and shimmering silks, flowing drapes and silhouettes, and an artful interplay between classicism and subtle modernity. This is a brand whose clothing is the sartorial equivalent of that person in the room who everyone listens to, despite them never raising their voice. Mediterranea takes that knack for quiet assertiveness to new heights.
“Being a no-logo brand, our design team’s challenge every season is to search the world for inspiration, then try to bring something entirely new to the market—but distinctly Cucinelli each time,” says Carolina. “That means major changes, every season, but without ever losing our identity. Adds Camilla: “Something that really stays consistent across seasons and collections for us is the fineness and preciousness of our raw materials: we have to remain known for touch, for tactility. Whether it is yarns or fabrics, that takes so much in-depth analysis. Our customers buy with the hand as well as the eye.”
For both sisters, it’s more than simply a collection: it’s the latest milestone in a family odyssey. “For us, the feeling is akin to raising a child,” says Camilla. “So much challenge, so much commitment—and yet so much fun. We were never pressured to be involved with the family business. We just found ourselves in this situation, and wanting it to thrive comes naturally, because we share our father’s dream.”
