'King of Cashmere' CEO on outperforming the luxury slowdown: Don't be greedy

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – On the day of its IPO in 2012, Brunello Cucinelli issued an uncommon ultimatum to investors: if they wanted short-term profits achieved by harming the environment or damaging people, they should not invest. In stark contrast to an industry filled with flatlining sales, the Italian luxury house known as "the King of Cashmere" is now bucking the trend, reporting a 14% revenue growth in the first three months of the year. Meanwhile, other major luxury houses like Gucci and Louis Vuitton are weathering a sweeping downturn, barely recording growth at all. Brunello Cucinelli's success in making luxury apparel, including knitwear lined with diamonds and $1,000 t-shirts, is tied to its ethos of choosing long-term integrity over short-term margin chasing, Co-CEO Riccardo Stefanelli told CNBC. "You don't have to be greedy," he said on the sidelines of the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen. "If you are greedy, it means that you are taking value from the supply chain and you are depleting someone." Dressed in white, matching Brunello Cucinelli's "Solomeo in White" collection, the 45-year-old CEO explained how the company is expanding without losing its soul: it consciously operates at lower margins to preserve a healthy supply chain and what it calls "gracious" growth. …