MILAN — Caruso is returning to Milan Men’s Fashion Week after a decade, a significant step for the brand as it enters its next phase under new owners.
“I’m super excited, as we have a shareholder who believes in the future and is investing in it,” said the brand’s chief executive officer Marco Angeloni during an interview ahead of the presentation on Saturday. “There are a lot of trends in the market that are in our favor and we should leverage these trends.”
In February, Lanvin Group sold Caruso parent Raffaele Caruso SpA to MondeVita Italy Srl, part of Mondevo Group, which was founded by Hussam Otaibi, chairman, and Fabio Brambilla, cofounder and CEO. Lanvin took control of Caruso in 2021, when the former operated as Fosun Fashion Group.
You May Also Like
“We fell in love with Caruso because we recognized something truly distinctive: a brand with a unique style and a clear, contemporary vision, supported by an exceptional manufacturing platform and a passionate, dedicated team,” Otaibi said. “We strongly believe in the path that Marco Angeloni has set for the brand and are committed to supporting him and his team as they continue to build on this momentum. Ours is a long-term investment, driven by the ambition to foster sustainable growth and create meaningful synergies across our broader network of partners and end customers. We are proud to be part of Caruso’s next chapter and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Under the new ownership, Angeloni was confirmed in his role and became a minority shareholder in the company, reinforcing his long-term commitment to Caruso’s development. In a further sign of continuity, Max Kibardin remained as creative director of the brand.
This was MondeVita’s first investment in lifestyle, a division positioned within a portfolio of heritage brands across luxury goods, premium beverages, hospitality and wellness, Angeloni said.
“I think Caruso always had a special place in Milan and now we need to be back. I believe that, in terms of taste of what customers want, Caruso is very appealing today with its elegant yet playful approach to tailoring,” Angeloni said.
But don’t expect any major overhaul.
“Being smaller allows for more flexibility and agility. We have a million projects in the pipeline, but in coherence with our past so we’re not changing direction, which is important. It’s a direction we know is the right one, but now we are pushing on it, going back to the authenticity, the values, the very respectful ratio between price and quality that characterize us,” Angeloni said.
“We have been building a certain position for the brand, a certain style, a certain way of telling the story in a Caruso way, and we have obviously great clients and partners already fully committed to the future of the brand and we’re building upon that,” he continued. “The change of ownership happened barely more than three months ago, and still we have been acting very, very quickly in many ways. The first thing we want to do now is to tell the story to more people out there.”
Kibardin, who joined Caruso four years ago, was equally upbeat, saying the new investors “fell in love with Marco’s vision and I’m happy to support it. Now we have this opportunity to make things a little bit bigger and a little bit better.”
Kibardin said he will continue to emphasize Caruso’s “strong tailoring roots in Italian history.” Last season the designer was inspired by artist Mark Rothko and his approach to colorblocking, and for spring he turned to Irving Penn’s photography.
“I loved the precision of his vision and how everything would be calculated. I think suits are the sexiest garments, we all want to look attractive, and especially when times are tough, you need to give emotions to people, make them dream. So we went full speed ahead into tailoring, with beautiful fabrics and looked deeply into the archetypes. Precision is the key word, the leitmotif for the collection.”
Angeloni trumpeted Kibardin’s “incredible sense of color, which differentiates the brand from everyone else.”
They also rely on “the basics of luxury,” Angeloni said. “There’s a lot of talk these days about the luxury business being tough, about many customers — even high net worth individuals — being dissatisfied with the service, with the product, with the quality [and] especially with the price. So I believe there is a search out there for brands where exclusivity and the artisanal and artistic components are key, and we have that, with a price reflecting these qualities, and also a dream factor, but without it being the main variable. There’s a big chance for brands that are authentic, like Caruso is.”
He highlighted the brand’s own in-house production and more than six decades of expertise. Caruso was founded in 1964 in Soragna, in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, and in addition to its own proprietary menswear brand, it manufactures collections in-house for leading and international luxury labels.
“We’ve been able to keep a unique know-how, to produce the fully canvassed jacket, and an incredible level of quality even during tough times,” Angeloni said. “We never lowered the quality to lower our prices. We always said no when asked and this now is paying off, because the know-how in many cases has been lost elsewhere.”
Group sales last year totaled 35 million euros, a year that saw the Caruso brand grow slightly while production slowed down a bit, he said. “In the next three years, we want to more than double the Caruso brand, and we think we can do that easily,” Angeloni contended.
“We are a small team, and Marco and I are on the same page and we can take decisions from one day to another, so we are very lean and that helps a lot. And we like being personally involved — it’s very important right now,” Kibardin added.
Europe accounts for almost 70 percent of Caruso’s sales, followed by Japan, a market with “consumers that are very discerning and very loyal, so we are proud to be there and we want to support it. And then obviously the U.S. is the next frontier,” Angeloni said. “We genuinely believe there is space for a brand like Caruso, especially with some very high-end luxury specialty stores today that want to go back to being talent scouts, and to having a point of view.”
The brand has also garnered red-carpet status, worn by the likes of Glen Powell and Matt Bomer.
Caruso is distributed in around 200 multibrand stores, including Mr Porter, Nugnes and Eraldo, in Ceggia and Lido di Jesolo, Italy.
“We carry Caruso because it represents one of the finest examples of contemporary Italian tailoring. The brand possesses a rare ability to combine craftsmanship, stylistic innovation and fit, all while maintaining a strong, consistent identity,” said Giuseppe Nugnes, owner of Nugnes, located in Italy’s Trani. “It is important for us to offer our customers authentic products with a distinct heritage and expertise, and Caruso meets these criteria perfectly. Moreover, it is a reliable partner capable of evolving season after season without losing its identity.”
Alberto Ferrante, owner of Eraldo, said, “Caruso represents the pinnacle of contemporary Italian tailoring— a brand that blends manufacturing tradition, uncompromising quality and a modern elegance perfectly aligned with a philosophy of authentic, timeless luxury.”
Angeloni said Caruso is revamping its Milan headquarters and showroom with Studio18milano, which will be ready for fashion week. “It’s not a total makeover, it is an upgrade, a renovation, which will speak more about luxury,” he said.
“Caruso is not a family-owned business, and it has not been so for a long time now, but we treat it as if it was our own,” Angeloni said. “We have an entrepreneurial attitude, so we’re very resource-conscious, and we’ll keep it this way, because I think sometimes this forces you to do things more creatively, more interestingly, to think a little bit out of the box. It’s not just because we have a little bit more resources to invest, we’re going to change the way we act. I’m very proud of what we did in the past with very little resources. Today, obviously, we have more power, but nothing’s going to change in terms of our approach.”
Caruso has also explored collaborations including one with Sanyo Coat that featured handmade components and details such as horn buttons and a herringbone cotton lining as another way to elevate the brand.
Caruso also linked with Villa Milano on cuff links, and in this third season with the company, it will introduce a new insect — a cricket — on the accessories, made of 24-karat gold and a precious stone.
