History

Master tailor Nazareno Fonticoli and his business partner Gaetano Savini opened their first suit shop in Rome's Via Barberini at the end of World War II. The company was named "Brioni" after the resort on the coast of the Adriatic Sea which is now called Brijuni in Croatia.

Brioni's first fashion show was held in 1952 at the Pitti Palace, Florence. The show gave the company exposure to clients worldwide. In 1954, Brioni held a fashion show in New York City, followed by shows in eight other American cities. That year, Brioni opened new shops on both sides of the Atlantic.

Umberto Angeloni took over as Chief Executive Officer in 1990, and started an expansion plan which saw the introduction of a womenswear line, and shops opening in locations such as Mumbai and St. Petersburg. He also arranged for Brioni suits to appear in James Bond movies from 1995. However in 2006 the family replaced Angeloni with three joint CEO's : Antonella de Simone, descended from Fonticoli, Andrea Perrone, a descendant of Savini and married to de Simone's sister, and finance man Antonio Bianchini.

Production

In order to meet the demand of such a large clientele, Brioni opened a factory in Abruzzo, Italy, where expert tailors hand-sew jackets and trousers before adding the finishing touches by machine. Brioni also owns a shirt factory, a leather fashion house and a line of women's clothing.

Brioni's 900 tailors create 200 models in different styles and sizes every year. A quarter of the production consists of made-to-measure tailored suits for an elite of 25,000 customers.

Each garment requires at least 18 hours of work, and there are more than 5,000 different fabrics to choose from. Off the peg suits cost about €4000 on average, and the custom-tailored from €3000 to €18,000.

Boutiques

As of January 2007, Brioni owned 25 boutiques, which accounted for about 20% of sales. There were a further 13 franchised stores. Six of the boutiques are in the United States, in New York at Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hill at Rodeo Drive, San Fransisco at Union Square, Miami Beach at Bal Harbor, and the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Brioni’s New York showrooms are located on 52^nd Street and 57^th Street in Manhattan. Brioni garments can be purchased at high end department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Wilkes Bashford and Neiman Marcus. Brioni has recently opened its boutique in Jakarta, Indonesia, at Plaza Indonesia.

Clientele

From the beginning, Brioni suits were luxuries only afforded to the privileged few, namely Europe's wealthy aristocrats. Celebrities such as Clark Gable and Cary Grant began to buy their suits from Brioni in the 1950s when working at Rome’s Cinecitta studios.  New York crime boss John Gotti earned the nickname ‘Dapper Don’ after his extensive wardrobe of custom Brioni suits. Today, Brioni is a favorite of real estate mogul Donald Trump. It is rumored that a Middle Eastern sultan once ordered a stagerring 100 suits from Brioni all in one month!