From Cariaggi to Zegna Baruffa, the Italian spinning industry invests in supply chain acquisitions and traceability

'2024? It is a year devoted to physiotherapy: after running so much, overwhelmed by market demand, muscles hurt and it is necessary to stop and find a new balance'. Renato Cotto, managing director of Filati Biagioli Modesto, queen of cashmere and 'special observer' of the Prato textile district especially since (in 2021) the Prada and Zegna brands acquired 80% of the company, considers the slowdown that the Italian spinning industry is experiencing (-11% turnover 2023, down to 2.886 million according to Sistema moda Italia estimates; -12% export at 868 million; and -17.2% import at 938 million).

No alarm, in short, just an adjustment after the large orders of the last two years that have forced companies to work under pressure: this is the message coming from the companies that have recently taken part in the Pitti Filati exhibition in Florence (82 knitting yarn brands, of which 16 foreign, presented their collections for autumn-winter 2025-2026).

Now is the time to reorganise and invest: 'After having bought the Bonfil spinning mill in Quarrata at the beginning of 2023,' explains Cotto, 'and 40% of the Monital dejarring mill in Mongolia last December to gain control of the raw material, we now aim to acquire a combed spinning mill, since we have included combed yarns in the collection. In the last three years Biagioli has invested 13 million euro, another four million is planned for 2024-2025. The company ended 2023 with revenues at +12% to 49.7 million and ebitda at 12%, and plans to exceed 50 million this year. Only 25% of turnover comes from the two 'heavy' shareholders: 'It is essential to be strong externally to work well with the shareholders,' adds the CEO, formerly Loro Piana.

Invests on the ESG front the Biella-based Zegna Baruffa of Alfredo Botto Poala, the wool specialist, which has just introduced a governance system to define environmental and social strategies and ensure their execution, is installing a photovoltaic system on the roof of some warehouses, and has converted all its lighting to LED to save Co2, as documented in its seventh sustainability report: "It is a time when markets are not dynamic," explains CEO Lorenzo Piacentini, "but we all know that it is a transition phase. We are already expecting a rebound in the second half of the year, the important thing now is not to stop investing'. Zegna Baruffa (600 employees) ended 2023 with a turnover of 90 million (-11%) and an ebitda at 8%, and this year it aims to confirm these results. "Customers are increasingly demanding traceability on yarns," Piacentini adds, "and we have exceeded 40% traceable wool thanks to the Rws process certification.

The Marche-based Cariaggi , a specialist in fine yarns controlled by the family of the same name with Chanel and Cucinelli holding 24.5% each. The company has launched an industrial plan 2024-2027 that envisages 40 million investments in technology and production space, which have been strongly reinforced in recent years: 'We want to increase production, which today is around 900 thousand kilograms per year,' explains president Piergiorgio Cariaggi, 'so that we can directly produce 70% of the quantities. And to control the entire processing cycle, which is essential to ensure quality, we are thinking of acquiring companies in the chain that carry out stages that we do not have'. Cariaggi will close 2024 with revenues around 136 million euro, compared to 140 million realised in 2023 with an ebitda of 13%.