I’m writing a book about luxury.

To do it, I went back through notes, conversations, and material from nearly forty years of fieldwork with companies and teaching in universities. Luxury gets talked about constantly, but I’m afraid the word has been betrayed, both in practice and in analysis.

That’s where the idea came from: to tell, briefly, the path that takes a manufacturing SME and turns it into a luxury brand. I mapped twenty-one Italian companies, in fashion, jewelry, leather goods, watchmaking, and yachting: those who’ve already made the leap (Cucinelli, Moncler, Tod’s, Loro Piana, Sanlorenzo, among others), those showing strong signs of getting there (Herno, Santoni, U-Boat), and those who consciously chose to stay small.

One thing struck me more than anything else: capital isn’t enough. Locman has had a partner from Hublot on board since 1990, and revenue stuck at 9 million. Serapian has had Richemont behind it since 2017, and still hasn’t broken 5 million. The conditions only work together: a distinctive identifier, patient capital, control over distribution, and leadership capable of holding them together for a decade or more.

Changing a company’s culture, believe me, is the hardest challenge of all.