Briglia 1949 soars to 1,500 clients, enters the US Market, and considers opening a store in Japan

Briglia 1949, the flagship brand of Four.ten Industry S.r.l. in Italy’s San Giuseppe Vesuviano, renowned for its premium trousers and complementary outerwear, unveiled at Pitti Uomo 110 a collaboration with esteemed Bologna-based designer Alessandro Pungetti (Ten C, C.P. Company, formerly at Baracuta, and recently appointed creative director of Aquascutum Active). Using Briglia 1949’s fabrics as a base and starting from tailored construction, the designer applied membrane and heat-bonding techniques to lend the project’s outerwear a markedly sportier character. Comfortable volumes, meticulous detailing, and exclusive materials- such as fine wools (by Reda) coupled with technical membranes, cotton–wool blends with metal/steel fibres, three-layer garment-dyed linens, a refined cotton-linen chambray-effect blend and technical denim- define an innovative proposition that broadens the brand’s creative universe.

“We started from our ultra-classic taste to create technical garments that can also be worn on a boat, just as the America’s Cup approaches- an event we’ll experience in and off Naples in the coming months,” Michele Carillo, founder and creative director of Briglia 1949, tells FashionNetwork.com. The brand’s name nods to his passion for horses and his father’s year of birth. “This capsule features a brand-new line-up of field jackets, Saharan jackets, shirt-jackets, and bombers, which sits alongside Briglia 1949’s Spring-Summer 2027 collection. Its outerwear pieces can be paired effortlessly with our other products.”

Another capsule within Briglia 1949’s Spring/Summer 2027 offer, called “DNM,” explores the denim universe by reinterpreting the traditional five-pocket: lightweight denim, chambray, and fine cottons with vintage treatments meet the brand’s signature tailored silhouettes.

Although its core business is tailored men’s trousers and menswear, Briglia 1949 is seeing strong growth in the women’s side of the collection. “The same raw materials, the same fits, for a woman whose taste is close to a man’s- a very contemporary approach at the moment, resulting in garments that are, in a sense, genderless,” says Carillo. “In fact, I think wardrobes will become increasingly unified. I often find my clothes on my wife, because women love to choose pieces from the men’s wardrobe and wear them.”

Stocked by around 500 retailers in Italy and more than 1,000 elsewhere, Briglia 1949 now records an even split in turnover- 50% in Italy and 50% abroad. “We anticipate markedly stronger growth overseas in the coming years, because we have many markets to develop more concretely and with the utmost care,” says Carillo, whose brand is sold throughout Europe and is well established in Japan, South Korea and, for the past couple of seasons, Canada.

“We are now rolling out distribution in the United States. It’s a difficult market, especially at this point in time, but just as stimulating,” reveals the founder, who believes that “for a project like Briglia, it is ‘easier’ to enter department stores which, in this period of weak consumption, more effectively channel customers’ desire for change- or to try new things.”

Michele Carillo is starting to consider opening a Briglia 1949 mono-brand store in Japan, “where I’ve already scouted a few locations, before moving on to South Korea at a later stage,” says the entrepreneur and creative director, whose parent company, Four.ten, continues to undertake contract manufacturing. “It’s a part of the business we’ve scaled back recently. We closed 2025 with turnover of around €20 million, up 20% year on year.”