A scandal broke out in Europe after reports that the Italian fashion house, Brunello Cucinelli, continued to do business with Russia despite EU sanctions prohibiting the sale of luxury goods over €300.
The group of financial analysts from Morpheus Research published material claiming that Cucinelli continues to operate stores in Moscow, selling a wide range of products worth thousands of euros, despite the CEO’s statements about closing stores.
In August and September 2025, mystery shoppers were sent to Cucinelli stores in Moscow to confirm that they were still open and selling high-end goods worth several thousand dollars.
“Despite Cucinelli CEO’s claims of store closures, we sent secret shoppers to some of Cucinelli’s Moscow stores in August and September 2025 who confirmed that the stores are open and selling multi-thousand euro luxury goods. Notably, the tags on many of these garments reveal that they had been manufactured in Italy in either 2024 or 2025, years after EU luxury sanctions were imposed.Our shoppers made multiple purchases, with the sales receipts being issued by Cucinelli’s Russian subsidiary. We obtained financial statements from Cucinelli’s Russian subsidiary that reveal the entity generated ~€15 million in sales in both 2023 and 2024, despite the key stores it operates purportedly being closed,” said Morpheus Research.
According to the Morpheus Research’s investigation, in addition to sales through its own stores in Russia, Cucinelli also sells through luxury outlets such as TSUM controlled by the Russian conglomerate, Mercury Group.
The Brunello Cucinelli fashion house responded to these accusations by issuing a statement claiming that “the products used are those legally shipped to Russia within the limits set by the European Union, along with the residual inventory delivered prior to the introduction of sanctions… Inspections conducted by the Italian Customs Agency have confirmed full compliance with procedure… The share of the Russian market in our turnover has decreased by more than two-thirds compared to 2021, now accounting for approximately 2%.”
