Mauro Ottaviani | Umbria Second-Generation Menswear Factory Launches His Own Cashmere Brand

Mauro Ottaviani is the last Italian cashmere brand in this series, and after completing this one, I plan to create a collection, categorizing them by price and characteristics.

Mauro Ottaviani only makes men's cashmere, currently offering only cashmere sweaters, similar to Drumohr . At present, they are limited to the most basic cashmere sweaters without producing other categories, but they still maintain fabric processing services. The women's brand That's Alyki is similar - the most basic category for cashmere clothing brands is cashmere sweaters, while brands that focus more on fabrics only offer scarves, such as Botto Giuseppe and those few British cashmere fabric merchants who have struggled to develop over hundreds of years.

Although they may not have especially high international recognition, larger cashmere brands typically have coat lines, like Piacenza 1733 and Andrè Maurice, while Cruciani offers suits and shirts. However, these categories really test design standards, and the results are often not good.

Since the official website only features about 10+ cashmere sweaters, and the brand was only established in 2014, there isn't much ready-to-wear material to introduce about Mauro Ottaviani. However, because they do processing for those excellent men's clothing brands, their ready-to-wear aesthetics and manufacturing standards appear cleaner. Since they do knitwear processing for top-tier men's clothing brands (only mentioned as top-tier without revealing specific brands), they have many fabric resources that are updated every season, which will be detailed later in the text.

01

1978 Raniero Ottaviani founded the textile factory, insisting on details and quality from the beginning; 1993 Raniero's three children Mauro, Simona and Elena inherited the family business, finding ways to expand the market and scale, beginning to provide yarn and processing services specifically for top Italian menswear brands; 2014 Mauro Ottaviani was officially established, and in 2018 began expanding global sales channels.

In November 2021, the Mauro Ottaviani brand successfully registered the EU trademark "MAURO OTTAVIANI MADE IN ITALY," strengthening the brand's commitment to authentic Italian craftsmanship and design.

As a knitwear processor, they have many fabrics, with corresponding cashmere, wool, and silk fabrics released each season.

Below is the 2024 fabric series, which belongs to the core fabric series, leaning toward autumn and winter: The top PURO Cashmere is Mauro Ottaviani's main cashmere fabric, with Hircus goat appearing in the introduction - Albas or Alasan goat? The washing label with Green Cashmere means half recycled cashmere and half new cashmere, with a more environmentally friendly production process.

CASH ROYAL is more soft, delicate, and tight, using 100% ultrafine combed cashmere with a three-ply twist technique; CASHMERE FLYING uses double-ply twisting, fluffier while avoiding the pilling problems common in cashmere fabrics; CASHTWEED cashmere tweed is a heavyweight piece in the 2024 winter series, combining the softness and comfort of cashmere with the three-dimensional granular feel of tweed, presenting a layered 3D button-like texture.

The SOFT and NOVANTADIECI TEC series are half cashmere and half wool, with the latter using Total Easy Cara technology for better anti-shrinkage and anti-pilling properties; JAIPUR is a blend of silk and cashmere.

Mauro Ottaviani's main wool fabric series: PUKAKI, the brand's core cashmere fabric: 100% pure New Zealand Merino wool, with fiber fineness reaching 140's, selecting long and fine wool yarns, treated with mercerization to make it more elastic and durable. Certified by ZQUE™, ensuring traceability and strict technical and ethical standards from raw material to finished product.

The fiber fineness value refers to the length of yarn that can be spun from a unit weight (usually 1 pound). The higher the number, the finer, lighter, and softer the yarn, suitable for high-end clothing. For example, 140's is finer and softer than 120's, belonging to mid-to-high-end fabrics, while 220's is the top tier.

15.5 MICRON WOOL: Selected from 15.5-micron superfine wool (this is fiber diameter) from Australia and New Zealand, this fabric has a 140's fiber grade, with 18-gauge craftsmanship for a lighter and more compact structure. Generally, good cashmere is also 15.5 microns, while the finest top-tier wool is from Zegna and Kiton, reaching 12.8 microns 220's and 10 microns, finer than baby cashmere.

SUPERMERINO uses 100% pure Merino wool with a fiber grade of 120's - from the picture, you can see that 120's is rougher, thicker, and more three-dimensional, with better wear resistance and stain resistance than PUKAKI and 15.5-micron wool.

TENDER uses 19.5-micron superfine Merino wool (coarser and heavier), applying Chanteclaire lightweight fleece technology and soft bouclé treatment to create a light, fluffy fabric effect with an airy feel. The fiber color presents a tonal melange.

Mauro Ottaviani's 2025 spring and summer fabric series is thinner, mainly featuring silk, linen, and cotton, combined and blended for T-shirts and polo shirts. Especially numerous are cotton fabric varieties (Sea Island cotton, Giza Cotton, Supima Cotton), and I also learned new fabric knowledge:

JERSEY PURA SETA 100% pure mulberry silk, known for its superior elasticity and smooth drape. This fabric has excellent breathability and temperature regulation capabilities, extremely comfortable to wear, providing a light and luxurious experience. The natural luster of silk gives garments an elegant quality, combining sophistication and casual attitude, perfectly suited for refined yet free-spirited styling.

UNICUM combines cashmere, mulberry silk, and specially colored linen fibers. Cashmere provides softness and warmth, mulberry silk gives smoothness and luster, while colored linen fibers bring natural texture. This yarn has a light, soft, fresh, and almost weightless quality.

SILKY is made from a blend of mulberry silk and organic cotton, combining the smooth fineness of silk with the easy care of cotton fibers.

ZERO COMPACT COTTON is Mauro Ottaviani's long-developed innovative cotton fiber, combining Egyptian long-staple cotton with high-tech compact cotton, ensuring that the fabric maintains its luster and elasticity even after multiple washes. Zero Pilling technology significantly reduces the pilling problems common in cotton fabrics, ensuring the fabric remains like new. This yarn belongs to the Cotton for Life sustainable cotton program, supporting organic cultivation of Egyptian cotton, and is certified by the TEXTILE AND HEALTH PROJECT, meeting environmental and social responsibility standards.

IBIZA LINEN / COTTON uses European certified linen interwoven with organic cotton, balancing cool texture with comfortable elasticity.

GIZA cotton is a world-renowned extra-long staple cotton, hand-picked in the Nile River Valley, known for its fine, tough, and durable fibers; SUPIMA (Superior Pima) is premium extra-long staple cotton from the southern United States, its long fiber structure giving fabrics ultimate compactness and excellent wrinkle resistance.

JERSEY OXYGEN (OSSIGENO) uses high-grade SUPIMA cotton, creating a thin but compact fabric with extremely fine knitting craftsmanship; SPRING PIQUET uses 80/2 fine compact cotton, supplemented with elastic fibers.

SEA ISLAND COTTON from between Barbados and Jamaica is one of the world's most precious cotton varieties. Mauro Ottaviani uses extremely fine yarn counts for weaving, with a smooth, soft touch.

02

Many niche Italian brands don't have purchase links on their official websites, only Lookbook photo displays.

These are Mauro Ottaviani's core cashmere sweater series, featuring cashmere sweaters of different thicknesses. From the pictures, you can see the quality feel.

The 2024 and 2025 Lookbooks are standardized and professional, with each cashmere sweater appearing neat and orderly. By comparison, Drumohr and Cruciani fall short - one with inferior fabric and one with inferior design.

Mauro Ottaviani, worthy of its reputation as a processor for top Italian menswear brands, has inherited and learned from their aesthetics as well. It has a more sophisticated aesthetic sense compared to Cruciani (an ordinary textile second-generation brand in the same price range), Andre Maurice (a century-old brand struggling to develop), and Neri Firenze (a niche designer).

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Epilogue

The many niche cashmere brands mentioned in this article actually offer very good value for money. Regular thickness cashmere sweaters are under $300, as shown in this image from an e-commerce website:

Because Mauro Ottaviani serves top Italian menswear brands, they place more emphasis on quality. From the various fabric categories, you can see Mauro Ottaviani's professionalism as a cashmere brand and knitwear factory. It's my favorite among all the niche Italian cashmere brands I've written about. However, its recognition is also very low. As far as I know, there are no purchasing channels in China - you have to go to Italy.

Factory second-generation self-created brands, especially those from factories that do OEM work for top luxury brands, typically have higher aesthetics and manufacturing craftsmanship than ordinary factory second-generation brands.

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