Cariaggi MOQ vs, unit math at $180 retail
I'm thinking about the Cariaggi 30kg MOQ on the 80/20 cashmere/wool blend at 320 GSM. If my retail is $180 on the alpine cap I described last month, can I make the unit math work? Or should I be looking at a different mill for first run?
Two issues to separate before doing the math.
The MOQ question. Cariaggi's 30kg minimum on the 320 GSM blend yields roughly 280–340 finished caps depending on yield and waste. At $180 retail with a 4× cost-to-retail target (which is what the Brunello Cucinelli supply chain logic from your saved positioning note assumes), you have $45 to land the cap, fabric, trim, construction, freight, duty. The Cariaggi yarn alone will run €38–52/kg before processing. That's tight but workable for a first run if you've already qualified the construction partner.
The strategic question, and this is the one that matters more. You logged the Bertelli principle three weeks ago: you arrive at a mill with documented performance requirements, not aesthetic preferences. Have you written the performance spec for the alpine cap yet? Boiled wool at 480 GSM and a cashmere blend at 320 GSM are two different garments, not two material options. The Cariaggi blend will not give you the windproof, water-shedding behavior you noted in your Physical Problem statement. It's a luxury-positioning move, not a technical one.
If the brand strategy is genuinely Hybrid, that is, Italy mainline plus accessible diffusion (the Lorenzo barbell you saved last week), then Cariaggi is a Year 2 mainline mill, not a Run 1 decision. For Run 1, the Steinbeck Loden boiled wool you sampled in our thread from last Tuesday solves the actual physical problem and lands the cap inside your cost target.
Want me to draft a Material Brief for Cariaggi that you can park for the mainline conversation in 6–9 months?
That actually answers it. Yes, draft the Cariaggi Material Brief and save it under the alpine-cap product. And remind me about it when I'm closer to Run 2 production.
Done. Material Brief drafted using the 1.5 Material Partnership template, saved to your alpine-cap product workspace. I'll surface it again when your sell-through data on Run 1 suggests Run 2 commitment.
One more thing worth flagging: the Cariaggi conversation is itself the relationship. The Bertelli/Hugh principle says you do not arrive at the supplier when you need the material. You arrive 18 months early. Want me to add a Q3 reminder to make first contact with Cariaggi, sample request, no commitment, so the relationship is in place before you need it?