In the summer of 2021, Ugo Apuzzo and Floriano Bollettini spent months crisscrossing Italy in search for what they believed was the perfect fabric. Each day, as part of their program at École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris, they’d meet with potential prospects and, between espressos and glasses of Chianti, try to convince them that they should save the trimmings that would otherwise be tossed.

Their efforts reaped dividends five month later. Retracing their steps, the men collected nearly a ton of animal hair. The commercial spinners in Italy that they brought it to told them it was better than fine cashmere.