They say that ‘Success is a journey, not a destination’, and no-one knows this better than Italian brand Loro Piana.
A journey that began two centuries ago
The Loro Piana family
Loro Piana is recognised by the most discerning customers in the world for creating a complete range of lifestyle products. Manufactured with the finest raw materials, they are crafted to perfection in Italy, following classical codes of Italian elegance. With 136 stores to its name located in the world’s most iconic cities, from Paris, London and New York to the fast-paced metropolises of the East – Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong , Loro Piana stands for family tradition, heritage and the unending pursuit of excellence.
Loro Piana’s dedication to working with the finest raw materials on earth began more than two centuries ago. Through the six generations of this true family business runs a common thread: a passion for excellence, authenticity and perfectionism.
The first steps of Loro Piana’s journey began in the early nineteenth century in Trivero. This small northern Italian town located in the heart of the main wool district of Biella is where the family
plied an ancient trade as wool merchants. As industrialisation gathered momentum, the company as we know it today was set up, and quickly grew, thanks to the passion of its founding father, Pietro Loro Piana, for innovation and new technology.
The aftermath of the Second World War, with international markets across Europe, America and Japan opening up and a fledgling fashion industry beginning to emerge brought fresh challenges for Loro Piana.
Franco Loro Piana, then at the company’s helm, was faced with a difficult choice: join the masses or forge a path of his own? In a decision which would cement Loro Piana’s reputation for uncompromising quality, Franco chose to concentrate on high-end natural fabrics, like fine wools and cashmeres that were in demand for creating the sumptuous ‘New Look’ – a riposte to wartime austerity.
Today, headed by Franco’s own sons, Sergio and Pier Luigi, the firm continues to work with the finest materials, delivering products of uncompromising quality to customers across the world through its own network of stores.
A never ending commitment to quality
The great steppes of Peru where precious Vicuña roam
To offer its customers the highest-quality selection of products, Loro Piana travels the world in search of superior and rare raw-materials.
From Mongolia, where cashmere fibre is sourced from traditionally herded Hyrcus goats, to the mountainous regions of Peru where the company’s famed Vicuña fibre originates, Loro Piana controls every stage of production for the utmost quality, from the collection of the natural fibres, down to the creation of the finished products and their presentation in store.
Ever since Franco Loro Piana shunned mass-produced fabrics back in 1941, the company has had a deep-rooted respect for artisan traditions. A big part of its journey has been to preserve the traditional, age-old processes, which yield so many of its exquisite raw materials, from extinction.
No less than three of these materials – Vicuña, Baby Cashmere® and Lotus Flower fibre – are religiously gathered by hand.
High on the mountainous steppes of Peru where graceful Vicuña roam, it takes no less than six fleeces from the adult Vicuñas to make just one sweater, and more than thirty for a simple coat. Loro Piana played a central role in safeguarding these wonderful animals from extinction and in bringing back this exceptional material to the global market.
Meanwhile, into the Mongolian plains, nomads delicately hand-comb newly-born Hyrcus goat kids for the silky under fleece from which Loro Piana’s Baby Cashmere® is spun. More than just a time-honoured ritual, carried out just once in the goat’s lifetime, the thirty grams of silken fibre that each kid produces have let Loro Piana reach a new frontier in cashmere excellence.
Travelling south, to the tranquil waters of Burmese lakes, local women pluck the pink-tinged blooms of the lotus flower, which yield only the tiniest amounts of filament that are weaved through traditional looms, producing a mere fifty metres of fabric a month.
Passed down from generation to generation, these traditional skills are an essential part of local culture, in the same way as food or dialect. Loro Piana cherishes and protects the poetry of process, ensuring uniqueness in every product it offers.
The journey continues
A sweater made from the precious Vicuña fleece
Loro Piana’s dedication and passion for excellence in materials finds its ultimate expression in its iconic luxury lifestyle products, which the company has spent twenty years imagining, creating and refining.
Whether for an exclusive weekend aboard a yacht or speeding down the slopes in St Moritz, the Loro Piana family’s own love of sports, travel and the great outdoors has inspired some truly iconic pieces, from the Icer jacket, chosen by the Italian Racing Team for the 2000 finals at the Alpine Skiing World Cup, to the Horsey® jacket, first designed for the 1992 Olympics Italian riding team and to which Loro Piana is still the technical supplier. While still available, these pieces, among others, have been
re-interpreted using Vicuña and Loro Piana Baby Cashmere® and treated with Storm System®. This revolutionary technology ensures natural fabrics stay wind proof and water resistant, while maintaining the materials’ innate softness.
It is with the same obsession, passion, tradition and dedication to achieving exceptional quality, which Loro Piana infuses its entire range of lifestyle products, from a complete line of ready-to-wear clothes to a selection of timeless gifts to cherish. The gift range includes sumptuous cashmere travel pieces and small leather goods to home accessories and beautiful cashmere items for your newest born.
To further meet the needs of the world’s most sophisticated customers, a full bespoke service, encompassing suede shoes, fine handbags, luggage and interior furnishings for homes, yachts and even private jets, reflect the lifestyles of the company’s customers – whether at home, in the country or at leisure.
Today, Loro Piana offers discerning customers around the world not only a rich heritage in fabric production, a commitment to sourcing the best materials and a longstanding tradition of excellence, but an entire lifestyle built on the notion of quality without compromise.
