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Loro Piana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Loro Piana (surname).
Loro Piana S.p.A.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryTextiles
Founded1924; 100 years ago (1924), in Quarona, Italy
FounderPietro Loro Piana
Headquarters
Milan
,
Italy
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Damien Bertrand (CEO)
Revenue€1 billion (2019)
€135 million (2019)
ParentLVMH
WebsiteLoroPiana.com

Loro Piana S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion brand specialized in textile manufacturing and ready-to-wear clothing headquartered in Milan, Italy. Since its start as a merchant of cashmere, vicuña, linen and merino fabrics, Loro Piana expanded to design knitwear, leather goods, footwear, fragrance and related accessories. The company has three divisions: textiles, high fashion and luxury goods. Its core branding includes the Loro Piana family signature and coat-of-arms, depicting a European beech tree, a golden eagle, and two diagonal Stars of Italy, framed by flower thistles.

It was founded in 1924 by Pietro Loro Piana, an Italian engineer, in the Quarona commune of Piedmont. Since 2013, the company has been majority-owned by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), a French multinational fashion conglomerate. Loro Piana is one of the largest purveyors of cashmere in the world, producing 14.8 million feet of fabric in 2012.[1][2]

History

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A boutique in Madrid, Spain, 2022

Originally from Trivero, the Loro Piana family started as merchants of wool at the beginning of the 19th century.[3] In the second half of that century, the family moved its activity to Valsesia and founded the wool spinning mill Fratelli Lora e Compagnia, followed by the wool spinning mill Zignone & C. in Quarona at the beginning of the 20th century.[3] In 1924, the engineer Pietro Loro Piana founded the company Loro Piana & C. the town. After taking the lead of the company in the 1960s, Franco Loro Piana, grandson of Pietro, started to export high-quality fabrics to Europe, America and Japan.[4]

During the 1970s, the company was directed by Franco's sons, Sergio and Pier Luigi.[3] Their focus was on top-quality fabric development, including cashmere and extra-fine wools.[1] Sergio and Pier Luigi's research gave birth to the Tasmanian fabric.[1] In the 1980s, Sergio and Pier Luigi started to diversify the business, launching their first ready-to-wear collection and creating the luxury goods division.[3] The interior division for luxury home goods was launched in 2006.[5]

In July 2013, LVMH acquired an 80% stake in Loro Piana, becoming their majority shareholder, through a $2.6 billion cash and debt deal.[6][3] Sergio Loro Piana died the same year.[7] In December 2013, LVMH announced that Antoine Arnault would become chairman of Loro Piana.[8] In 2017, LVMH acquired another 5% stake in the company.[9][10] In November 2021, Damien Bertrand was appointed as CEO of the brand.[11] Since 2022, Loro Piana has established its headquarters at Cortile della Seta in Milan's Brera district.[4]

Stores

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As of July 2022, Loro Piana distributes its products in Europe, North America, the Middle East, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan.[12][13] It has a total of 145 stores worldwide as of October 2024.[3]

Operations

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The company is vertically integrated and handles all stages of production, from the harvesting of natural fibres to the delivery of the finished product to stores.[11] Loro Piana reported €700 million in revenue in 2012, with the company growing to €1 billion of sales, seven years later, in 2019.[11][6]

Supply chain

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Loro Piana operates a complex and global supply chain within its textile business.[11] The company reached an agreement with the government of Peru and local villages in the Andes in 1997 to only source vicuña fiber from living animals raised in the area.[2] A decade later, in 2008, Loro Piana helped finance Peru's first private nature preserve for vicuñas, as part of their business agreement.[2] In December 2021, the company gave clients and buyers full traceability – from sheep to store – of their products online, according to The New York Times.[14] In March 2024, Bloomberg News criticised the company's compensation agreements with local vicuña wool communities for being insufficient and ineffective in combatting subsistence farming.[15] According to the Financial Times, both the brand and local Peruvian community defended their initial contract as mutually beneficial.[3] Loro Piana announced enhanced supplier audits in December 2024 to ensure greater compliance with local compensation agreements.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Quick, Harriet (2015-12-03). "Loro Piana Preserves Its Heritage and Looks Forward to the Future". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2024-12-24.
  2. ^ a b c Trotter, Katie (2020-04-23). "10 Things You Need to Know About Loro Piana". Vogue Arabia. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Beresford, Jessica (2024-10-01). "Shhhhh! The stealth-wealth brand Loro Piana is celebrating 100 years". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  4. ^ a b Laura May Todd (14 April 2022), Loro Piana Gets a New Headquarters and Store T.
  5. ^ Sanderson, Rachel (2020-01-16). "How Loro Piana serves 'nomadic elite' with €7,000 cashmere coats". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Prêt à porter: LVMH s'offre 80% du groupe Loro Piana – L'Express avec L'Expansion". lexpansion.lexpress.fr. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  7. ^ Zargani, Luisa (20 December 2013). "Sergio Loro Piana Dead at 65". WWD. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  8. ^ Miles Socha (5 December 2013). "Younger Arnaults Gaining Greater Power at LVMH". WWD. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Loro Piana, la famiglia cede un altro 5% di quote". La Stampa. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Loro Piana, un altro 5% ai francesi – Diario di Biella". biella.diariodelweb.it. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d Miles Socha and Luisa Zargani (28 October 2021), Loro Piana Enters New Era With New CEO Women's Wear Daily.
  12. ^ "Loro Piana opens second New York store". Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Loro Piana Indonesia".
  14. ^ Friedman, Vanessa (2021-12-12). "Do You Know Where Your Sweater Came From?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2024-09-08. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  15. ^ Rochabrun, Marcelo. Bloomberg News (14 March 2024), The Secret Price of Quiet Luxury. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  16. ^ "Loro Piana Told Peru Officials in April It Doesn't Verify Vicuña Worker Pay". Bloomberg News. 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2024-12-24.
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