Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana & Luxury Cashmere

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May I ask a couple of questions about Loro Piana? I've been reading about cashmere as a case study for supply chain management, and it seems Loro Piana is the best in the world at securing capacity for luxury fabrics like vicuña cashmere and merino wool. While cashmere is available across the broader market, your company's heritage lies in sourcing these materials and vertically integrating the entire supply chain. How important do you think that is to the brand? What you said resonates with me in terms of how I think about luxury brands. Luxury isn't just about price point or product; there must be some heritage and symbolic meaning behind the brand. Loro Piana has excelled at sourcing materials and maintaining the highest quality and exclusive relationships globally for sourcing vicuña. Does that matter when transitioning from a great product with great materials to creating a brand? I believe it started as a textiles company and then evolved into a ready-to-wear company.

Sourcing the raw materials is crucial, but it's also important to have the artisanal skill and engineering capabilities to work with these materials. Other brands may source vicuña, but only a few can actually work with it. Loro Piana has a B2B business, selling fabrics to competitors like Brunello Cucinelli, Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermès, because weaving and working with these materials is a complex process.

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May I ask a couple of questions about Loro Piana? I've been reading about cashmere as a case study for supply chain management, and it seems Loro Piana is the best in the world at securing capacity for luxury fabrics like vicuña cashmere and merino wool. While cashmere is available across the broader market, your company's heritage lies in sourcing these materials and vertically integrating the entire supply chain. How important do you think that is to the brand? What you said resonates with me in terms of how I think about luxury brands. Luxury isn't just about price point or product; there must be some heritage and symbolic meaning behind the brand. Loro Piana has excelled at sourcing materials and maintaining the highest quality and exclusive relationships globally for sourcing vicuña. Does that matter when transitioning from a great product with great materials to creating a brand? I believe it started as a textiles company and then evolved into a ready-to-wear company.

This unique approach is shared by a few other brands, and it's becoming a trend in the industry. Brands like Chanel are pursuing vertical integration strategies to have greater control over their supply chains and raw material sourcing. This is important not only for maintaining quality but also for adhering to sustainability commitments.

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Does Loro Piana have something like that? How do you think about that aspect? I'm not sure if Chanel does, but obviously, Chanel is what it is. Hermès also comes to mind. How important are these kinds of experiences?

This service gives them the idea that they become part of the company and have the opportunity to co-create products. Once you spend 500,000 euro per year in Loro Piana or Brunello, having the opportunity to co-create the product makes you feel quite important. Brands like Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli are doing this well. The challenge is not in offering the service, but in the supply chain behind it. Creating a unique product in a short term adds complications to an already stretched supply chain.

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