Rising With A Region: How Loro Piana’s Savoir-Faire is Taking the Middle East By Storm
From teaming up with local artists to collaborating with multi-faceted Emirati creatives, here’s how the Italian luxury label has been making its mark on the region
Three thousand miles from Loro Piana’s factories in northern Italy, where unfinished Australian, and New Zealand wool is imported, meticulously carded, woven and dyed, a Dubai flagship boutique awash in beige and cream serves as a symbol of one of the city’s most successful luxury stories to date.
One may ask how a cashmere brand famous for its ultrasoft sweaters and scarves, captivated a desert-thriving population. The answer is simple: slowly but surely. Luxury wool maker Loro Piana began writing the modern pages of its history in 2017. This was when it opened a sprawling 4,320-square-foot store in the Dubai Mall, which today has risen to become one of the company’s top performing stores in the world. And now a brand-new Loro Piana shop has just opened in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh’s Centria Mall, which will expand the company’s reach in the region even further.
“Loro Piana’s continual homage to the regional cultures and communities truly exemplifies the brand’s sensitivity and commitment towards the necessities and desires of its local customers: with attention to exclusivity being absolutely central to Loro Piana’s vision,” says Nicole Louise Ward, General Manager at Loro Piana Middle East.
Originally from Trivero, in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the Loro Piana family and its almost one-hundred-year-old brand have long been associated with Europe’s jet-set and aristocracy – the sort of ultra-rich who know exactly how to swathe a cashmere scarf over their shoulder just so or toss a cashmere throw perfectly over their chaise longue. To translate the value of high-end cashmere to the Gulf region’s sophisticated shoppers, Loro Piana has over the years unfurled a series of special launches and even an exhibition.
Truth be told, things had already begun to pivot rapidly for the house back in 2013, when LVMH purchased an 80 per cent stake in the brand. At the time Pier Luigi Loro Piana, a descendent of the brand’s founder, stayed on at the house as deputy chairman and worked to uphold the company’s reputation for top-tier textiles – from wool to linen. From there, the newly fortified company decided to take advantage of the Arab region’s uptick in luxury spend and make Pier Luigi’s expansion ambitions a reality.
“Loro Piana has an amazing vision that beauty originates in nature, and we have a determination to create products, which are beautiful with no compromise made in comfort,” says Nicole. “Our customers appreciate that it’s not just what they touch, but also the story behind it. We are proud to say that we offer a beautiful product that is exquisite and is made with the rarest natural fibre in the world. This makes our products special, no matter where in the world we sell them,” she adds.
In tandem with the Dubai Mall store opening, Loro Piana teamed up with local artist eL Seed to present a unique installation to showcase its The Gift of Kings wool. A wool regarded as the finest fibre in the world and originates solely from specially selected flocks of merino sheep from the meadows of Australia and New Zealand. “In the UAE, our unique product offer moves the brand closer to the Emirati culture and values whether celebrating Ramadan with a dedicated collection, paying tribute to the spiritual season and local customs, or the men’s Arabic sandal, available only in the region and created exclusively for the customer in the UAE and GCC,” explains Nicole.
Collaborations have been key in connecting with the region. Emirati painter, photographer and sculptor Mattar Bin Lahej, who opened the first art gallery in the United Arab Emirates, has played a key role in translating the brand to consumers here. The conceptual and visionary artist, reworked the country’s National Anthem lyrics using his signature, self-created Arabic Mattar font on Loro Piana’s textiles. The result was a visually striking and movingly emotive tribute to his home country. Each piece was numbered and signed by Mattar as an exquisite and tangible keepsake of the 50th anniversary year of the UAE.
Another fundamental reason Loro Piana has been so successful in Middle Eastern shopping locations like Riyadh, Jeddah and Qatar’s Lusail, has been diversifying its own product offering to cater to transeasonal wardrobes. Suede loafers for men and most recently, Dolce Vita swimsuits and accessories for women are clearly targeted to the region’s poolside-living consumers. While the company’s foray into design and home décor coincides with the booming growth of the local real estate market.
Earlier this year, Loro Piana Interiors unveiled a new furniture line designed by Raphael Navot during Milan Design Week. The first design was the Palm Duet chaise longue launched in 2021, made using the cashfur fabric created by Loro Piana Interiors. The artistically sculptured and futuristically sleek line was introduced to Middle Eastern press this spring at Portofino’s Belmond Splendido Mare hotel, which now features pieces from the line, and in a series of wanderlust land and sea events.
In another clever development, this month the brand unfurled its CashDenim collection. Exclusively dedicated to the tailoring of just two pieces for women – the minimal precision of a pair of denim trousers and a matching jacket, which were introduced in the autumn/ winter 2022 Womenswear Collection. The line was created in a rare knowledge exchange venture between Loro Piana artisans in Piedmont, Italy and experts in denim manufacturing in the Bingo province (Okayama and Hiroshima Prefectures) of Japan. The fabric represents a creative coalition between two like-minded cultures, both focused on seeking perfection. And as its name suggests, CashDenim is technically a combination of 60 per cent denim and 40 per cent cashmere – perfect for a Middle Eastern winter season.
But still, the rich history of the Loro Piana brand isn’t widely known in the region. For generations, it has been connected to the ancient production of wool, a defining economic pillar of the robust Italian Alpine region’s economy, since the early 1800s. Building on family craftsmanship and traditions, Pietro Loro Piana founded his namesake brand, which has produced luxury fabrics for interiors and clothing, in 1924.
One may ask how a cashmere brand famous for it’s ultra-soft sweaters and scarves, captivated a desert thriving population. The answer is simple: Slowly but surely.
During the postwar years, the label developed a successful business networking and selling to upscale tailors across Europe, the United States and Japan. In the 1970s, the founder’s great-nephews, brothers Pier Luigi and Sergio Loro Piana followed in the footsteps of their father, Franco, and steered the label into the 21st century and into the world of ready-to-wear. The house has now become known for its evergreen clothing designs and its endless exploration of new frontiers for wool and cashmere. Incorporating yarns from the baby goats of northern China and Inner Mongolia, vicuña from the Andes, extra-fine Merino wool from Australia and New Zealand and lotus flower fibre from Myanmar.
According to the Savills Global Luxury Report, the Middle East is set to be a key growth driver for the luxury sector post-pandemic with growth largely helped by a young and rising middle-class population. Despite an uptick in new store activity in the Middle East in 2021, its global share stands at only three per cent, highlighting the region’s untapped potential and room for expansion in the UAE, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“We understand that our clients in the UAE, and the Middle East generally, have many of their garments made by personal tailors. Through this experience they have a true appreciation of fabric which makes their choices within the world of Loro Piana very well informed,” reflects Nicole. “This level of education starts at a very young age, so it is common to see three or four generations of the same family enjoying wearing Loro Piana,” she goes on to add.
In October of last year, LVMH tapped Damien Bertrand, former managing director at Christian Dior Couture in Paris, to become Loro Piana’s CEO, touting his “daring ideas and commitment to brand desirability.” With Damien, a new chapter is being written at the house. And as the Middle East market continues to grow at an exponential rate, count on its discerning customer base to drive the house to new heights.
Written by Sofia Celeste for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2022 issue.