Why is Loro Piana Is Selling a $5,600 Jacket Painstakingly Woven From a Plant in Myanmar? Read more from WSJ:
Mr. Loro Piana, who is known by the diminutive “Pigi,” runs Loro Piana jointly with his brother. Sergio Loro Piana is the tall, lanky brother who markets the company and the luxury lifestyle from sailboats and ski resorts. Pigi is the stocky explorer-brother who can be found fingering tufts of wool and cashmere in outbacks from Australia to the Himalayas. Naturally, he wanted to see exactly where the lotus fabric came from. That took him last February to Myanmar—the former Burma, a military-run country whose goods are banned from the U.S., though not Italy. Mr. Loro Piana’s four-day journey to Myanmar last February was spurred by more than curiosity: He hoped to discover a new textile. The lotus jacket he’d worn had convinced him that the molecular makeup of the plant gave it special breathable, wrinkle-resistant qualities. And it fit in well with the luxury, natural-fiber sportswear that Loro Piana sells in its stores from Madison Avenue in New York to the Ginza in Tokyo. Lotus jackets could further burnish the brand, which stresses textile innovation. As it competes with lower-cost production of wool and cashmere from China, Loro Piana has introduced other superluxury natural textiles, such as vicuña and so-called baby cashmere. – read more from WSJ
