{"id":65033,"date":"2022-09-23T22:13:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T22:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=65033"},"modified":"2022-12-07T17:01:52","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T17:01:52","slug":"loro-piana-luxury-materials","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loro-piana-luxury-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Thread: See How Loro Piana Creates the World’s Finest Luxury Products"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An hour-and-a-half drive northwest from bustling Milan, Italy\u2019s undisputed epicenter of fashion, lies sleepy Roccapietra, population 639, nestled in the lush green foothills of the Italian Alps. What the village lacks in physical size, it quietly makes up for in clout as home to the Loro Piana<\/a> textile mill.<\/p>\n

The luxury fabric maker is the veritable wizard behind the fashion world\u2019s figurative curtain, which would undoubtedly be constructed of Loro Piana cashmere and wool if it actually existed. Over an average of five days, around 100 employees working in three shifts at the Roccapietra factory shepherd cashmere and wool fibers as they twist and turn through a m\u00e9lange of machinery. The finished yarns ultimately become textiles Loro Piana and many other prestigious fashion houses, tailors and couturiers rely on for their designs.<\/p>\n

Long before clients swaddle themselves and their homes in Loro Piana cashmere and wool, the production process begins in the far-flung corners of the globe. In a once-in-a-lifetime event, herders in Mongolia and northern China comb out the soft inner coats of baby Capra Hircus goats that are between 3 and 8 months old, yielding a single ounce of downy delicate strands destined to be woven into Loro Piana\u2019s signature baby cashmere.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One sweater can use up to 19 ounces of the prized fabric and cost as much as an ounce of gold. In spring, herders also collect the soft white under-fleece of adult Capra Hircus, which, by comparison, annually yield around 7 ounces of raw material. The cashmere is locally cleaned and inspected for impurities, such as hard-to-die dark hairs, and then checked a second time shortly before the lots are shipped to Roccapietra in giant burlap bales, or lots.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raw vicu\u00f1a and merino wool arrive in Italy the same way from three countries in the southern hemisphere. What is known as Loro Piana\u2019s famed Gift of Kings wool comes from a special strain of merino sheep raised in Australia and New Zealand. The vicu\u00f1a, a camelid that\u2019s a distant relative of the llama and lives in the wild high in Peru\u2019s Andes Mountains, can only be shorn of its coat every two or three years. Each vicu\u00f1a produces around 8 ounces of fleece. The difference between merino and vicu\u00f1a wool \u2014 considered the rarest animal fiber in the world \u2014 is only visible under an electronic microscope.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the raw wool and cashmere are the grapes, scientists at Loro Piana\u2019s Quarona factory, a short drive from the mill in Roccapietra, are the sommeliers. These experts methodically analyze fiber samples on a microscopic level to determine if the cashmere and wool shipments arriving from the five countries meet the company\u2019s strict standards.<\/p>\n

Once approved, the cashmere and wool are then ready to be blended for several hours in a giant mixing machine. Tumbling the fibers with water and oil adds moisture as well as opens and mixes the raw material until it takes on a light and soft consistency similar to clumps of stretched-out cotton balls.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wads of fibers are shot through pneumatic tubes to carding machines, where they are disentangled and cleaned. Using technology that hasn\u2019t changed since the\u00a0early 1940s, the raw material is fed through the oldest machine in the mill that gently turns the fibers into continuous diaphanous veil-like sheets that roll along hundreds of wooden rods and curl through metal drums. The machine folds the cleaned individual sheets multiple times into an increasingly thicker but still delicate cloudlike mass of fibers that resembles one long \u2014 and very expensive \u2014 foam cushion.<\/p>\n

A spinning machine twists this mass of fibers into strands to create the yarn. The process is so precise that once the yarn is in its final form, machines checking the spools automatically cut out any strands with imperfections and fuse them back together. Expert eyes in the laboratory then check the yarn again to ensure no unacceptable defects still exist.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Loro Piana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once complete, some yarn is woven into fabric on looms and treated at the Quarona factory with a multi-step finishing process. Workers wash the fabric and extract the delicate fibers as well as mechanically shave the material so the surfaces of the fabrics are uniform in length.<\/p>\n

GRAZIA USA\u2019s 2022 Fall issue will be available for purchase on newsstands nationwide in October. Email\u00a0contact@graziausa.com<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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