In most cases, a collection that has no theme and no concept would signal upcoming failure in the world of global fashionistas with an insatiable appetite for making a caught in a highly-trafficked social-media moment.

This is not the case for LVMH-owned cashmere brand Loro Piana.

Following the path of Tod’s new campaign, Loro Piana is also on an Italian grand tour in the cashmere brand’s Spring/Summer 2023 campaign. Setting off in Piedmont, with gorious pauses in Tuscany and Portofino, before seeing the cobalt-blue seas of the Aeolian Islands rising off Sicily’s northeastern coast, the Loro Piana mindset is focused on experiencing the treasures of Italy, and not the manufactured experiences of Instagram.

It’s clear that Italian luxury brands are celebrating the multitude of riches that define the Italian experience. There’s a reason why I used to kiss the ground when my plane landed on Italian soil.

Models Amar Akway, Mika Schneider, Rianne Van Rompaey and Leon Dame present an appetizer of excursion of authentic Italian experiences that are in communion with nature, land and community.

Inez and Vinoodh [IG] capture the quartet, styled by Aleksandra Woroniecka./ Makeup by Lisa Butler; hair by Eugene Souleiman

Writing about Loro Piana’s Fall 2022 collection and campaign, AOC shared highly-specific information about a decade’s worth of the brand’s processes and control over its cashmere production.

There is no doubt that Loro Piana has the highest standards in its cashmere production, but one set of specifics we’ve observed in reviewing highly-ranked cashmere brands from high to low, is that the brands who are serious about transparency with their customers post very specific information about where their cashmere is sourced and the global associations that verify their suppliers and all claims they are making about their cashmere.

Cashmere Sourcing Should Not Be A Trust Me Issue

‘Transparency’ is a stake in the ground among today’s cashmere brands, including less expensive but very well-run cashmere labels. There is no “Don’t worry, be happy, I’ve got this issue under control so you don’t have to worry” in today’s cashmere business.

When you hear someone speaking that way — most likely to a magazine editor who will never ask tough questions — investigate exactly how their cashmere is sourced. Ask them. AOC does.

Because his or her competitiors tell customers what international groups and associations validate their supply chain claims. It’s often published on their websites and is generally easily available with a bit of searching.

That information comes at a time when the supply of cashmere is facing major hurdles due to environmental concerns, soil depletion due to overgrazing and now military conflict between India and China, as noted by the Washington Post in early January 2023.

New Buffer Zone Between India and China

The pumping out of cashmere products at a record pace in every price level has put enormous strain on both the land and the goats. But now herders with Pashmina goats have lost their access to winter grazing pastures in a new two-miles wide buffer zone that separates India and China.

India’s steady withdrawal from its historically claimed areas has taken precious pastures away from the Changpas, a semi-nomadic Tibetan people famed for producing Pashmina cashmere wool — the “soft gold” once favored by Mughal royalty and Empress Josephine, Napoleon’s wife.

Given their reputation for governance under the LVMH umbrella, AOC trusts Loro Piano to weather this upcoming storm, with their deep ties in the region of cashmere production.

They are so transparent that Loro Piano won Academy Awards in a documentary about their cashmere sourcing. Yes, the product is expensive, but you can sleep at night over your new cashmere purchase.

Other labels aren’t as expensive but they are eager to win your trust with total transparency in sourcing. Price is not the factor. We know of a $150 cashmere sweater label that is totally transparent compared to a new kid on the block with a $400 sweater and zero transparency. I doubt the designer even knows about the lives of his/her goats or international military conflict in the Himalayas.

H&M was smart enough to get out of the cashmere business a couple years ago. So do your homework because there may be a big rumble down the road in goatland.

Meanwhile, in the land of Loro Piana, accolades are deserved for these beautiful images and business practices that back them up without fail. No company is perfect and for some activists, leaps of progress are never enough. That’s now how we approach the sustainability issue.

Posted tomorrow will be the new Ralph Lauren attempt to tackle the cashmere sustainability challenge in terms of responsibility for the product after consumer purchase.

Designers like to wax poetically about cashmere sweaters lasting generations and being passed down in families. It’s great marketing, but as Ralph Lauren agrees, cashmere ends up in landfills, too. Or it’s dinner for some pesky critters you never dreamed were in your closet.

So the company is trying to tackle the challenge, and they have AOC’s support. ~ Anne