Loro Piana Spring 2023 Campaign Grand Italian Tour by Inez & Vinoodh AOC Fashion

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.

Models Amar Akway, Mika Schneider, Rianne Van Rompaey and Leon Dame present an appetizer 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.

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.

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. ~ Anne