Loro Piana

The Loro Piana family, wool merchants from Trivero since the early 19th century, moved into the Valsesia in the second half of that century and ran spinning mills there, including Zignone & C. in Quarona. On 24 April 1924 the engineer Pietro Loro Piana, born in Trivero in 1883, founded Ing. Loro Piana & C. in Quarona. He died in 1941.

After the Second World War his nephew Franco took over and began exporting to Europe, the Americas and Japan, making the name known in international high fashion.

In the 1970s Franco's sons Sergio and Pier Luigi, who alternated as chairman every three years, focused on fine fibres such as cashmere and extra-fine wool, developing the Tasmanian fabric, and in the 1980s launched ready-to-wear, accessories and a luxury goods division. The company began working with vicuña in 1994 and in 1997 agreed with the Peruvian government and Andean communities to source the fibre only from living animals; in 2008 it helped fund Peru's first private vicuña reserve. Its first shop opened in Milan in 1998, followed by Venice, and the network grew to about 130 boutiques.

LVMH bought 80% of Loro Piana in July 2013 in a deal reported at US$2.6 billion including debt, with Antoine Arnault as chairman and the brothers as vice-chairmen. Sergio Loro Piana died that December. Matthieu Brisset, Fabio d'Angelantonio (from 2016) and Damien Bertrand (from 2021) followed as chief executives, and LVMH took a further 5% in 2017.

Since 2022 the company has been headquartered at the Cortile della Seta in Milan's Brera district. It marked its centenary in 2024 with events including a Shanghai exhibition. Its mills remain in the Valsesia, with one plant in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Frédéric Arnault became chief executive in May 2025. That July a Milan court placed the company under judicial administration over alleged labour exploitation at an outside supplier's subcontractors, a measure lifted early after corrective action. At the end of 2025 LVMH raised its stake from 85% to 94%.