The stealth luxury brand that’s quietly influencing all of our wardrobes

If you were asked to reel off a list of the world’s most desirable luxury brands, which are the first that come to mind? Chanel? Dior? Hermes? 

Unless you are in the know, Loro Piana might not make it onto your list. And yet it is one of the most influential names in the world right now. 

The Italian heritage label, which sets the standard for fine wool, cashmere and uber-rare vicuna (a South American relative of the llama which produces super-soft, very slow-growing hair), and boasts annual sales of over $1 billion, doesn’t stage lavish fashion shows in Milan. Nor does it have legions of A-list ambassadors.

Loro Piana’s clients tend to wear its clothes behind closed doors (they are so rich that extremely luxurious cashmere is seen as standard day wear). 

There are fleeting paparazzi moments – the Duchess of Sussex, wore a maroon cashmere suit by Loro Piana for a visit to New York in 2021. Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman and Eddie Redmayne wear it. Inconveniently for the brand, Vladimir Putin is also a fan. He wore a £10,500 Loro Piana puffer coat for one of his interminable speeches about his invasion of Ukraine…

Putin aside, Loro Piana isn’t demanding our attention in the same way as other luxury megabrands from the LVMH stable are, but its signature quiet luxury aesthetic couldn’t be more relevant. No flashy bling, no bright colours, just impeccably cut forever pieces, crafted from the finest materials. Its new “It bag” of the season, the “Bale”, is completely inconspicuous, almost anonymous when compared to its monogrammed rivals from the logo-maniacs at Louis Vuitton, Dior or Chanel. With all its collections, if you need to ask for the price, you probably can’t afford it. 

Evidently the brand’s relatively new CEO Damien Bertrand, appointed in late 2021, wants to raise brand awareness a little. To date, Loro Piana has limited its marketing efforts to equestrian competitions and sailing regattas – much loved hobbies of the super rich. Recently, though, it took over Harrods’ windows, and seems intent on reaching a much broader audience. It follows in the footsteps of Dior, which transformed Harrods’ exterior into a gingerbread house at Christmas, and Louis Vuitton, which covered the building in polka dots to celebrate its new collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama earlier this year.

This spotlight couldn’t come at a better time. Succession, the show which introduced the non-Davos world to the aspirational “stealth wealth” aesthetic, returned for a fourth and final season this month. Along with Brunello Cucinelli, Gabriela Hearst and The Row, Loro Piana has become synonymous with the look – and over the past couple of years, even the high street has been taking a lead from it.

Character Kendall Roy, played by Jeremy Strong, has one of the most interesting wardrobes on the show, and that’s largely thanks to Loro Piana’s $5,875 polo shirts and $625 baseball caps. According to GQ, Strong requested that Kendall wear a custom Loro Piana coat in the final series. 

While you’re not going to find anything close to the kind of quality at Loro Piana during a lunchtime browse in Zara, you may come across a well-cut pair of wool trousers a la Shiv Roy at Cos, which might take its style lead from the Loro Piana look. And if you want a cashmere roll-neck to wear with it, head to Uniqlo where the silhouettes are similarly unfussy and classic.The stealth-wealth look is all about investing in timeless wardrobe essentials, so the key to success when emulating this look on a budget is to ask yourself if you’ll still be wearing an item in a decade’s time. 

The ultimate stealth wealth move comes from Loro Piana itself though. It doesn’t just profit from ready-to-wear, it sells its fine fabrics to Savile Row tailors and luxury knitwear brands – a rare strategy for a fashion house, because it relies on sharing its prized textiles with potential rivals.

But maybe that quiet confidence is justified; the company knows that wherever a luxury customer goes for their clothes, they’ll probably end up buying Loro Piana at some stage – whether they realise it or not.