MILAN — Thanks to a new business unit called Loro Piana Interiors, cashmere fans can now sit on the luxurious fabric.
After years of dressing their own homes with cashmere, brothers Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana, who share the chief executive officer position at Loro Piana, decided to launch a top-quality upholstery collection. The line will bow in January at the Maison & Objet home furnishings trade fair in Paris.
The collection is made up of 30 different textiles available in 300 colors and includes fluffy cashmere moquette priced at $1,500 per square meter retail. It takes two kilograms of pure cashmere to make one square meter.
“People are constantly looking for quality in their lives, which is why we saw the opportunity to offer something unique for the home,” said Pier Luigi Loro Piana. “We’re obviously also tapping into our know-how in the textile business.”
Loro Piana is a cashmere specialist that makes and sells the fiber for both knitwear and wovens. Aside from a namesake clothing line, it makes bags, scarves, hats and small leather goods.
Sales forecasts for the new project were not disclosed, though Loro Piana said they should be “hefty.”
Pierluigi Volonté has been tapped to be general manager of the home fabrics division, a new post.
Loro Piana Interiors’ array of products include antistain, water-resistant and washable cashmere, silk, vicuna, linen and cotton, sometimes blended, in textures such as herringbones, flat ribs, sharkskin, waffle and tartan. A small selection of coordinated leathers also is available. Retail prices for a meter of fabric range from $50 for cottons and linens to $511 for cashmere.
The color chart, divided into five groups, includes gray, coffee brown, earth tones, pansy blue, mint greens and many red-based shades. Customers also can custom-order a specific color, which will require an eight-week wait.
A box containing swatches and bundles will be available in Loro Piana’s major flagships worldwide, along with home furnishings stores and the studios of interior designers.
Future plans include a showroom in Milan and New York.
“This project is also a way to further strengthen our relationship with consumers — they can call us the tailors of sofas,” said Pier Luigi Loro Piana.