PR CASE: Loro Piana Vicuña Scandal & Lessons in Crisis Brand Communication

Marina 2Jour
Apr 7, 2024
16 min read

Updated: Jul 14

What are your thoughts, when you think of "quiet luxury"? If you had to choose words to describe it? Something like "sophisticated", "not for everyone", "polished"? If we talk about quality — most probably you'll think of "craftsmanship", "exquisite"? Is there a room for word "exploitation"?

Most probably the answer is "no". But "exploitation" is what you'll probably see under Loro Piana's latest posts in Instagram or TikTok. And it's definitely not what the brand would expect from it's positioning. Anyway, this is what Loro Piana got after not adressing the scandal they got into.

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The case is obviously hard to deal with. Very sensitive. I was following the issue for almost a month now. From the beginning I was almost 100% sure Loro Piana will step out with a statement. They didn't. After a week or so of silence in social media they posted a post in Instagram. While there are no 4000+ comments under all their new-posts, still users write not-so-preferrable word in luxury fashion — "exploatation".

I am not here to critisize or blame, I am here more to look at the case from professional point of view like communication specialist — PR and anti-crisis point of view. After all we don't have all the facts and we don't have a position of the party involved (I mean Loro Piana and LVMH). Well, almost don't have... But let's start from the beginning.

Anatomy Of Scandal

Definitions

What is Loro Piana?

Based in northern Italy, Loro Piana produces superlative textiles and luxury goods using the world's finest, rarest raw materials. The pursuit of excellence has been its mission for six generations. (*from LVMH website).

What is the connection between Loro Piana and LVMH, as well as Bernard Arnault? These names are mentioned throughout the case.

Loro Piana joined the LVMH group at the end of 2013.
Created in 1987, the LVMH Group today comprises more than 75 exceptional Maisons, each of which creates high-quality products. It is the only group present in all five major sectors of the luxury market: Wines & Spirits, Fashion & Leather Goods, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Watches & Jewelry and Selective Retailing. LVMH currently employs over 213,000 people across the world and reported sales of 86.2 billion euros in 2023 (*from LVMH website).
Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury products group (*from LVMH website). With estimated $233b (billion, just in case:-)) he has been ranked as the world's richest person on the Forbes list 2024. This marks the second consecutive year that he has held the top position. And it was used as an irritant in a case too.

Loro Piana’s relationship with the Vicuña

I could copy the description from no.1 in the excellences list on Loro Pina website, but I will just provide you with link. It is too sugary, especially under the light of the case. Instead, let's check LVMH website.

Vicuña is one of the most expensive raw materials in the world widely used in Loro Piana creations since 90s. It comes from the fleece of a small member of camel family that lives wild in Abdes, Peru. The price for an item made of it may be up to £9-10k in UK.

And, yes, according to LVMH website, vicuña is a Loro Piana icon.

Background

On 13th March 2024 Bloomberg published an article under the title "The Vicuñas And The $9,000 Sweater". The main point of the article is:

Vicuñas, big-eyed camelids that roam the southern Andes, produce the finest and most expensive wool there is. In New York, Milan or London, the fashion house Loro Piana sells a vicuña sweater for about $9,000. Barrientos’ Indigenous community of Lucanas, whose only customer is Loro Piana, receives about $280 for an equivalent amount of fiber. That doesn’t leave enough to pay Barrientos, whose village expects her to work as a volunteer.

My Comment: Weeeell, while the title is, I would say, calm and neutral, the SEO* settings got it right. So when you Google the case, you'll see a very catchy (and manipulative) title. Let me explain my point — while social media is the place where you are free to make judgmental statements, when it comes to journalism (I mean the serious kind), any kind of statement should be supported by documents and points of view of all the parties involved. And while I do not support Loro Piana in this particular case — and we will talk about that later — I do not support any manipulative tone used in journalism, which encourages readers to follow the preferred way of thinking rather than analyzing the situation.

*to change how article appears in Google search results, its title and description may be adjustable using SEO settings (Search Engine Options) by the publisher.