Loro Piana tours cashmere heritage through classic car race

Loro Piana’s car for the Beijing-Paris race

LVMH-owned Loro Piana is retracing the steps of its cashmere from Beijing to Paris with a 37-day automotive race.

For the sixth Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, Loro Piana’s driving partners Giorgio Schön and Pierre Tonetti will carry a bale of cashmere in their 1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super. Throughout the more than month-long journey, Loro Piana is letting consumers follow along live on social media.

On the move
Over the 8,700 miles of terrain in the intercontinental classic car rally, the drivers will be tested in the Gobi Desert, the wilderness of Mongolia, the Siberian steppe and the Ural Mountains. From there, the competitors’ endurance will be necessary as they travel through Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland before reaching France.

Accompanying the Loro Piana team for the journey is a saddlebag filled with cashmere from the brand’s 2015 harvest, which will receive the Loro Piana Cashmere of the Year Award 2016.

Loro Piana’s drivers at the brand’s Beijing store

The drivers wear Storm System Roadster Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance outerwear and Roadster Villa D’Este jackets.

Making it personal to Loro Piana, the race follows the same route as its cashmere, which begins in China and Mongolia and eventually makes its way to Europe where it is made into apparel, accessories and other products.

Via a live feed on Spot, consumers can track where Loro Piana’s drivers are in real time, making them feel a part of the journey.

Live feed on Spot

Other luxury brands have embarked on international journeys to get in touch with their history.

French linen maker Yves Delorme shared its passion for textiles with consumers through a summer-long branded road trip through 24 European cities.

“La Route de Linge,” or The Linen Road, commemorated the brand’s 170th anniversary, as its Airstream caravan visited the manufacturers, studios, corporate offices and boutiques integral to its brand operations. This road trip celebrated the brand’s heritage, while also delving into the textile industry’s storied past, traversing the same roads frequented by those with an uncompromising view on quality (see story).

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