Loro Piana’s new Taipei store turns rare cashmere into a story of texture

Loro Piana’s newly relocated store at SOGO Taipei Fuxing Hall is designed to make the brand’s obsession with fabric visible before shoppers even enter.

The exterior uses handmade Italian terracotta tiles covered in the brand’s vintage Kummel brown glaze. Light moving across the surface creates a textile-like rhythm, turning the façade into a large-scale expression of the materials associated with the Italian luxury house.

Inside, oak, Carabottino wood, silk carpets, raffia fibres and silk wall coverings shape a warm, natural setting. Kummel brown, beige and burgundy tones define the atmosphere. The layout moves from women’s clothing, accessories and handbags to a dedicated scarf wall, then into navy and beige men’s and footwear areas. A separate women’s shoe section includes seating and furniture intended to give each space its own mood.

The store also places Baby Cashmere at the center of Loro Piana’s “Master of Fibres” identity. The fibre comes from Capra Hircus goats on Inner Mongolia’s Alashan Plateau. Their first combing, carried out when the animals are about one year old, produces around 80 grams of fleece. After coarse hairs are removed, only about 30 grams remain. The fibres average 13.5 microns in diameter, compared with 15.5 microns for adult cashmere.

The article traces the material’s development to a project led by sixth-generation family member Pier Luigi Loro Piana in the mid-1990s. After roughly a decade of work with herders, the rare young-goat cashmere was separated from adult cashmere. The brand later refined spinning and weaving methods, launching its first Baby Cashmere pieces in 2008. Its relationship with producers continues through the Cashmere of the Year Award, established in 2015.

The store opening coincides with the 2026-27 autumn-winter collection, “Nomadic Reverie.” Inspired by landscapes seen from train windows and changing seasons, the collection uses Royal Lightness, cashmere, silk, Pecora Nera wool and merino wool. Women’s looks feature ochre, gold, deep green and coral red, along with revived paisley motifs from Loro Piana textiles of the 1960s and 1970s. Men’s tailoring and outerwear use varied cashmere and wool textures for silhouettes intended to move between city life and travel.