Fendi is an Italian luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925 by Edoardo Fendi and Adele Casagrande, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. Since 2001, Fendi has been part of the “Fashion & Leather Goods” division of the French group LVMH. Its headquarters are in Rome, in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana.
The vicuña or vicuna is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes; the other camelid is the guanaco, which lives at lower elevations. Vicuñas are relatives of the llama, and are now believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their coats. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every three years and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. The Inca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and it was against the law for anyone but royalty to wear vicuña garments; today, the vicuña is the national animal of Peru and appears on the Peruvian coat of arms.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding company and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy, which was established following the 1971 merger between the champagne producer Moët & Chandon and the cognac producer Hennessy. In April 2023, LVMH became the first European company to surpass a valuation of $500 billion. In 2023, the company was ranked 47th in the Forbes Global 2000.
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French businessman, investor and art collector. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. Arnault is one of the richest individuals in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$199.7 billion as of September 2024, according to Forbes and US$208 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Biella is a city and comune (municipality) in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about 80 kilometres northeast of Turin and at about the same distance west-northwest of Milan.
Pashmina refers to, depending on the source, the cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere goat, fine Kashmiri cashmere wool, or any cashmere wool.
Sergio Rossi is an Italian fashion brand that focuses on footwear. The company was founded in 1951 by Sergio Rossi.
Ermenegildo Zegna N.V., also known as Zegna Group or the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, is an Italian luxury fashion house headquartered in Milan. It was founded in 1910 by Ermenegildo Zegna in Trivero, Biella, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. It is led by the Zegna family and is one of the most renowned Italian men’s clothing businesses internationally. As of 2021, it is a public company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Haircloth is commonly understood as a stiff, unsupple fabric made from coarse fibre from camelids, bovines, horses, goats, rabbits, hares and reindeers. However, a softer variation is valued in the textile and fashion industries for their rarity, aesthetics and comfort. This is because there are two types of hairs used in making haircloth; a rougher outer “guard coat”, and a softer undercoat. The outer coats are used in coarse fabrics, often applied to upholstery, carpets, underskirts and hairshirts, or cilices, while "luxury fabrics" use the softer undercoat.
Berluti is a French leather maker that manufactures menswear, especially the leather finishing of calfskin, kangaroo leather and alligator skin in its production of shoes and boots. It makes leather belts, bags, and wallets, as well as bespoke and ready-to-wear garments. Established in 1895 by Italian Alessandro Berluti of Marche, Berluti is based in Paris on rue Marbeuf. The brand was bought by LVMH in 1993.
Celine is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1945 by designer Céline Vipiana. The headquarters are located at 16 rue Vivienne in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris at the Hôtel Colbert de Torcy, which has French Historic Monument classification.
Pietro Antonio Loro Piana was an Italian engineer and entrepreneur. He founded the textile company Loro Piana
Sebastian Suhl is an American fashion executive who was instrumental in Prada’s retail expansion and 2011 initial public offering and who later became chief executive officer of Givenchy.
Antoine Arnault is a French businessman; the vice-chairman and former CEO of Christian Dior SE. He is the oldest son of billionaire and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, part of the Arnault Family, which is the second wealthiest in the world.
Larusmiani is an Italian luxury clothing and high-end textile brand established in 1922.
Reda Group is an Italian wool mill established in 1865 by Carlo Reda. The mill is located in Valdilana, in the historic Biella region.
Pier Luigi Loro Piana is an Italian billionaire businessman.
Carlo Barbera is an Italian wool mill established in 1949 which has been described as "Biella's premier mill". It is currently owned by Kiton. In the second generation of the family business, Luciano Barbera established a ready-to-wear brand that is a wholly separate business.
Vicuña wool refers to the hair of the South American vicuña, an animal of the family of camelidae. The wool has, after shahtoosh, the second smallest fiber diameter of all animal hair and is the most expensive legal wool.
The Wool Products Labeling Act is a U.S. regulation enacted in 1939, which makes provisions for the accurate labeling of products containing wool fibers. The purpose of this act is to promote transparency and safeguard consumers and stakeholders in the wool industry from deceptive practices and false information regarding the composition of wool products in the market.
