Italian method boosts quality of Chinese cashmer

From left: Loro Piana's CEO Fabio d' Angelantonio, breeders Zhan Fayu and his wife Li Juying, herderWang Cunxiang and Loro Piana's deputy chairman Pier Luigi Loro Piana at the award ceremony in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Luxury clothing brand Loro Piana is assisting Chinese goat breeders to produce better wool. Sun Yuanqing reports.

China is known for the quantity of cashmere it produces, but not necessarily for its quality. But that is changing as local brands and breeders shift their focus. Italian luxury brand Loro Piana, a key name in the apparel industry, has also joined the effort.

In November, two couples from among the herders in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and other areas in China－Shi Yushe and his wife Wang Cunxiang, and Zhan Fayu and his wife Li Juying－received the Loro Piana Cashmere of the Year Award in Beijing, based on the fineness, length and other attributes of their cashmere.

Separately, the brand is promoting the Loro Piana Method of producing cashmere, which is a system of selective breeding that can improve quality, in Inner Mongolia's Alashan.

The method, which was devised and introduced in 2009 as part of a joint project among the company, the Jilin Agricultural University in China, the University of Camerino in Italy and the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, is now being taken to other areas in the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.

Explaining the rationale behind launching the project in China, Pier Luigi Loro Piana, deputy chairman of Loro Piana, says: "We believe that cashmere is one of the best materials for a modern lifestyle. And China is the country that produces the best cashmere in the world. We wanted to start with the best."