PIER LUIGI LORO PIANA

The life of a business is not like a football team! We are not taking part in an Italy-France game or against Germany.

I never expect business to be easy.

Our philosophy is always to search for the best quality. That is something our father taught us. It's one way to be different from your competitors. You can try to be cheaper, or you can try to be better.

Being at a very high quality level was the only way for us to survive.

Our farmers have become family.

Quality will save our company.

You don't have to make things which are just expensive.

When we started, there was lots of formalwear made with quality fabrics, but Loro Piana's innovation was to use these in casualwear, too.

Loro Piana is all about seeking quality materials.

I'm always on a quest to find the next best natural fiber.

Dealing with political things, it's not for me. It makes me crazy. I want to buy, you want to sell. Please make it simple.

So many young designers are focused on styling rather than materials now. We have to change that.

We are very far from our potential, but you aren't going to see 500 stores; that wouldn't be consistent with the exclusivity of our brand. You also aren't going to see a Loro Piana perfume, glasses, or watches, because we are concentrating on our core business.

The best sheep breeders are in Australia and New Zealand.

The Loro Piana man is a very active one: he works hard, and when he has time off, being close to nature is important to him.

Sailing is in the same vein as horse riding. There's a beauty to it; it's an elegant sport. You have to employ your intelligence. It's technical, but you also have to take into account the natural elements - the wind, the water, the weather.

People from the country are very simple and loyal. I like that. I prefer to deal with the campesinos rather than the political people in Lima.

Luxury is research in quality. It's quality with no compromise. What does that mean? That you don't think about how much something will cost to be able to achieve the very, very best.

I don't think LVMH will want to significantly change the strategy of Loro Piana, and I don't think that they would have bought it otherwise.

The Australians have a scientific approach and a very strong professionalism, a passion to do the best. Theirs is the best wool. And Loro Piana wants the best.

We check everything to make sure it is pure and of the highest quality. There is good wine and bad wine; we buy only the good wine.

My family have been wool merchants since the 19th century. My first job, aged 18, was buying fabric from my father to produce and sell ties. But I was also at university in Milan.

My father passed me the concept that vicuna was something very special, very expensive. So it was a question of pride. I didn't want anybody else in the world to be touching vicuna before us.

Our customers are quality maniacs.

Once you start compromising, once you start trying to keep cost lower, this is not luxury. Luxury is wanting the best and using the best materials with which to do that.