From Prato to your wardrobe

Prato is a textile district in Tuscany. It has been one for 800 years. Two-thirds of the world's wool passes through it.

In the 1970s, the Chinese opened up cheaper production. Half of Prato shut down. But the survivors stayed.

We spent three days there. We walked eleven mills. We sat on the floor of one that had been family-owned since 1947 and pulled bales of cashmere, wool, and silk that had been sitting in warehouses for 2-15 years, waiting.

Waiting for what? For someone to come along who would pay them what the fabric is actually worth — which, when deadstock is the alternative to landfill, is roughly 25% of virgin fiber cost.

We left with commitments on 12,000 meters of deadstock wool and 4,500 meters of deadstock silk. We use them across our Lunar and Eclipse collections.

The next stop is Japan.