Style Cred: Franco Loro Piana, Co-Founder And CEO, Sease With Sease, Italian entrepreneur Loro Piana wants to bridge the gap between luxury and performance in fashion

Given the legacy of his family name, Franco Loro Piana is no stranger to the world of high fashion—and that's certainly an advantage for him in his current role as the co-founder and CEO of the luxury lifestyle brand, Sease.

Loro Piana grew up surrounded by the finest materials and craftsmanship, thanks to his family's business in the textile industry, which has been synonymous with quality and elegance since its establishment in 1924. "I was lucky enough to be born in an entrepreneurial family," Loro Piana says. "We created a brand that was devoted to the highest quality, and we delivered the best product for very discerning clients. This is in my DNA; I was lucky to work in the company for more than 10 years with my uncle and father and learn from them. I will be always thankful for the experience."

In 2013, the family business was sold to French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH for the sum of EUR2 billion. It was then that Loro Piana found himself at crossroads. "I felt like I had a blank canvas in front of me," he recalls. "It's not an easy question when you're in your 30s, and you need to find your way." But driven by a passion for creativity and design, Loro Piana set out to create something entirely new, and in partnership with his brother, Giacomo, he launched Sease in 2018. As Loro Piana puts it, the brand is a result of his desire to blend his love for the outdoors with his appreciation for quality and style. "I wanted to create a brand that represents my ideal lifestyle, my credo, and my values," Loro Piana says. "I felt there was a gap in the market for a brand that spoke to the passion for the outdoors."

According to Loro Piana, Sease caters to the modern man who seeks adventure and sophistication in equal measure. "My clients are successful people who work a lot, but in the last 10 years, there has been a reframing and rebalancing of work/life, and how they spend their free time. This is the arena I wanted to play in." Sease thus straddles both tradition and innovation, and it offers the best of style and quality along with high performance. "I saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between luxury and performance," Loro Piana explains. "In the past, performance brands lacked style and sense of elegance, while luxury brands were focused on the style and the quality, but not on performance. I wanted to bridge these two components and create a hybrid brand that blended elegance and craftsmanship with innovation, design, and performance."

Source: Sease

The Sease product line is thus designed to be versatile, combining the functionality needed for outdoor activities, with the sophistication needed for city life. "I wanted to create a kit which gives you everything you need to live your passions to the fullest—and it ended up being a wardrobe," Loro Piana says. He further reveals his lifelong passion for sailing and skiing as being the inspiration for Sease's product line. Indeed, Franco describes the brand's approach as "design for skiing meant for the city," with pieces like a cashmere ski jacket that transitions seamlessly from the slopes to the streets, or a linen sailing jacket that's perfect for Dubai's urban environment. This versatility, naturally, comes with a price tag—but those who appreciate an avant-garde approach want what Sease offers.

Expanding the brand globally has been a strategic move, and Sease's entry into Dubai's luxury market in May 2024 marks a significant milestone. While it's still early days, Loro Piana is optimistic about the brand's future in the Dubai and its surroundings. He believes that Dubai's young, affluent population, who are well-educated and deeply connected to global trends, represents an ideal market for Sease. Loro Piana is particularly excited about the brand's flagship store in The Dubai Mall, with him describing it as a sign that the brand is "really heading to the Champion's League." The venture was made possible through a partnership with Khalifa Almarri, the Managing Director of Almarri Investments, which has interests in sectors like real estate, retail, and food and beverage. The partnership came about after one fortuitous day when Almarri walked into Sease's Milan store, and then fell in love with the brand and its values. One year after this meeting, the doors to the Sease store in The Dubai Mall opened.

"Dubai is extremely important for the growth of the brand," Loro Piana adds. "We feel really blessed about this opportunity, because it's an incredible matching of two young entrepreneurs who have the same values to develop something special." Loro Piana points out here that while the brand has been focused on a resort-driven retail strategy, it is starting to change tracks in this regard. "Once we opened in Milan as a flagship store, we opened at St. Moritz, and then we went to Gstaad and Courchevel. Now, we have Dubai and Geneva. We also opened in Forte dei Marmi, a seaside town in Tuscany, and maybe St. Tropez will be on the cards soon. This is a consolidation of our position of Europe." And as Sease continues to grow, Loro Piana envisions further expansion into key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, the United States, and eventually Asia. That said, he is emphatic about maintaining the brand's core values as it scales.

Source: Sease

Reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey with Sease, Loro Piana acknowledges the challenges he has faced, but he also admits he finds great satisfaction in the autonomy he enjoys. "Here, it's my project. If I do well, it's because of me; if I do wrong, it's because of me," he says. That said, he owns up to the fact that his arrow didn't quite hit the mark from the start. "I was very inexperienced on how many aspects you need to control to make a statement clear, a brand successful, a product sellable," he shares. At the beginning, the designs were more rigid, he says, but then the merchandising strategy was tweaked, and now, he believes that Sease has an identity of its own that's synonymous with quality. "My biggest challenge at the beginning was to create a product that would be a loyal companion during your adventures, when you're really having fun, doing what you like when you are free," Loro Piana says. "And once you have a garment that's with you in those moments, it sparks an emotional connection. So, my hope is that Sease's garments last in your wardrobe, even if they're not used, because they will remind you of the good times."

'TREP TALK: Franco Loro Piana shares his notes for entrepreneurs in the luxury and fashion space

Understand your value proposition "You have to be pragmatic and rational in understanding what is your 'why.' This market is very saturated, and the barrier to entry is high. If you think about fashion as glamourous or easy, it's very misleading."

Get your business basics right "My advice is to have a light business model, and prioritize what is important. For example, you can design, and you can have someone else work on the production, and you can outsource marketing."

Be in tune with the market "It's difficult to succeed at the moment, because you have to get many elements right, which include the product, the marketing, and the communication. All of these are evolving faster than before."