LVMH 2020 . E x p l o r e t h e w o r l d o f o u r M a i s o n s

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Andes mountain range - Peru

that respect animal well-being and ancestral traditions. Each year, hundreds of people gather on the mountain plateaus to take part in the Chaccu shearing ritual, which features traditional dances and chants, carrying on centuries of heritage with the utmost respect for this exceptional gift of nature. In 2008, Loro Piana created the Franco Loro Piana reserve, Peru s first private nature reserve, spanning 2,500 hectares, where the vicuña pop- ulation quadrupled in ten years. The company recently pursued a new project in Peru in collaboration with local workers to build canals and reservoirs to gather rainwater during the wettest months of the year, guaranteeing a better water supply to the animals and their territory.

L O R O P I A N A

Vicuña: Queen of the Andes

Seen as a sacred creature by the Incas, the vicuña was once at risk of disappearing forever from its native highlands of the Andes. Centuries of poaching deci- mated its population from 3 million in pre-Columbian times to just 5,000 in 1960. This cousin of the alpaca, with its incredibly soft, golden fleece, was saved from extinction thanks to the creation of the first vicuña reserve by the Peruvian government, followed by con- servation efforts made by Loro Piana in the 1990s. Leading an international consortium, the Maison built up a partnership with communities in the Andes and still today benefits from this special relationship in purchasing the fiber of vicuñas raised and shorn under conditions