PR CASE: Loro Piana Vicuña Scandal & Lessons in Crisis Brand Communication

What are your thoughts, when you think of "quiet luxury"? If you had to choose words to describe it? Something like "sophisticated", "not for everyone", "polished"? If we talk about quality — most probably you'll think of "craftsmanship", "exquisite"? Is there a room for word "exploitation"?

Most probably the answer is "no". But "exploitation" is what you'll probably see under Loro Piana's latest posts in Instagram or TikTok. And it's definitely not what the brand would expect from it's positioning. Anyway, this is what Loro Piana got after not adressing the scandal they got into.

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The case is obviously hard to deal with. Very sensitive. I was following the issue for almost a month now. From the beginning I was almost 100% sure Loro Piana will step out with a statement. They didn't. After a week or so of silence in social media they posted a post in Instagram. While there are no 4000+ comments under all their new-posts, still users write not-so-preferrable word in luxury fashion — "exploatation".

I am not here to critisize or blame, I am here more to look at the case from professional point of view like communication specialist — PR and anti-crisis point of view. After all we don't have all the facts and we don't have a position of the party involved (I mean Loro Piana and LVMH). Well, almost don't have... But let's start from the beginning.

Anatomy Of Scandal

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