Loro Piana won Peru’s sole right in 1994 to buy wool from vicuñas sheared alive.
The vicuña of the Andes was hunted down to about 6,000 animals, and selling its wool was banned. In 1994 Peru gave Loro Piana the exclusive right to buy the fiber of vicuñas sheared alive. A vicuña sweater sells for about $9,000. The Lucanas villagers who shear the animals get about $280 a kilogram for the fiber.
Loro Piana on Brandseum