Storytelling as competitive advantage: the sustainable space in fashion.

The new consumer expect something more from his shopping experience. He needs to identify themselves with the brand more than before, establishing a deep relationship with it. This can be done through as storytelling: stories or narratives are powerful means to create a bond with the client, because these are techniques able to elicit particular emotions and feelings in him. Storytelling enables to increase and motivate people in their shopping experience. I was interested not only in verbal means of communication, but also in design, architecture and space. Tales, in fact, can be told in different ways, and ambient
communication is able to provide a significant contribution for this goal. Environment, space, design, architecture, are all elements to be organized and arranged in order to create the perfect place for the tale show. The importance of storytelling, linked with ambient communication and space, is analyzed in the first, more theoretical part of my paper. Everyone knows that, today, this mix of communication strategies must be dressed with sustainability. People are more and more willing to be and to behave ethically, trying to reduce waste and buying products they know where they come from. Sustainability does not only mean to look green, today synonymous of cool, but also to have a green supply chain, be green at every step of the production. Thinking that this mix of storytelling, space and sustainability is a powerful trio, I started to wonder if this could work for luxury brands, and if there were companies, in this market sector, which were already using it. So, I started to analyze Loro Piana. The choice I made was driven by different reasons: thank to my university path and abroad experiences, I have learned how to appreciate and improve marketing strategies; I was curious about how this topic was integrated in top luxury brands; Loro Piana was one of the most representative company for what I was looking for, and it was also available to share some information with me; I had the possibility to know it also because it is rooted in the same geographical area of me; I wanted to focus on an Italian company, because the well-know "made in Italy" dressed with storytelling may be, in my opinion, a winning move. From many years I could started to appreciated the finest materials, really feeling the difference with other brands, and it let me more and more aware of its culture, based on tradition, dedication, passion, quality, craftmanship and innovation. The whole research I made has been carried out through literature, several academic articles and journals, and through repeated meetings at Loro Piana headquarters. I have finally integrated, verified and confirmed the information I got, with online data by Bain & Company, a top management counsulting firm; this integration has allowed me to develop a general overview about top luxury markets and also about positioning of these brands.
The excellence of Loro Piana comes from the encounter between the world’s most exclusive materials and the finest Italian craftmanship. The company uses the finest fibers in the world for its garments, and I was particularly fascinated by the story of the vicuña, an animal who lives now free in the enchanting South American landscapes. This is linked with the story of Loro Piana, because, in the past, Loro Piana had the exclusive honor of buying, processing and exporting vicuña in the form of textiles and finished products, given their commitment to the preservation and repopulation of these animals. I chose to analyze this story, because is perfectly aligned with the values of the company and because is a perfect example of storytelling. Vicuña case history’s communication campaign is analyzed, focusing on its role of storytelling, space and sustainability. Thus, this story is the starting point of the presentation of the company, and especially of Loro Piana communication strategies and objectives. Thank to these several interviews, I was able to really get the essence of the brand and to understand why company-client relationship is foundamental. But, in order to better understand the role of Loro Piana in an international context, I have carried out a brief analysis of top luxury markets, finding out how Asian market is now changing, what clients want right now, which kind of experience they expect, and what they look for in their shopping. This analysis leads marketing department to develop strategies to elicit satisfaction in the final customer. Moreover, all this can be done caring simoultaneously about environment, because sustainability and luxury have two aspects in common: durability and rarity.
A brief analysis of Hermès finds room in the last part of the paper, because from the interviews I have carried out, I was able to understand that this brand is probably one of the point of reference in terms of storytelling. Therefore, a comparison with Loro Piana is carried out.