Loro Piana acquires a manufacturing facility in Tuscany from Furla
The LVMH Group brand has purchased an 18,000-square-metre site from the Furlanetto family for around 23 million euros to manufacture leather goods; the site is due to open in the first half of 2027
In the wake of the strong half-year results posted by a number of luxury brands, investment in production is picking up again in the fashion hubs. This is the case in the leather goods sector in Tuscany, where Loro Piana, a brand within the LVMH group, has announced the opening of a new 18,000-square-metre leather goods factory, scheduled for the first half of 2027.
The tight timeframe can be explained by the deal that the luxury brand has managed to finalise: rather than building a brand-new factory, it has taken over an existing one – the former Furla factory located in the Sambuca industrial estate, in the Florentine Chianti region. The sale was made by the Furlanetto family’s property company, which owns the Furla brand, for a sum of around 23 million euros.
The factory, designed by Geza Architettura and comprising three buildings intended to blend into the landscape as unobtrusively as possible, opened in 2021 and was in use until December 2025; then Furla, grappling with a delicate economic and financial crisis, moved to a small warehouse in Scandicci, vacating the complex. Now Loro Piana will carry out a minor refurbishment before commencing operations.
At the factory, located in the municipality of Barberino-Tavarnelle (Florence), according to sources close to the company, both the operations currently carried out at the Loro Piana handbag factory in Tavarnuzze-Impruneta (Florence) and the warehouse located in Emilia-Romagna will be relocated there. The complex comprises an office block, a building housing the workshops and a logistics centre. The main entrance is modelled on the entrance to Tuscan villas, with a row of cypress trees echoed on the façade of the buildings, which is fitted with filtering slats that regulate the light within the workspaces. Nature also finds its way inside thanks to a system of courtyards and green roofs offering views of the woodland.
The announcement of the new factory was made by Loro Piana (without specifying that this involves the purchase of the former Furla factory), which states – in a press release – its intention to strengthen its presence in the leather goods sector, emphasising the company’s desire to ‘integrate the production chain and enhance the wealth of expertise within the Tuscan leather district. The investment – the brand states – aims to combine direct control over production with local artisanal tradition, one of the hallmarks of ‘Made in Italy’ in the luxury sector’.
