![Do You Know Where Your Sweater Came From?](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/12/12/fashion/12LOROPIANA-jumping-goat/12LOROPIANA-jumping-goat-facebookJumbo.jpg)
Do You Know Where Your Sweater Came From?
The New York Times
Loro Piana makes some of the world’s most luxurious cashmere. Now you can trace every step of its journey from Mongolia to Madison Avenue.
Just under a decade ago, I wrote a column about an extraordinary new initiative, courtesy of Fendi, called Pesce d’Aprile, in which a customer could travel to a crocodile farm in Singapore, select the reptile from which their handbag would be made and then follow its progress via an app. Billed as the fashion equivalent of “know your food,” it was the first of its kind.
It was also entirely made up (by me): an April Fool’s joke invented to highlight the lengths to which fashion brands would go to distinguish themselves — and the fact that, increasingly, customers were interested in the origin of their products.
Except now, finally, the joke’s on me.