When Franco and Giacomo Loro Piana set out to make their own mark outside of the high-end quiet luxury brand that bears their name, they kept coming back to the sports that animated them in their youth. Sail, ski and tennis defined their young lives and kept them coming back to the part of Italy that entered their DNA: Portofino. The postcard-sized gem on the Ligurian Coast became the backdrop as they developed Sease, a sports inspired lifestyle brand paying homage to the team uniforms they’d designed for friends and family during competitive weekends that became known as the Sease Cup.
On the eve of launching Sease’s first tennis line, Franco sat down with Racquet during the annual Sease Cup, a three day team tennis competition, with long matches, longer dinners culminating in a giant party on the beach. This year’s Sease Cup got a major profile upgrade in the form of Spanish tennis legend Feliciano Lopez—who joined the festivities, showed off the new collection and even grabbed some of the city’s famous focaccia.
For the Loro Piana brothers, creating a larger world around the story of sport was the only way to bring Sease to life in an authentic way.
“When we created this brand one of the most important missions was to create a culture to share values and experiences in life that touch your emotions and create memories,” he says. “So this is really necessary, when you work hard and you fight to establish a brand in the market. You really need these community building events where people can share experiences.
After establishing a strong presence in the ski world, tennis came into focus because it became clear that it was a canvas upon which the brand could expand while staying rooted in the interest and values of its community.
“Tennis was not our core universe, we are more attuned to Ocean and Mountain,” he says. “ Tennis has something special in terms of elegance and tradition that really interests me—it also has this power to create a sense of competition; people fight to win, but you can play at the most beautiful places in the world like Portofino.”
In addition to translating for people new to the Sease universe, making Portofino a big part of the tennis collection’s story seemed like a continuation of the story narrative that has defined the brand.
“My best memories in life—I’ve come here to Portofino for years with my oldest friends, playing tennis in the Summer, in the winter sailing in the sea. Those memories will never fade in my mind. The philosophy of Sease was born here—we were friends in a crew, with our vests with a sense of belonging to a team, the garments you wear during the regattas was the inspiration. I bring my family here with my kids—I was the son, now I’m the father and I’m carrying on this culture, these stories. The Sease brand couldn’t start in just any place.”
And as for the partnership with Feliciano Lopez, the charismatic lefty with an uncharacteristic game (who triumphed on court with hard charging, elegant grass-court tennis uncharacteristic to his fellow Spaniards), the ethos embodied by his sporting attitude appealed to Sease as a way to take the brand into new directions.
“If you see Feliciano Lopez play, you know how clean and clear he plays—he embodies the ideal of an ideal sportsman with a genuine spirit,” Loro Piana says. “Having him come here to play at the Sease Cup—an amateur tournament is something amazing. Feliciano, classic game, grass court game—elegance. His attitude on the court was exceptional, getting to know him impressed upon me how incredible a person he is.”
And perhaps the relationship will extend as Sease brings more and more experiential community events to Sease’s other core sports.
“Spending time with him and his family this weekend is amazing for us to build something real together, based on something real and an authentic. I hope we’ll have a long-lasting relationship with him, I could take him sailing, skiing—he’s a sportsman.”
Without missing a beat, an idea popped into Loro Piana’s head: “ Winter Sease Cup!”
