Royal Material

There's wool, merino wool, cashmere, then there's "The Gift of Kings" (GOK). This is what you get from the finest and rarest merino, a sheep breed that has been a labour of love for over 30 years for partners luxury Italian label Loro Piana, and merino wool producers in Australia and New Zealand.

The name "The Gift of Kings" came from the exceptional merino wool that the King of Spain gifted to the Elector of Saxony and the royal families of France, Britain and Holland as prized tokens to seal agreements and alliances in the 18th century.

Measuring only 12 microns (merino wool is 17 microns, vicuña is 12.5 and baby cashmere is 13.5), this extra special wool is finer than cashmere, as light as vicuña and available only in small quantities. Out of the 107 million sheep in Australia and New Zealand (home to the world's best wool producers), only a few thousand of these sheep are able to produce Loro Piana's exclusive "The Gift of Kings" wool.