“When we took over Louis Vuitton in 1987 it had 3 workshops. Since then, its sales volume has multiplied by 30”. This is a passage from the speech of Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, during the inauguration, on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, of 2 new leather workshops specialising in the use of exotic leathers in Azé and Vendôme. Total number of employees: 500. This brings the number of Louis Vuitton workshops in France to 18, employing 4,800 people (1,800 of whom have been hired in the last five years). But 1,000 new hires are planned by the end of 2024, including the opening of 2 new workshops, in France too, in Charmes sur l’Herbasse and Beaulieu-sur-Layon.
Vuitton’s 2 new leather workshops
The new workshop in Azé, called Oratoire, has been open since October 2021, covering 6,500 square metres and housing around 100 leather craftsmen. It is home to the brand’s new exotic leather competence centre, where bag prototypes are created for the various factories of the maison specialising in making products in these materials. In Vendôme, meanwhile, Vuitton spent 15 million euros to restore an abbey purchased in 2018. The town was once home to tanneries and supplied gloves to the French royal court.
The Abbaye workshop has been operating since September 2020, but the inauguration was skipped due to Covid. Fashion Network specifies that it will be Vuitton’s flagship factory for making bags from fine leathers. For example, alligator, but also python, lizard, crocodile or ostrich. It is in this workshop that the 350 assembly stages of the Capucine bag, one of Louis Vuitton’s best-selling bags, take place.
Stronger in the exotic
With these two openings, Louis Vuitton has reinforced its commitment to using exotic leathers for its bags. “We believe that, if done in a sustainable way, this is an extremely important trade to maintain, otherwise these animals will disappear,” says Michael Burke, CEO of Louis Vuitton (source WWD).
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