Louis Vuitton to open a new workshop in the US, announces Bernard Arnault
"Louis Vuitton already had a workshop in the US when I arrived at LVMH. Given the company's development in the United States, we opened a new one five years ago, and we plan to open another one to meet demand, again in Texas," said Arnault in an interview with Le Figaro.
This new workshop will be near Dallas (Texas), where Louis Vuitton already has a workshop, inaugurated in 2019 in the presence of Donald Trump, and should be delivered in late 2026 or early 2027, a source close to the matter told AFP.
LVMH, which generates 25% of its sales in the United States, already owns three Louis Vuitton workshops and four workshops for the American brand Tiffany on US territory.
Bernard Arnault added: "For our American customers, buying a Louis Vuitton product made in the US is no problem at all."
In May, his rival François-Henri Pinault, CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, declared that "it wouldn't make sense to have Italian Gucci bags made in Texas."
During the first round of negotiations on US tariffs in April, Bernard Arnault - who had a front-row seat at Donald Trump's inauguration four months earlier - estimated that if "we end up with high tariffs, (...) we'll have to increase our American production."
A month later, he and his son Alexandre were received at the White House by Donald Trump, who described them as "very good friends" on the side-lines of the preparations for the 2026 Football World Cup.
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