Hermès marks 27th workshop milestone with new Colombelles facility
On April 22, French luxury house Hermès unveiled plans to develop a new leather goods workshop in Colombelles, in the Normandy region of northern France. According to the company, the project will 'create 260 artisan jobs in the long term' and will help sustain the growing success of Hermès' iconic leather goods and saddlery collections.
Hermès, renowned worldwide for its Birkin and Kelly bags, continues to report record-breaking financial results. In the first quarter of 2025, the company recorded an 8.5% increase in sales, reaching €4.1 billion, despite a broader slowdown in the global luxury market. According to the official statement, the new Colombelles facility will become Hermès' 27th leather goods workshop and is slated to open by 2028.
The project adds to three additional workshops already under development in L'Isle-d'Espagnac (Charente), Loupes (Gironde), and Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes).
Hermès stated that it is preparing the Colombelles site 'with the support of the Caen la Mer urban community, Normandie Aménagement, and the Colombelles Town Hall.'
To recruit and train artisans for the new facility, Hermès will rely on its in-house training school, the École Hermès des savoir-faire, alongside workforce support from France Travail and various local employment partners.
The company reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability, choosing to build the new facility on a brownfield site that once housed the Société métallurgique de Normandie (SMN), a historic steelmaking complex active from 1917 to 1993.
Since 2010, Hermès has opened 13 leather goods workshops throughout France. The company reaffirmed that all its leather production facilities are still based entirely within the country.
In 2024, Hermès reported another record-breaking year, with net profit rising 6.8% to €4.6 billion and total annual sales surpassing €15 billion, marking a 13% increase. Sales of leather goods and saddlery—its core business—grew by 16.4% to €6.46 billion.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
China carefully assembling a deep-sea mining strategy
The world's oceans, both international waters and those under national jurisdiction, are rich in minerals and metals, like cobalt, nickel and copper. These are important for building electric car batteries, for instance, and other technologies as countries try to transition away from fossil fuels. China "is an energy-thirsty country. It will look for resources everywhere," including the deep sea, said Julia Xue of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. But she said China is not particularly anxious over the issue, although recent developments -- one company is itching to be the first to start mining the sea bed -- may put more pressure on Beijing. A Canadian firm, The Metals Company, has filed an application with the United States to begin undersea mining in international waters. Using its American subsidiary, it acted after President Donald Trump, bypassing international negotiations, signed an executive order in April to speed up the permit-issuing process for such mining in US and international waters. Trump cited an obscure 1980 US law that says American citizens can explore for and recover deep sea minerals in areas beyond the country's jurisdiction. Environmental groups are outraged by Trump's order, arguing that a wild hunt for the potato-sized, metal-containing nodules could harm fragile undersea ecosystems. The Canadian company initially said it would submit its request to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a body which has jurisdiction over the ocean floor in international waters. The Metals Company says it ignored this authority because of its slow pace in talks on adopting a mining code that establishes rules for exploiting seabed resources. The United States is not an ISA member. A long-time observer of those talks who spoke on condition of anonymity said China is not particularly worried about who starts mining first. "For them it's more about dominance, staying competitive in the game, and giving the impression that you can't mess with us," the observer said. With that goal in mind "they're definitely developing the technology and putting the strategic agreements in place," Alex Gilbert, a researcher at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines, told AFP. For instance, China has reached an agreement with the Cook Islands to explore for minerals in that Pacific country's waters. Another tiny Pacific nation, Kiribati, also says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China. This approach is "more geopolitical than economic," said Emmanuel Hache of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, noting Beijing is using undersea mining as a lure to cement greater diplomatic support as it exerts power. China holds five contracts handed out by the ISA to look for resources in the Pacific and Indian Ocean sea beds and these contracts cover all types of undersea mineral resources. China's is the largest number of the 22 contracts the organization has granted. Years behind "From a research perspective, we have been continuously getting closer. And from a technical perspective, we have been continuously improving," said Chen Xuguang, a researcher at Ocean University of China. In 2024 a Chinese prototype deep-sea mining vehicle called Pioneer II, developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, set a national record by operating at a depth of more than 4,000 meters (13,100 feet). State-owned Beijing Pioneer Hi-Tech Development Corporation told AFP that later this year it plans a seabed nodule collection test. Still, China is not as advanced technologically as The Metals Company, experts say. "I would characterize China as being two to four years behind them in terms of their technology," said Gilbert in Colorado. Hache, the French expert, put the gap at five years. But China has an advantage over firms like the Canadian one in recovering and processing nodules: its companies are supported by the state and China has infrastructure for processing metals. The observer of the international seabed talks said China does not need seabed mining for metal supply, "but maybe geopolitically, in the context of maintaining their control over the commodities market." China wants to keep its options open, this person said. © 2025 AFP
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Shaken by US and Chinese tariffs, the cognac industry questions its future
The countdown has started, with pressure mounting in the Cognac region in southwestern France. China has set a July 5 deadline on making permanent customs duties of between 35% and 39% on imports of the prized eau de vie(brandy) from Charente − duties that have been in place on a provisional basis since October 2024. This marks a major blow for the industry. These duties would come on top of the US tariffs on the French spirit, which have stood at 10% since April – a level that could rise further if trade negotiations between Washington and Brussels, with a deadline set by President Donald Trump for July 9, fail or prove unfavorable to the sector. Caught in this double bind, the cognac industry has entered a deep crisis and is questioning its future. "I feel that in France, people are not fully aware of the problem: 80% of global cognac sales are made in China and the United States," said Bernard Arnault during his hearing before the Senate on May 21, describing a "major risk." The head of the LVMH luxury conglomerate, which owns the cognac house Hennessy, added that in a worst-case scenario, "with a 40% increase in Chinese customs duties and no agreement with the United States, there would be dramatic repercussions for Charente viticulture, which employs around 80,000 people."
Fashion Network
9 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Vivatech set to bring together 3,500 innovative exhibitors from June 11 to 14
The Parisian innovation event will take place from June 11 to 14 at Porte de Versailles (Paris 15th). This edition will once again bring together the latest innovations in sectors ranging from industry to healthcare, as well as transport and logistics. Among the 3,500 exhibitors, there will be about fifty players from the fashion, luxury, and beauty sectors. This year's show will feature 56 exhibitors from these fields, with, as always, massive pavilions for LVMH and L'Oréal Paris. Exhibitors will include marketing and customer experience specialists such as Samplicity, Sora and PretaPorterCosmetics, as well as AI-based recommendation players like HautAI, Ganceable, and Meta Intelligence. Also announced are visual and video generation specialists such as FancyTech, Moodyfy, and Aive, which has just raised 12 million euros, as well as virtual or connected fitting offerings from Perfect Corp, ARx AI, and Lyncee, and personalization players including ScenTronic, and Bing. 3D printing will not be forgotten, with Aectual and Humanitec, nor will textile printing with The Paac. No fewer than 146 specialists in mobility and innovative logistics have been announced. There will also be 90 players in the consumer goods, retail, and e-commerce sectors. Shein 's Executive Director, Donald Tang, will be speaking at the show on Friday, June 13 at 5 p.m. The announcement of Shein's presence at the show was particularly unwelcome in the French apparel industry. On Shein's side, this presence is part of a vast communication strategy deployed over the last few months. On June 11 at 2 p.m., apparel and design professionals will also be able to attend a talk by Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, professor and researcher at the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM), who will discuss the place of know-how in an age of automation accelerated by AI. This edition, which is expected to attract 165,000 visitors, will also feature a number of top executives, including Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Guive Balooch (L'Oréal), Joe Tsai (Alibaba), Rohit Prasad (Amazon), Yann Le Cun (Meta), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), and Dowson Tong (Tencent, WeChat). Elon Musk (Tesla) will once again engage with the show via a videoconference.
