Louis Vuitton currently negotiating new factory in the US

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jun 23, 2017

Louis Vuitton is currently working on opening a factory in the US, several months after LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault discussed with then-President Elect Trump the possibility of opening factories in the US.

Arnault explained to Trump during their meeting in January his interest in opening a factory in North Carolina, South Carolina or Texas. Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke confirmed to Bloomberg on Thursday that the plans are currently “being negotiated.” The LVMH-owned brand also has plans to open a new production center in France and expand its infrastructure in Portugal.
 
Manufacturing in the US may prove to be beneficial for Louis Vuitton, when considering that the US accounted for over a quarter of the world’s luxury goods market sales in 2016.

LVMH sales increased 5% to 37.6 billion Euros in 2016, and sales exceeded expectations in the first quarter of 2017. Louis Vuitton, in particular, has the fashion world's attention, with close to 20 million Instagram followers, and it tapped into a young fanbase with its collaboration with Supreme that launches in July. The collection won’t be supported by a pop up in New York City due to a Manhattan community board striking down the idea, but the collection is expected to sell out immediately like most Supreme collections.