Innovation awards at LVMH fail to reflect leather’s importance
Luxury group LVMH has announced the 18 finalists for the 2024 edition of its Innovation Awards, the competition in which it invites start-ups to showcase their technology ideas.
The final of this, the eighth edition of the competition, will take place in Paris on May 23.
There are six categories and at the final, one start-up will be named as category winner in each of the six. Then LVMH will announce which of the six category winners will take home the LVMH Innovation Award 2024 Grand Prize.
The six categories focus on retail, brand image, digital experience, employee experience, operational excellence and sustainability and green technology.
None of the 18 short-listed start-ups has a focus on leather or leather products. At first glance, this appears to be at odds with the importance of leather to LVMH.
Full-year results for 2023 showed that revenues from the leathergoods and fashion division reached more than €42 billion, an increase of 9% year on year. This part of the business delivered 49% of total revenues. It also contributed close to 75% of group profits, which reached €22.8 billion in total.
