Texas to see second Louis Vuitton workshop open in 2027
Luxury brand Louis Vuitton will open a second leathergoods workshop in Texas in 2027.
The company opened a first workshop there, in the town of Alvarado, 40 kilometres south of Fort Worth, in 2019. Chief executive of parent group LVMH, Bernard Arnault, announced in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that a second workshop would follow the year after next.
Mr Arnault made the comments in the build-up to a new trade agreement that will put tariffs on exports of most products from the European Union to the US at 15%. There had been fears of much higher tariff rates and the LVMH chief executive lobbied hard for a good agreement between the two trading partners and the avoidance of any escalation in trade tensions.
During the negotiations, White House officials made it clear that they wanted European companies to manufacture more product in the US. A number of luxury brands argued that they would find this impossible owing to their reliance on an established supply chain in Europe and the artisan skills of workers there.
The Louis Vuitton experience in Alvarado has clearly given Mr Arnault confidence that an expansion of production on the other side of the Atlantic is feasible.
