Louis Vuitton: Some hidden ( and not so hidden) facts
When we think about luxury, one of the first brands which pop in our heads is Louis Vuitton. This exceedingly-popular brand is one of the topmost and highly-recognized companies in the world of fashion. While you may have come across a number of well-known stories around anecdotes like how the company indulges in mass burnings of the leftover stocks, etc. here we present to you some hidden facts about LV. Let’s check them out:
The History:
This all started in the 1800’s, when the only mode of transportation was boats, horse carriages and steam driven trains. People used to pack the luggage in trunks and Louis was one of the trunk masters who worked for Monsieur Marechal. Soon he became popular for customizing the trunks according to customers’ needs. Louis worked hard for 16 years and finally started his own workshop popularly known as Asnieres. The site of the workshop became the status symbol of the Vuitton family. The Vuitton’s enjoyed their success since 1859. With the expanding operations, the number of craftsmen grew from 20 to 225. It is still date the production takes place in the original atelier.
George Vuitton, son of Louis Vuitton, revolutionized luggage locks with a unique closing system. This period was 1886, when the trunks became more valuable with its locking system and considered as a treasure chest.
George not only created the lock that is popularly known as Tumbler lock but also created the LV monogram canvas for Brand’s 100th anniversary for which the world’s best six designers were invited and then the Monogram was created.
LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) headquartered in the city of fashion – Paris, is now owned by Bernard Arnault who also takes care of 70 fashion and cosmetic brands under the LVMH realm and world’s third richest person. Louis Vuitton’s revenue in the first half of 2022 was $37.15 billion which is 28% more than last years first half growth.
Product Segments :
The brand is into various segments which is nonetheless epitome of luxury. This includes, Trunks, travel luggages including hand bags, high tech objects and accessories( smartphone accessories, horizon light up speakers and watches), sports and lifestyle( raquetts, covers, bottles, dumbbells, ping pong set etc), books and stationery items to name few.
Brand Concept:
LV products have a unique logo designed to depict Japanese inspired flower motifs created to prevent duplicity of Persian company’s designed luggage. The font LV on all the products was first created in 1954 in Roman fonts and hasn’t changed till now. The LV logo represents grandeur, class and luxury. Also, the iconic brown color of the logo on the handbags is intact from decades. The font and style are old, designers continue to improvise the logo into new modern prints with essence of class. Other brands tried to copy the products but failed miserably.
Marketing Strategy
Louis Vuitton takes advantage of their brand name, reputation, and quality to reach their customers which are mainly women with high income groups. In the luxury market the brands are not compared to each other. Hence the marketing strategy includes highlighting the heritage and having said that tagging with high price. Use of exclusive material, targeting high end customers via online sale and adding patches to its products to personalize them are some of the marketing tactics followed by the brand.
The group has appointed renowned faces as their brand ambassador including BTS( K pop group) and Indian actress Deepika Padukone.
Does LV really burn their products?
It is a widely-known fact that LV does not put up their unsold products on sale. In fact, they are known to go to extreme lengths like destroying or shredding (or, according to some accounts, even burning) their unsold products. The logical reasoning behind this, meanwhile, seems to be an underlying belief that any decrease in selling price may translate to an automatic degradation of brand value for the company. Such is the price (pun intended!) that one needs to pay for maintaining a brand of LV’s stature!