Louis Vuitton to open new factories in France to meet demand for leather goods

London - Luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton is set to open at least two new leather workshops in France in order to keep up with the growing demand for its goods and cut down on production time.

The French fashion house aims to hire 500 new people for its new production sites in western France. The first of the new factories is set to open this July, with the second slated to be up and running by early 2019, bringing the total of Louis Vuitton’s leather good specialists to approximately 4,000 across 16 production sites in France.

A third production site should follow by 2020 as well in order to help Louis Vuitton meet the increasing demand for its leather goods, revealed Emmanuel Mathieu, Louis Vuitton’s industrial director to Business of Fashion. The ongoing expansion of Louis Vuitton own production facilities is set cut lead times, allowing the luxury fashion house to react faster to sales trends and deliver handbags within a week of internal orders being placed, down from two weeks.

"When we launch a new product we can adapt very quickly to demand," Mathieu explained, adding certain styles are assembled by hand on site by the 250 specialists working within a factory. Although Louis Vuitton is known for its “Made in France” appeal, it does have several factories located around the globe to help keep lead times on its leather goods down to a minimum.

For example, it currently operates two factories in California to serve its US market, with plans to open another in Texas. Leather workshops in Catalonia and production sites in Portugal and Romania also serve its European market.