Hermes has finally accepted the world needs more Kellys and Birkins. The Luxury-goods maker aims to quench this insatiable and expensive thirst for the holy grail of handbags by boosting its Kelly bag Production. The Maison inaugurated a leather goods manufacturing facility in Normandy. The facility in the town of Louviers crafts 25-centimeter Kelly bags and will add another model called Constance Mini to the roster. A total of 140 skilled leather artisans work tirelessly to create top-notch leather goods. The brand aims to double that within four years to produce bags, saddles, and small goods.
Apparently, one Kelly bag takes between 14 and 20 hours to make by a single leather worker. Increasing volumes of leather goods by about 7 percent a year leaves the luxury label with little to no choice but to expand its plants despite having 21 leather manufacturing plants across France. Hermès aims to grow by adding about one leather plant a year, executive chairman of Hermes Axel Dumas told reporters Friday. The need for savoir-faire limits the luxury goods company’s production increase. “Training takes time,” Dumas said. “We take our best artisans, and they become trainers, so they’re no longer in production.” That’s why one opening a year is “optimal not to disrupt what we do while still growing.”
Dumas stated, “It takes 15 hours [to create] a Hermes bag. Even if there is a lot of demand, I will not start making them in 13 hours to increase production. He added, “Contrary to what people may think, we are always very sad when we have to say no to our customers because we don’t have that.” This week, Hermes crossed the 200 billion-euro valuation milestone. Hermes has had such a profitable year that it gifted 19,700 employees a $4,000 bonus. The Maison has more plans in the kitty that include opening facilities in the French cities of Sormonne, and Riom by 2024 to end the growing shortage of luxury handbags.
