Hermes: The Last True Luxury

Hermes: The Last True Luxury



Hermes Logo


What is Hermes?

Hermes is famous for their exquisite and flamboyant handbags, scarves, small leather goods, shoes, perfumes, ready-to-wear, etc. It was established by Thierry Hermes in the year 1837, since then it was passed by generation after generation. Now the CEO of Hermes is Patrick Thomas he is the first non-Hermes to lead the company. The current artistic director of Hermes is Pierre-Alexis Dumas son of Jean-Louis Robert Guillame Frédéric Dumas-Hermès.




Hermes Headquarters in 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.




The Designers

Hermes has a very colourful history when it comes to designers. From Lola Prusac to Monsieur Levaillant to Mariot Chane to Martin Margiela to Jean Paul Gaultier to Véronique Nichanian (current menswear designer) and Christophe Lemaire (current womenswear designer).



Hermes Spring 2003 by Martin Margiela


Hermes Spring/Summer 2014 by Véronique Nichanian





What makes Hermes the last TRUE luxury?

As of 2008, Hermès has 14 product divisions encompassing leather, scarves, ties, men's wear, women's fashion, perfume, watches, stationery, footwear, gloves, enamel, decorative arts, tableware, and jewelry. We all know that when you hear the word Hermes it will instantly mean top notch, high end, high quality, and the likes. The other thing that makes them the last true luxury is that the Hermes family still owns the company unlike Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent who now owns by LVMH and Kering Group.


A Crocodile Skin Birkin Bag by Hermes



Hermes Belts for men


The Hermes family is trying to keep the company on their management. At 31 December 2010, the Hermès family collectively owned a 62.79% stake in Hermès International S.A. through a number of individual and company holdings; the stake entitled the family to 73.96% of voting rights in the company. The luxury goods company LVMH held 20.21% of shares (amassed in the latter half of 2010)[14] and 13.08% of votes at the same date, with 0.39% of shares held as treasury stock and the remaining 16.61% free float. Speculation that LVMH will launch a takeover bid for Hermès has been repeatedly denied by its chairman Bernard Arnault. Some industry insiders are in doubt, such as René Weber, an analyst at Zürich's Bank Vontobel, who has claimed: "Arnault is not afraid of a fight and a lot of his battles have been successful for him and his shareholders. Whether he can eventually succeed with [a takeover of] Hermès is still an open question." Bertrand Puech, who chairs the main Hermès family holding company, has criticised LVMH's acquisition of Hermès shares and called on the company to reduce its stake by half.

The other thing that makes Hermes the last true luxuty brand is that they don’t have a lower line. Lower lines are like Marc Jacobs’ Marc by Marc Jacobs, Burberry’s Burberry Brit and London, Roberto Cavalli’s Just Cavalli, and Armani’s Armani Exchange, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans and Armani Collezioni, and many more.

And the last thing why Hermes is the last true luxury brand is that they never reduce they’re prices. Even though Hermes is having an annual private sale in Paris, but still they don’t have sales in public. When a certain design is still not selling to the clients at the private sale, they will destroy it than putting it on outlets like many luxury brands do. Because they believe having an outlet will degrade they’re name. Hermes is now one of the most valuable luxury brands around the world.