Axel Dumas: “Never in 185 years has Hermès experienced such growth”

Covid-19, growth booster. While the pandemic shut down the luxury market for several months in late winter and spring 2020, a handful of major fashion and leather goods houses have experienced a meteoric recovery. At the global level, the luxury market slightly exceeded its 2019 level last year, according to Bain. But the gap has widened between the most successful players (starting with Louis Vuitton, the world leader in the sector) and the others.

Thanks to the recovery, Hermès thus gained three years on its anticipated market plan before the onset of the pandemic. Last year, the saddler’s sales jumped 41% (+ 33% over two years), to 9 billion euros. Hermès is not very far from Gucci, whose sales have increased by only 3% over two years, to 9.7 billion. The saddler’s margin reached a historic level, at more than 39% of turnover, while its net profit jumped 77%, to 2.4 billion euros. Axel Dumas…