The famous French brand is investing in its third U.S. workshop.
Louis Vuitton officially opened a new 100,000-square-foot factory in Johnson County, Texas, on Thursday.
Presiding over the formal opening ceremony? None other than the arbiter of haute couture and all things tasteful, President Donald Trump (whose own businesses have long manufactured offshore).
Anyway… Other than that, it looks like Louis Vuitton’s factory is off to a strong start.
The new facility currently employs 150 workers, though the company has promised to ultimately employ 1,000 local workers over the next five years in exchange for a bevy of tax breaks.
French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton and a multitude of other iconic luxury brands such as Dior and Marc Jacobs, is already well entrenched in America. The company employs 33,000 workers in the U.S., and the new facility in Texas joins two other factories, located in California, that are already operated by Louis Vuitton.
It's worth noting that while Louis Vuitton is supporting local jobs through its new Lone Star State plant, all the materials and equipment used in production are reportedly imported from Europe — especially interesting given all those ranches down in Texas. To the company's credit, it does appear Louis Vuitton is looking into local suppliers, according to the Wall Street Journal:
The Texas workshop has Louis Vuitton considering a shake-up of its traditional supply chains, [Chief Executive Michael] Burke says. For now, it plans to ship in raw materials from European suppliers, but would like to start buying U.S. leather. The challenge, he says, will be to persuade Texas ranchers to stop using barbed-wire fences that scar the cattle: 'That typically makes it impossible for us to use the hides.'
In any case, the Louis Vuitton handbags manufactured at the Texas facility, which include its popular Neverfull model, will be labeled “Made in USA.”
You can watch the full opening ceremony with remarks from Trump and LVMH’s founder and Chairman Bernard Arnault below, or just enjoy some classic Donald Trump campaign music hits such as “Macho Man”.