A factory for luxury handbags in Texas should facilitate expansion to the United States for the LVMH group. But the location fights with difficulties. For example, there is a lack of qualified specialists.
The factory of the French luxury group LVMH in Texas was opened six years ago, for the production of Louis-Vuitton designer handbags. At that time, the locations wanted to make expansion easier to the USA. But behind the scenes, the location is still fighting with significant problems.
As eleven former employees of the Reuters news agency reported, the work in rural Alvarado is one of the most powerful locations worldwide. In internal ranking lists, it does much worse than other production facilities, as three previous employees say and a high -ranking industry source. “The production of production was more difficult than expected, that’s right,” admits Ludovic Pauchard, Production Manager from Louis Vuitton.
Difficulties When dealing with tariffs
The difficulties – which were not previously publicly known – illustrate the challenges for the luxury group when building up production in the USA to avoid tariffs. Above all, the lack of experienced leather workers is a problem for the company. According to an insider, it took years until the production of the classic Louis Vuitton shoulder bag ran. Mistakes in cutting and assembling would have led to the fact that up to 40 percent of the leather skins were unusable – about twice as much as customary.
According to a former production manager, Louis Vuitton used the work in Texas mainly for less demanding handbag models and made its most expensive products elsewhere. LVMH did not want to comment on which models are completely or partially in Texas.
Another former leather worker reports that she tried to “melt” material with a hot needle in order to hide holes or other imperfections in seams. Production manager Pauchard confirms earlier quality problems, but emphasizes that they are due to a manager who is no longer active for the company. “Every bag that leaves this factory must be a Louis Vuitton product-we make sure that it has exactly the same quality,” he says.
Not qualified enough?
According to insiders, strict quality and production requirements led to employees who did not work properly to change jobs. “We were under great pressure to achieve the daily goals,” says an earlier employee.
Damien Verbigghe, international manager of Louis Vuitton, also confirmed to Reuters that some employees had changed work or left the work due to the strict requirements. “Some have decided to leave us because it is actually a job that requires a lot of know-how.” The training lasts six weeks and corresponds to the standard of all Louis Vuitton workshops, he explains. However, three former employees said they had only received training two to five weeks.
LVMH received extensive tax breaks for the settlement of the factory in Texas, including a ten -year reduction in property tax by 75 percent. In an application for the subsidies, LVMH announced that 500 jobs were created in the first five years. However, according to Verbigge, the number of employees in February 2025 was less than 300.
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