Six years ago, the CEO billionaire of LVMH, Bernard Arnault and President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon in a factory in the rural Texas area that would make designer bags for Louis Vuitton, one of the best known luxury brands in the world.
But from the high profile opening, the factory has faced a large number of problems that limit production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said to Reuters.
The site has been constantly classified between the sausage for Louis Vuitton worldwide, “significantly” of low performance of other facilities, according to three former workers of Louis Vuitton and a source of the senior industry, which quoted shared internal classifications.
The problems of the plant, which the port is previously reported, the challenges for LVMH, since it tries to build its production footprint in the United States to avoid Trump threatened tariffs on European manufacturing goods.
“The increase was more difficult than we thought it would be, that is true,” said Ludovic Pauchard, industrial director of Louis Vuitton, in an interview on Friday in response to detailed questions about Reuters findings.
The Texas site, located on a 250 Acres ranch, has fought due to the lack of qualified leather workers capable of producing in the brand’s quality standards, the three former workers told Reuters.
“It was toy themes to start making simple pockets of the Hourl bag,” said a source familiar with operations at the plant, referring to the classic Louis Vuitton shoulder bag.
The errors made the process of cutting, preparation and assembly conduct in waste of up to 40% of the leather skins, said a former employee with detailed knowledge of the factory performance. The typical waste rates of the entire industry for leather items are usually 20%, said a source of the senior industry.
Several former employees who spoke with Reuters described a high pressure environment. To increase production numbers, supervisors routinely turned to the methods to hide defects, and in some cases they encouraged them, four former employees told Reuters.
Pauchard acknowledged that there had been such cases in the past, but said the problem had solved his leg.
“This dates back to 2018 and a particular manager who is no longer part of the company,” he said.
The poorly designed bags considered not suitable for the sale are crushed on the site and are carried in incineration trucks, two of the sources with knowledge of the company’s supply chain said.
A former production supervisor who often traveled to the site said that Louis Vuitton mainly used the Texas plant for less sophisticated bag models, producing its most extent products in other places.
Pauchard, industrial director of Louis Vuitton, said the company was “patient” with “a young factory.”
“Any bag that leaves it must be a Louis Vuitton bag, we make sure it meets exactly the same quality,” he said.
“I do not know any children’s suggestion, the quality that comes from Texas is different from the one that comes from Europe.”
Made in the US.
Presented behind a hill, the two production facilities of the bag manufacturer were built on land near grazing livestock and a gas well. Louis Vuitton appointed the Rochambeau site in tribute to a French general who fought in the revolutionary war.
The workers on the site make components and complete models of Louis Vuitton bags such as felice pochettes and Metis bags, with labels “made in the US.” Inside. The items are sold for around $ 1,500 and $ 3,000 in high -end boutiques.
LVMH declined to comment when asked what bags of bags are complete or partial in Texas, but the ex -workers interviewed by Reuters mentioned the transport lines, Metis, Felice, Felice and Horyfull Pandbag between the products of the plant.
In its marketing material, Louis Vuitton says that the bags, typically made in the French, Spanish or Italian leather carriers by artisans known as “Petites main dishes”, are assembled using a process that has perfected since the 19th century.
After cutting canvas and leather using manual tools and laser cut machines, they join parts together use industrial sewing machines.
Texas facilities workers, which include dedicated floors for cutting and assembly, as well as a warehouse, initially paid $ 13 per hour.
From 2024, the base payment for a leather worker position was $ 17 per hour, according to two people who recently requested positions. The minimum wage in Texas is $ 7.25 per hour.
A former leather worker who arrived as a migrant in the United States some years earlier, said she was proud when she was hired by the prestigious French brand, but said that some workers fought to meet the quality standards of the brand and the production objectives.
“We were under a lot of pressure to do the daily objectives,” said the former worker, who left the factory at the end of 2019.
Another person who worked at the facilities until 2023 said that he cut corners, such as using a hot pin to “melt” the canvas and leather to hide imperfections in a privileged piece called Vendome Opera Bag.
Another old leather worm said they had seen people melt material to hide holes or other seams imperfections.
Damien Brigghe, director of International Manufacture of Louis Vuitton, admitted some at the Texas plant had chosen to change jobs or leave due to their strict quality requirements.
“There are artisans that we hire, to whom we train and that, after several weeks or months, realize the light of expectations, the level of detail that is required, prefer to work in other fields such as logistics,” he said. “Some people chose to leave us, because it is true that it is a job that requests a lot of Savoir Faire.”
Three former workers said they received between two and five weeks of training.
A current Louis Vuitton employee in France said that receiving only a few weeks of training was not unusual, since most learning occurs in the production line supervised by more experienced artisans.
“Knowledge of leather/canvas seam is an advantage, but it is not mandatory. We sacrifice comprehensive training,” the company said in a work post for artisanal positions in Alvarado published on its website on January.
Brigghe said that Texas training is “exactly the same program we have in all our workshops”, that is, six weeks in the training line, where new artisans only learn basic operations and skills before going to the assembly line.
There, he said, they are “accompanied and continuously advised by the coaches.”
Tax exasperations
LVMH obtained a large number of exemptions and tax incentives from Johnson County, including a reduction of property taxes of 10 years and 75%, promising the company approximately $ 29 million in savings. “We hope to serve this exceptional company,” wrote the main executive of County, Roger Harmon, correspondence seen by Reuters in 2017.
In its 2017 application letter for tax reduction, Obweuge for Reuters through the record request, LVMH said it aimed to hire 500 people within the first five years of the plan. At the opening ceremony in 2019, Arnault said: “We will create approximately 1,000 jobs highly qualified here in Rochambeau in the next five years.”
However, three former employees said the staff had just under 300 workers in February 2025, confirmed a figure that Brigche.
The White House did not respond to a request for comments from Reuters.
Pauchard said the initial recruitment difficulties were largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the blockade that followed, adding that a decrease in local demand also played a role.
Despite the problems, LVMH plans to transfer even more jobs to Texas. LVMH said in its 2017 presentation that its first Texas production installation would cost around $ 30 million.
A second presentation since 2022 to local authorities put the cost of his second workshop, completed last year, at $ 23.5 million.
In a town hall last fall, they were told the workers of one of the two California production sites that would close 2028 and could move to Texas or resign, according to a former employee who was present.
Pauchard confirmed the City Council and said that Louis Vuitton intended to rationalize his California operations and transfer more skilled artisans to Texas, with a successful success.
His executives, he said, “underestimated the fact that Texas is far from California.”
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