Does Hermès have a strategic partnership with LV?

Hermès and Louis Vuitton (LV) have no form of official strategic partnership in the global luxury market; on the contrary, the two are core direct competitors in the high-end leather goods, fashion and luxury consumption track. There is no equity cooperation, business joint venture, resource sharing or brand alliance between them in any field, and this competitive relationship has been further solidified by the high-profile equity dispute between LVMH (LV’s parent group) and Hermès in the early 2010s. This conclusion is fully confirmed by 2025 luxury industry analysis reports from Brand Finance, professional market research institutions and the official business layout of both brands.

The fundamental reason for the absence of strategic cooperation lies in their completely different ownership structures and the deep competitive barrier formed by the historical equity dispute. LV is the flagship brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate controlled by the Arnault family, and its all strategic decisions are subject to the overall deployment of the group. Hermès, however, has been a family-owned independent enterprise for six generations since its founding, with the Hermès family holding 54.3% of the shares and 64.2% of the voting rights through the holding company H51 SAS, exercising absolute control over the brand’s operation and development. In 2010, LVMH secretly accumulated a 23.2% stake in Hermès through equity swaps and subsidiary investments, attempting to intervene in its operation, which triggered a four-year legal dispute and a fierce counterattack from the Hermès family. Finally, the French court ordered LVMH to divest most of its Hermès shares in 2014, and the Arnault family only retained about 8.5% of passive shares with no operational and decision-making rights. LVMH also signed an agreement to promise not to acquire Hermès shares within five years, which made the two sides form an insurmountable competitive barrier at the equity level and completely eliminated the possibility of strategic cooperation.

In addition, the two brands have independent strategic cooperation layouts with no overlap or synergy in cooperation fields, partners and core goals, which further makes strategic partnership impossible. Hermès adheres to the principle of long-termism and complementarity in selecting cooperation partners, focusing on traditional craft inheritance, sustainable material research and development and high-end channel expansion. In 2025, it launched in-depth strategic cooperation with Mycoworks, a sustainable material R&D company, to jointly develop mushroom leather Sylvania and apply it to high-end product innovation, and also cooperates with global top high-end department stores to expand exclusive sales channels, all of which are centered on consolidating its positioning of super luxury with craftsmanship and scarcity. LV, by contrast, relies on LVMH’s group resource advantages to carry out large-scale cross-border and cross-industry strategic cooperation, aiming at brand exposure and market scale expansion. For example, in 2025, it signed a 10-year global strategic partnership with Formula 1, creating custom trophy trunks for major races and carrying out a series of joint brand promotion activities, and also frequently cooperates with artists, stars and trendy IPs to launch limited-edition products. Their completely different cooperation logic and brand development needs make it impossible to form effective synergy in strategic cooperation.

From the perspective of the global luxury industry competition pattern, Hermès and LV are direct competitors in the high-end leather goods and luxury fashion market, and their competition covers market share, target customer groups, secondary market layout and other aspects. According to the 2025 LV brand global premium capacity analysis report released by professional institutions, Hermès is listed as LV’s core global competitor, and the two sides carry out differentiated competition through distinct brand positioning: Hermès targets ultra-high-net-worth individuals with extreme handcraftsmanship and product scarcity, while LV covers a wider range of high-net-worth groups and luxury entry-level consumers with large-scale production and high brand recognition. In the booming secondary luxury resale market, the two also compete for the high-end consumer share, with Hermès leading in product value retention and appreciation rate, and LV focusing on the volume of the classic style resale market. In such a highly competitive market environment, strategic cooperation between the two is not in line with their own brand development interests and market competition strategies.

In conclusion, the fundamental differences in ownership structure, brand core positioning and business development logic between Hermès and LV, coupled with the deep competitive barrier formed by the historical equity dispute between LVMH and Hermès, determine that there is no possibility of a strategic partnership between the two brands. Up to 2025, the two top global luxury brands have always maintained a clear independent operation and direct market competition relationship, with no official strategic cooperation in equity, business, resource sharing or any other form.