PARIS – With sales still soaring at Hermès, the luxury brand keeps increasing its production capacity in France, including a new leather goods workshop in the Calvados region.
The new workshop will be set up in the town of Colombelles, on the Northern Atlantic coast of the country, and ultimately employ 260 artisans to craft its Kelly and Constance bags, among other leather goods.
Hermès will build the new leather workshop on a redeveloped brownfield site previously occupied by a metalworks factory, which shuttered in 2013. It’s set to open its doors in 2028.
The Colombelles site will follow a factory of the same size in Loupes, Gironde, which is slated to open in 2026, and another 260 new artisans in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, on the calendar for 2027.
Those two will follow the factory located in Isle d’Espagnac, near Angoulême in central France, which is scheduled to open later this year. Colombelles will mark Hermès’ 27th leather goods workshop in France.
The announcement comes as the brand is continuously trying to increase its supply of its popular handbags, particularly after a tight start to the year.
During its most recent financial results released April 17, Hermès executive vice president of finance Eric du Halgouët said the brand had begun 2025 “with low stock levels, especially for leather goods.”
In the first three months of the year, sales in Hermès leather goods were up 10 percent, boosted by the new bag designs Médor and Mousqueton. The trend continued to gather strength in the first two weeks of April despite price increases at the beginning of the year, as reported. The brand has also announced additional price increases that will be implemented on May 1 to offset U.S. tariffs.
Sales at Hermès continue to outpace its rivals, even as sales slow across the luxury goods sector at large.
In the first quarter, Hermès sales were up 7.2 percent at constant exchange rates, a steady but slowing growth number that fells short of analysts expectations. But it was in stark contrast to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton sales, which saw sales slip 3 percent at constant currency in the same time period. Analysts are seeing a slide of up to 12 percent for Kering, in first-quarter results to be released Wednesday.
Hermès continues to invest in its Made in France luxury positioning, which helps it lead the pack but leaves it more exposed to new and potential U.S. tariffs on European goods. LVMH has production sites for some handbags in California and Texas, and has not ruled out increasing production capacity in the U.S.
In France, Hermès will put artisans through an 18-month program at its apprentice training center École Hermès des Savoir-Faire.
The company opened its most recent factory in Riom in September 2024, devoted to Birkin and Constance handbags.
“We try to ramp up production at a rapid pace but we are staying on the artisanal model which is synonymous with quality in our opinion. We aren’t about to start going for productivity gains,” Hermès’ executive vice president, manufacturing division and equity investments Guillaume de Seynes, said about its artisanal, Made in France business model.
