Hermès (Audio)
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- Опубликовано: 18 фев 2024
- In luxury, there’s Hermès… and there’s everyone else. Stewarded by one French family over six generations, Hermès sells the absolute pinnacle of the French luxury dream. Loyal clients will wait years simply for the opportunity to buy one of the company’s flagship Birkin or Kelly bags. Unlike every other luxury brand, Hermès:
- Doesn’t increase supply to meet demand (hence the waitlists)
- Doesn’t loudly brand their products (IYKYK)
- Doesn’t do celebrity endorsements (stars buy their bags just like everyone else)
- Doesn’t even have a marketing department! (they barely advertise at all)
And yet everyone knows who they are and what they represent. But, despite all their iconoclasm, this is not a company that’s stood still for six generations. Unbeknownst to most, Hermès has completely reinvented itself at least three times in its 187-year history. Including most recently (and most dramatically) by the family’s current leaders, who responded to LVMH and Bernard Arnault’s 2010 takeover attempt by pursuing a radical strategy - scaling hand craftsmanship. And in the process they turned the company from a sleepy, ~$10B family enterprise into a $200B market cap European giant. Tune in for one incredible story!
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Visuals for:
Haut a Courroies, the “high-belted bag” to carry saddles and boots
images1.bonhams.com/image?src...
Chaine d'ancre, “Chain of anchors”
assets.hermes.com/is/image/he...
Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches, “White ladies at play”
i.pinimg.com/originals/61/ac/...
Screen printing each color on a scarf individually
3.bp.blogspot.com/-QjlwKL9D4MU...
The Hermès oranges
blog.fashionphile.com/hermes-...
Sac à Dépêches (today: the Kelly Bag)
www.hermes.com/us/en/content/...
Grace Kelly photo in LIFE Magaine
i.huffpost.com/gen/1457564/th...
Steps to sew a saddle stitch
2.bp.blogspot.com/-aaLc5iBboX...
The Birkin Bag
www.hermes.com/us/en/content/...
Pettit h
www.hermes.com/us/en/category...
Links:
The saddle stitch (video)
• Hermes - Craftsmanship
Inside the Saddlery at the Faubourg
www.thedashingrider.com/herme...
Hermès 2022 Annual Report
assets-finance.hermes.com/s3f...
Axel Dumas Interview
• Axel Dumas, CEO of Her...
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Acquired FM is kinda the Hermes of podcast, such an insane level of dedication to the storytelling craft.
This is a fact!
I’m here to turn the Acquired youtube comment section around! Ben and David, you are true business historians and are providing a valuable service to the WORLD, thank you for this episode and the countless others that I have learned from
❤
❤Q
Just absolutely totally amazing storytelling. You folks have redefined what great podcasts sound like. Depth, warmth, breadth, humor, connections: WOW! Thank you!
My new absolute fav podcast! Seriously thank you for the hard work put into every video you do! Outstanding job
Listened to the entire vid from start to finish, absolute gold!
Thanks for all of the research that went into this one
instant listen. This was spectacular! How far the show has come
Why you all release when I’m supposed to go to bed?! Bookmarked for tomorrow. 👍🏼
My first podcast was the LVMH episode which I immediately followed with this one. You guys did an outstanding job on both. Well researched and informative and at the same time very entertaining. An interesting angle on the LVMH story involved the role of hedge funds and prop desks in the Gucci deal. Although the arbs did not "control" Gucci stock leading up to the close of the deal, they did hold a very significant percentage of the free float. Every time Gucci had numbers the earnings call had more hedge fund arbs on it than any other investor class and both Domenico and Tom did an excellent job of "managing" their relationship with the arbs as they knew that their interests were completely aligned (i.e. making sure Pinault would close). If Arnault had succeeded a lot of hedge funds and prop desks would have taken a big hit. There was also a lot of arb interest in Hermes while Arnault was making his moves but not to the same extent as in Gucci as an actual offer had never been made by LVMH. Keep up the great work. Would really enjoy an episode on Rolex.
This podcast is so important to my education. Appreciate the brand diversity
Outstanding episode. As much as I enjoy the tech and VC stuff, these luxury episodes really resonate. Great to hear the shout outs to Derek and Reginald (worlds collide.) Was sad to hear David and Ben figured 95% of listeners might not know who Jane Birkin was. (and @3:48:40 --- she passed away in July of last year so she's pretty much cool with everything now....) Just a quibble, guys. Please keep up the good work.
Thank you for sharing this!
Hermès opened two new factories between Louviers and la Sormonne last year. and more factories are scheduled to open in the following years. Would Hermès maintain the sustainable growth with scarcity strategy to stimulate potential customers' desireability of Hermès ? it would be too early to tell.
This is a great episode if you are remotely in luxury brands
This was such a great episode on so many levels. It was so interesting to learn about their business model and history!👏👏
Very underrated channel
I don’t miss a day a week kkuwan This show..😂😂😂😂
I love this podcast! This one, the LV one and Costco were my faves.
I came across this channel about 2 months ago and only through this episode did I learn that you guys put out just one episode every month.
On one hand I am happy that I didn’t find this channel earlier and now I can binge all that I want 😊
On the other hand, I feel that after I am done with all episodes, I might have to stalk Ben and David, NSA style to figure out when the next episode will be coming out😂
Jk….i love you guys!
I came across your channel 3 months after I had been obsessed on researching the Blackbird and RUclips recommended your Lockheed episode!
As a former Amazonian, I listened to your amazon episodeS TWICE!
Keep up the great work. If Hermes were a podcast company then you would be the top métier😅
Fantastic podcast thank you for the service
Great chemistry and a few incredible easter eggs. Thank you. However, I feel there were a few omissions. Tell me if you agree.
1. Burkina are sometimes on display in Faubourg.
2. Discussion on discontinuation of leather apple watch straps on Apple’s side.
3. The 9% France sales is not really France - if you go in the Faubourg you would barely see any French customers there.
4. I suspect the yearly hikes is less than 7% and actually probably close to inflation. Hermes have talked about a strategy of scaling production as well as providing broader range until a certain volume and then they could, if needed, hike more.
Could you do an episode on Tiger Global & Chase Coleman III 😸
Is the LVMH video not on RUclips?
Please do Hasselblad
If you're into animal welfare and you should love large scale modern farming.. I don't know where or how modern farming in animal husbandry is or could be considered worse than nature for animals. In nature it's absolutely brutal a huge percentage of a similar species to cattle which would be deer get eaten alive every year or die slow painful deaths due to starvation or disease all of which can be avoided if they're on a farm. This is like analogous to saying how evil it is to raise your kids in your home and bring them to the doctor and send them to school because we're not in nature the way we were a thousand years ago it's just an idiotic argument. Animals love being in Barns and protected and fed. I am a dairy farmer when we open up the barn in the summer so the cows can go out the pasture they go and run around for a little bit and then they get bored and come back in the barn to stay cool dry and heat and drink. 99.9% of cows that get out run around for a couple hours and then come back into the barn on their own because it's where they want to be. Just like how us humans who love to be in nature go hiking we also love to go to restaurant eat after and come back and sleep in our house and use modern medicine if we're ill.
Hey guys, quick thing: Veblen Goods aren’t a real thing. It’s not about desirability; it’s about actual economic transactions that take place.
A Veblen Good would be giving someone the option to buy one of two identical handbags, but priced differently arbitrarily and them purchasing the more expensive one simply because it’s more expensive.
Imagine a sales associate puts two identical bags and says “this one is priced at $12,000 and this one is priced at $20.” If these were Veblen goods, then you would actually buy the $12,000 bag precisely because it was more expensive.
What’s really happening is that branding/quality/signaling make goods more inelastic (steeper demand curve), but the curve never actually flips to be upward sloping.
In fact, my Econometrics professor even said that the simplest way to win the Nobel Prize in economics is to find any good that violates the law of demand because no one has ever found one.
1:20 reject manu efficiencies and scale, dedicated to craft, remained independent vs other luxury brand mergers
5:00 still do 85% production by hand in france
6:28 french revolution
7:50 Hermes and LVMH founders came from nothing
8:55 apprenticeship for outfitting horse (car equivalent)
10:14 elite ride horses like they do ferraris today - occasional
11:05 another coup in France under N III - modernize city - in old streets, can’t see nobility often - now you can with new venues, elevating importance of showing off status; status no longer about what class born into - modern idea can allow class shifts
14:44 key anchor client: wide of napoleon for carriages and luggage (LV)
15:55 key strength in routing brand in history and horse / carriage era
16:40 family apprenticeship through generations - made items with hands - diffs from LVMH
18:35 key differences vs LVMH: world class execs paired with world class designers; at H these are one and the same; apprentice as creative craftspeople
19:35 late 1800’s, added saddles - can now be seen in public
22:00 lands tsar of Russia as customer
22:54 add high belted bag to carry saddle and boots - looks like berkin and kelly but bigger - heritage of bags today
25:23 chase payment business
28:50 transition to auto age; met Ford, realizes importance of car
32:00 gets exclusive license for zipper makes first zipper products
34:45 bags for autos
35:22 impact of global travel in 1920’s - showing products
36:40 product is differentiator not brand
36:45 launch of handbag and clothes
37:45 adding by finding expert craftsmen (not organic) / brands and retailing / opening stores
39:00 stores not in metro cities but travel destinations with repeat clientele
40:00 different today, new stores to serve local clientele; new upper class client potential
41:11 key themes: craftsmanship, family and owners are chief artisans, connection to french status and new class mobility, modernization in auto era
41:50 importance of whimsical and art; warmth, soft welcoming in stores vs. other luxury stores
44:11 next gen thru son in law
44:36 playfulness of brand, bag redesign and bracelet intro
46:00 16 divisions
46:45 don’t push brand during sales - no bright color or iconic logo; quiet luxury and highest quality product made by single artisan; differs from other luxury and luxury today
47:50 today, adapted to market but still on lighter end of branding; consumers want to indicate hermes
48:45 silk scarves 1937; finest silks in world; whimsical design
49:48 biz mix 1937-1988 vs today - silk scarf run up to decline
50:49 queen elizabeth scarves
51:12 scarf production - source finest silk from owned farms in BR, 20 new designs per year and retire old to vault, 2 years to produce, screenprint each by hand (not digital) for each color, precision is perfect - no layer can be out of alignment, designs handetched; designer, engraved, colorist, weaver, printing and finishing - very hard to replicate, non transferable skill (no large scale at other companies); specialize in one small special piece of production
54:39 callbacks to history
55:10 new products during great depression - clients are unaffected - true today; recession resilient whereas LVMH taking a hit
56:20 origin of hermes orange box during WWII; hermes claims they own color - non-pantone code color; then created 5-6 other oranges for trends, whimsy nature
59:00 son in law adds silk ties; patterns less intricate and storied than scarves, but also hand screenprinted
59:52 added logo after WWII - callback to carriage and mobility; ground brand in history and differentiates from other brands
Among your finest. All hail the algorithm.
First 🥇
Love your videos
I guess this was recorded before the Class Action lawsuit against Hermes for violating antitrust laws forcing customers to spend money on items they don't want, tens of thousands of dollars usually, in order to be favored with the opportunity to purchase a Birkin bag. In most cases, they don't get to choose the exact bag they want but only to take it or leave it from whatever is made available by their sales associate at that time. It's a coercive sales tactic to sell other products and btw, the sales associates DO NOT get paid a commission on selling a Birkin, but they do on all the other less popular items. So unlike Chanel which raises prices for the actual desired product, Hermes makes people buy things they don't want and say they don't charge extra for the Birkin. And the secondary market benefits because when people finally get a chance to buy a Birkin, it isn't the exact color or leather they want, so they end up selling it anyway. Personally a customer who can and is willing to pay extra and wait for the exact bag they want should be given a guaranteed opportunity even if it raises the price from say $12,000 to $30,000 instead of paying the difference in some unwanted items and a Birkin they don't want, just to buy one.
Ridiculously long, unwieldy. In these cases, at least include timestamps.
Saying that art has zero utility is the most idiotic thing I heard this decade, easily.
Thank you dear for taking us along. Can't wait what the @ *LUYBAG* queen picked up at Fendi
#uzbagx
@ *lvguci* Every time I see this bag I can't help but stop here.