Viral Videos Spark Controversy Over Luxury Manufacturing
People working in the fashion industry in Paris are wondering “how they managed to get caught in the crossfire of the China-US trade war.”
Amid rising trade tensions with the United States, “English-language videos posted on TikTok by the operators of Chinese factories have showcased the country’s manufacturing prowess,” going viral with claims that “many expensive, high-quality European consumer goods are actually made in China.”
The videos suggest that “many bags sold by luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermes are made in China at relatively low cost before being shipped to Europe for a final ‘Made in France’ stamp—and huge markups.”
Industry Leaders Push Back
Those claims have been firmly rejected by Benedicte Epinay, the head of Comite Colbert, a body that represents the French luxury goods industry, as well as current and former industry participants in France.
A tailor who worked for Dior for 17 years said,
“I have never heard of us having a factory in China. It’s not something that one can learn in just months. It takes at least five years to train a craftsman at Dior. There is actually a severe labor shortage in the industry.”
The LVMH group, which owns Dior, stated that it “has 120 workshops in France, 66 in Italy, and employs 58,000 people.”
Hermes emphasized it has “60 production sites in France and 15 in other countries. They are in Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom, the US, Portugal and Australia—but not China.”
Fighting Misinformation
Epinay noted that a French anti-counterfeit association had “alerted social media companies including TikTok and Meta on behalf of the brands early last week, ‘asking them to mediate to stop this defamatory misinformation.’”
The French Trade Ministry declined to comment.
At a Valentino boutique in Paris, a sales assistant remarked, “Customers of luxury goods know they are not buying luxury bags just for the leather; they are also paying for the design and the reputation of the brand.” They added, “I think it’s a kind of compliment. No one would counterfeit you if you were not popular.”
Regulations and Factory Links
France enforces strict rules on what products can carry the “Made in France” label, making it difficult for companies with most of their production overseas to obtain certification.
The law requires that products undergo “substantial transformation” in France, and the country’s Finance Ministry maintains a branch dedicated to policing such claims.
However, “many French luxury brands do work with Chinese-owned factories in northern Italy,” and Manufactures Dior — owned by Dior’s Italian” branch—”was investigated by Italian authorities in July for using facilities suspected of exploiting their workers. ” The investigation resulted in a court order that “was lifted in February.”
