Why Louis Vuitton is raising prices in the USA
The decision was a discreet one, but it’s causing a stir in the hushed world of luxury: Louis Vuitton has just raised its prices in the United States. The cause? Growing customs pressure and trade tensions that are upsetting the sector’s equilibrium.
+4% in just a few days: a targeted but strategic rise
According to analyses by Barclays and Bernstein, prices for Louis Vuitton leather goods jumped +4% across the Atlantic, with specific increases of up to +4.8%. The highly prized Neverfull GM bag, in monogrammed canvas, now retails for $2,200, $100 more than a few weeks ago.
The LVMH group’s iconic brand is thus following a trend already initiated by Hermès, which announced an across-the-board price hike from May 2025. Objective: to absorb US tariffs, which could reach 20% on European leather goods under the Trump administration.
The discreet failure of “made in USA” production
In 2019, Louis Vuitton proudly inaugurated its Rochambeau factory in Texas, which was supposed to bypass customs barriers by producing directly on American soil. But the reality is far less glowing: according to internal documents, this factory’s performance is “well below” the group’s standards.
Faced with these disappointing results, Louis Vuitton’ s strategy of local production seems to have been called into question, prompting the company to return to a more traditional pricing policy: passing on cost increases to the consumer.
A risky dependence on the American market
The United States accounts for a quarter of LVMH’s sales and more than half of its profits. And yet, in the first quarter of 2025, the group recorded a -3% decline on the American market. A warning signal that justifies this refocusing of pricing to protect margins.
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