Luxury responsibility: Hermès and the Riom factory

When luxury deserves respect: 250 new jobs in a French province, education and culture in a manufacturing district, handmade saddle stitching

Production outsourcing – Hermès and the French territory, the family, and the shareholding

Decentralized industrial production across French territory: Hermès today has twenty-three artisanal manufacturers scattered across France. A single industrial hub would cater to efficiency – that means: the stock market speculation’s analytical demands. 

The Hermès decentralization strategy is possible because Hermès is majority-owned by a family (holding two-thirds of the shares), allowing this family to make decisions based on human values rather than purely mathematical ones. They can prioritize civil culture and social responsibility, not just profit margins.

Hermès became public in 1993, and the family united under a solidarity agreement to maintain control. Today, the family tree branches into more than a hundred individuals, with three prominent positions held by cousins: Axel Dumas as CEO, Pierre-Alexis Dumas as creative director, and Guillaume de Seynes as executive vice president. They are the grandchildren of Jacqueline Hermès, herself the great-granddaughter of founder Thierry Hermès, who died in 1878.

The alliance among the extended family grew stronger in October 2010 when an attempted hostile takeover occurred. A network of seemingly independent investors, acting in concert, bid aggressively for the company’s shares. This act of aggression was met with a defensive reflex, tightening the family’s control pact even further. Why recall this now? To underscore how a decision like decentralizing production can only be made by those driven by heart and respect, not just numbers.

Hermès and the Riom Manufactory: Production of the Birkin and Constance Models

On September 13, in Riom, a town south of Paris and not far from Lyon, Central France, Hermès inaugurated its twenty-third leather goods factory. Here, only two models are produced: the Birkin and the Constance. The Birkin is the bag that both elegant women and social climbers alike must join a waiting list for, much like Samantha Jones had to. Hermès no longer calls it a waiting list – the concept is distasteful – preferring instead the term wish list, in keeping with a certain French attitude, that blend of casual frivolity and ephemeral meticulousness. The base price starts at around seven thousand euros – the purpose of this text is to explain the responsibility and value behind that price.

250 New Jobs and 30 Apprenticeships: the Social Fabric in Rural Areas

The new Riom manufactory has created 250 jobs for Hermès. Not just jobs, but also 30 apprenticeship seats for learning the craft. Both in France and Italy, there is much discussion about how to preserve traditional artisanal techniques, once passed down through families, from father to son. This is done through emulation and lack of alternative life paths. Looking back at the generation that experienced the post-war economic boom in the mid-20th century, the grandparents of people my age – I, the writer, am 45 – many stayed where they were born, living and working there. The rural exodus hadn’t yet begun as it has today, with people flocking to Paris or Milan as though the cities were the only option for a fulfilling life.

A luxury fashion house holds imaginative power over the aspirations of those growing up in rural areas. If a house like Hermès opens an artisanal, even artistic, production hub in a valley surrounded by woods, streams, and hills, this stimulates local participation. It’s an energy that helps rebuild the social fabric in these rural areas, which, as we learned during the pandemic, can offer a better quality of life than major urban centers – for the proximity to nature, the slower pace, and the interpersonal relationships less tainted by the paranoia that fuels metropolitan life.

Work, Profession, and Career – from Apprenticeship to Culture

There are technical schools and academies to prepare for a career as a master artisan – but the allure of such a profession doesn’t catch on. Kids rarely say, “I want to be an artisan,” whereas they easily blurt out, “I want to be an architect, photographer, scientist,” or “I want to earn as much as a dentist or notary.” For those born in rural areas, dreams might be less whimsical: work is necessary, and any job will do.

The opening of a Hermès factory offers work that requires years of apprenticeship and training because the manual skill learned here, and the precision demanded, require the human body to apply a level of physical and intellectual discipline that becomes a cultural form.

Manufacturing as Ateliers – The Difference Between a Worker and an Artisan

Hermès’ factories are also called ateliers, indicating a smaller workforce – two to three hundred people. A site director can know names, faces, and personalities, have conversations with all of them over time, and make them part of the family-like atmosphere that persists at the higher levels, protecting against market attacks. This wouldn’t be possible in a factory with three thousand workers.

What’s the difference between a worker, a skilled worker, and an artisan? These may seem like obvious questions, but they don’t always come to mind. The difference can be subtle or stark. A worker might handle simple, repetitive tasks that require physical strength with little technique. This worker needs only enough attention to avoid mistakes rather than concentration to face challenges. An artisan is someone who, beyond the skill required, must bring their own personal culture and experience – in poetic terms, a piece of their heart.

In an old tobacco factory: The Riom Manufactory’s craft process from leather inspection to cutting

The Riom manufactory building is a former tobacco factory built of concrete and brick, listed as a historic building since 2004. Restoring rather than constructing anew requires more financial commitment: beyond planning for modern technology, the architecture must be adapted, designed in an era when workplace health and safety regulations were almost nonexistent.

Stephan, who once worked as a carpenter, is now employed by Hermès, inspecting and preparing leathers for cutting after the tanning and coloring processes. On his table are pieces of lamb, goat, and calf skin. Defects and scars are more common near the joints, while the center of the hide has a more consistent texture, where the primary shields for a bag are cut (it takes two to three hides for each bag). These shields are positioned using a laser, minimizing waste. After cutting, the edges are lightly abraded so that, when two pieces are joined, they form a suitable thickness for stitching. Every part of a bag consists of bonded leather sheets: glue stabilizes the layers, and stitching secures the edges.

Hermès and the Saddle Stitch, Hand-Sewn

Cécile receives the shaped and stitched parts on her table, ready for assembly. By hand: every part of the bag is joined with the saddle stitch, the same used to sew horse saddles. This stitch is stronger than a simple stitch or one done by a machine. The saddle stitch can only be done by hand, with no instrumental aid: an awl pierces the leather, allowing one needle to pass through from one side and another from the other. The awl marks the next hole, and the needles repeat the process, doubling back. It’s a double stitch. Linen threads are used for the body and silk threads, softer and more flexible, for the handles. The cut edges are then pressed with an iron to bond the fibers, smoothed to remove any fraying, and a varnish finishes the job.

Cécile handles the final step, the most delicate: turning the bag inside out. All stitching is finished on the inside of the bag. With the help of a mobile table that holds the item steady, the turning is done with four crossed hands. This is done by applying even, firm yet sensitive pressure to the leather angles and resistances, which is never the same. If defects exist, they reveal themselves in this phase. It takes about twenty hours, two and a half days, to craft a Hermès Birkin – and as I hope I’ve explained, this only accounts for part of its value. This report on the opening of the Riom Manufactory aims to show how, today and in the future, luxury must – and will – be understood through the civil and social responsibility it bears.

Carlo Mazzoni