Leather handbags and a briefcase on display plinths in a bright, quiet luxury boutique
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LVMH Leather Goods Sales Fell 5% in Q3 as China Cooled

ByPeter Joeseph 'Briefcase Maker' Kalafatis

The largest luxury group in the world sold fewer handbags, trunks and leather accessories last quarter than it did a year earlier. LVMH, owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Loro Piana and Rimowa, reported on October 12 that organic sales in its fashion and leather goods division fell 5% in the third quarter, according to the company’s own revenue release.

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The rest of the group held up well enough to keep the total in positive territory. Group revenue for the quarter reached €18.5 billion, up 1% on an organic basis, a figure that matched what analysts had expected, as Luxury Tribune reported. The shortfall sat in one division and, by the company’s account, in one country.

For anyone who buys bags, briefcases, luggage or other carried goods, the numbers say something about where demand is moving and where it is cooling. They also leave plenty unsaid, and the points below mark the line between what LVMH published and what remains interpretation.

What LVMH reported on October 12

The nine-month picture came to €57.1 billion in revenue, down 2% as reported and up 2% organically. The gap between those two figures comes from currency movements and from disposals. Over nine months, exchange rates subtracted 3 points and changes in the group’s scope subtracted 1, per the LVMH release.

The third quarter alone looked different. Currency added 2 points while scope took away 2, the latter reflecting the sale of Marc Jacobs to WHP Global on September 1 and the disposal of most DFS businesses, as Idéal Investisseur summarized.

Organic growth by quarter ran +1% in the first, +3% in the second and +1% in the third, the same source shows. A slowdown, then, but not a collapse.

The company’s own outlook language was restrained. LVMH said it “remains confident” despite an economic and geopolitical environment it described as uncertain. The release contains no named executive quotes, so the tone comes from the standard outlook paragraph rather than from any individual.

Fashion and leather goods, the division that carries the bags

Close view of hand-stitched leather bag handle with brass hardware on a workbench

This division is LVMH’s largest. Over nine months it brought in €26.39 billion, a 4% decline as reported and 2% lower organically. In the third quarter it generated about €8.2 billion, down 5% organically, based on the figures Idéal Investisseur published of €8,245 million against €8,497 million a year before.

The quarter followed a better stretch. Luxury Tribune notes that the division had grown 1% in the second quarter, its first quarterly increase in two years, after a 2% decline in the first. The third quarter erased that progress.

It also came in under forecasts. According to the same report, Barclays, RBC and HSBC had expected a 2% decline for the division, and Jefferies 2.5%. The actual figure of 5% was worse than every one of those estimates.

Group sales matched expectations only because other divisions made up the difference.

China is the stated cause

LVMH attributes the weakness to a less buoyant environment in China. The release says the United States, Europe and Japan continued to grow, and it gives the same split for fashion and leather goods specifically: strong demand in the United States, offset by the Chinese slowdown, as FashionUnited summarized on October 13.

The company published no regional percentages for the division, so the size of the Chinese decline and the size of the American gain cannot be separated from the filings read for this article. Anyone quoting a number for either should be asked for a source.

Several houses inside the division still performed well by the company’s account. The release names Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Celine, Loro Piana, Rimowa and Berluti as having done well. That is a long list for a division whose combined sales fell.

A division can shrink while most of its names grow, if the largest of them sells less in a large market. LVMH does not disclose brand-level revenue, which means the reader is left to hold both statements at once.

Where the growth came from, and what the houses did

Luxury shop window showing a leather travel trunk on an empty European street in morning light

Watches and jewelry rose 6% in the quarter and 8% over nine months, to €7.73 billion, driven by jewelry. The release credits Tiffany & Co. and Bvlgari, and says Bvlgari’s Eclettica line produced record sales. Tiffany showed its Blue Book 2026 collection in Venice.

Selective retailing, the home of Sephora, grew 8% in the third quarter. Sephora entered Belgium and Croatia during the period. Wines and spirits advanced 6% on a champagne recovery in Europe, strong Hennessy momentum in Asia and a new ready-to-serve cocktail range in the United States. Perfumes and cosmetics were up 1%, with Guerlain growing substantially and Parfums Christian Dior helped by its J’adore Intense and Sauvage Extrait launches. Over nine months, perfumes and cosmetics were flat at €5.92 billion, and wines and spirits reached €4.03 billion, up 5% organically.

In short, buyers kept spending on small, giftable and high-margin categories while spending less on the large leather items the division is known for. That reading is an inference from the published figures, not a statement LVMH made.

The release singles out the response to Jonathan Anderson’s work at Christian Dior, citing strong demand for ready-to-wear and leather goods. Dior opened a new flagship on Via Monte Napoleone in Milan. Louis Vuitton marked 130 years of its Monogram with a new jacquard weave called Monogram Emblème and continued opening elaborate store formats, including LV The Place in Seoul, as FashionUnited recounts.

These are the moves of houses leaning on product and heritage, not on discounting. Whether that is enough to offset a weaker Chinese customer is the open question in the numbers.

One older data point gives scale to the idea of a leather goods boom that has since cooled. A year earlier, Hermès reported leather goods and saddlery growth of 13% at constant exchange rates over its first nine months of 2025, according to The Fashion Law. Hermès had not published its own third-quarter 2026 figures at the time of writing, so no like-for-like comparison with LVMH is possible yet.

A year-earlier benchmark from Hermès

A year-old reference point helps show how much the mood has shifted. When Hermès reported its 2025 third-quarter figures, the The Fashion Law account dated October 22, 2025 put its quarterly sales at €3.9 billion, up 10% at constant exchange rates, and nine-month revenue at €11.9 billion, up 9%. Leather goods and saddlery grew 13% over the nine months, the fastest of any Hermès category.

The company’s finance chief, Eric du Halgouët, said on the call that leather goods at +13% was “in keeping with our annual target.” He also said the company planned to keep adding production capacity in 2026 at roughly 6% to 7%, and that its sites are capped at 300 people, about 250 of them craftspeople.

Flat lay of jewelry, perfume, champagne and a leather pouch on marble, the categories that grew

That detail matters because it describes a different model from the one under strain at LVMH. Hermès limits output by the number of skilled workers it can train and house, and the 2025 figures showed demand running ahead of that supply. Those are last year’s numbers, however, and Hermès’s own report for this year’s third quarter was not available when this article was prepared. No conclusion about 2026 Hermès demand should be drawn from them.

The shares and the investor reading

LVMH stock hit a six-year low of €376 on October 2, ten days before the results, and stood 30.5% lower over twelve months as of October 6, the Idéal Investisseur page records. The same page showed the shares at €398.30 and rising 2.25% on the day it was captured, and referenced a 1.5% gain on October 15. None of the sources read for this article describes how the market responded on the day of the release itself.

Prices and moves of that kind change daily, and a single quarter says little about a multi-year trend. The company’s figures are the more durable fact.

What it means for the person buying a bag

The following is opinion. Falling unit demand at the top of the market does not make a bag better or worse, and a quarterly sales figure says nothing about whether a particular briefcase will last twenty years. What it can change is the climate around purchasing: brands that have raised prices year after year are now visibly meeting resistance in at least one major market.

A softer luxury leather market tends to sharpen attention on what is actually being paid for. Hide quality, stitching, hardware and repairability are measurable. A monogram weave anniversary is not. Buyers who were quietly comparing houses on those measures are likely to find the comparison easier to make in a cooler market, though that remains a judgment, not a finding.

The cleaner facts are the ones LVMH supplied. The largest division fell 5% in the quarter. The company blames China. Every other division grew. Hermès reports next.

For informational purposes only; consult a licensed attorney or financial advisor.

Sources

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