People with degrees work at McDonalds, Walmart, etc, this very day
Bingo.
Why Louis Vuitton chose this ranch south of Fort Worth for a factory
- Thread starter Swanky
- Start date
If some of you are interested this is an interview (google translation from french) with a person training to become a leather craftsman in France. She says this about the process at Chanel which is similar to Vuitton: Upon leaving her training, she looks for work for a year. After filing several CVs in different homes, she is hired by Chanel, where she stays ten months. In the workshop, she participates in the manufacture of bags of the brand, to the world. "But the work, robotic, was frustrating, there was nothing manual in my tasks, I did not touch the material ..." Emilie then leaves Chanel and joined a few weeks later the workshop of Serge Amoruso, where she is now on a permanent contract.
She also mentions that "Wages are higher in big houses [like Chanel], especially because of overtime, but if wages are obviously important, the passion of the job makes it possible to offset these small incomes."
You are right. A true bag artisan would be found at Hermes or would be an independent leather worker. That said, LV does make bespoke handbags. Maybe those are made by a single person. I don’t know. Parts of LV handbags are handmade, industrial sewing machines may be used, I am not sure, and whether one person or ten people have worked on the bag, it can legally still be called handmade.
As far as training goes, I am assuming some parts of putting a bag together are more difficult, so those people probably get paid more. Teaching or supervising usually pays more in a manufacturing setting. For people with good organizational and people skills there may be opportunities to move into lower level management type positions. Not everyone will rise through the ranks, but some people will.
LV and many other handbag manufacturers make their products by piece work. This is pretty normal. What Hermes does is the exception, not the norm.
LV is investing in the people in that community in Texas. It is a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back” situation. Both parties have something to gain from this. LV gets more bags to sell, the people get up to 500 new jobs in the community. Not all of those jobs will be entry level. Manufacturing plants also need management, HR, janitorial, security, etc.
You are right about your shoes and cheap t-shirts being made in much the same way. Nearly ALL of the products we use are made this way. If they were all hand assembled by one person, they would be rare and too expensive to purchase by anyone, except the fabulously wealthy. LV is, however, using better materials in their products than a manufacturer who makes less expensive handbags.
I know some college and graduate educated people that are having a hard time finding jobs in their fields and are working entry level jobs. Unless you're fortunate to have parents help, your bills still need to be paid including rent and student loans.
Yeah, when I got out of college I started at the very bottom of a good company for well below a "living wage". I lived at home for a little bit then moved in with friends to share expenses and have fun. It was a great time and we all worked our way up to better and better paying jobs. College degrees don't guarantee a certain level of pay and entry level jobs will never buy someone with a single income a home.
Who said that? I thought you communicated your opinion quite well. You said you were not going to buy anymore. You didn’t want to buy a “practice” bag. I agree with you that’s a choice you are free to make. I choose differently. That’s ok. Lv hasn’t changed the way their bags are made...they simply opened a new factory. I like that they did that. You do not. That’s ok too. But as I said, you’re not going to convince a bunch of lv lovers they shouldn’t buy. And we aren’t going to convince you to like the new factory and continue to buy. Most of us here love lv. And opening a new factory is unlikely to change our love. I think it as a great thing...Helping with demand of bags. You do not. I get it.
Last edited:
makendu never tried to convince any LV lovers not to buy. She stated that SHE would not buy anymore. I don't think anyone on this form can be persueded into anything. We are all grown opinionated individuals.
Snibor was likely referring to this post. By “people” it is implied she means more than just herself.
I was being polite. The phrase “people need to not support USA products” is not an implication, it is a demand.
I think you may misunderstand my intentions. This is getting too far off topic and too defensive. My intention was not malicious. I and many others will continue to buy. Lv has not changed the way bags are made. Others are free to choose differently. Although I do admit I don’t understand the sudden outrage at lv since nothing has changed. Unless of course some did not know prior to the opening of this new factory how bags were made and are now upset. But for most of us, since nothing has changed, we will continue to buy. I’m out of this thread. I think the topic has been fully explored.
Looking forward to the new items soon to be released.
It's not a demand. That is your opinion. You were offended by the statement, I get it. I am not understanding why some are so upset when someone disagree with them. TPF is supposed to be a happy spot to discuss a common interest "Handbags". So lets just accept that we have different ways of looking at this situation and concentrate on our next handbag purchase ( any brand).
I’m not upset. It’s just a discussion. That’s all. I think you may have misinterpreted my comments. I’ve been a member for almost 13 years and I suspect quite a bit older than you. It’s just a difference of opinion. There was nothing angry or personal about my comments so please don’t perceive them that way. Sometimes comments don’t come across as well when written so if you suspected my comment was a personal attack in any way, it was not meant to be.
Last edited: