Paris based Fashion house ‘Hermes’ has announced that come 2020, it will venture into the world of skincare and cosmetics production.
The cosmetic and skincare products will be developed and formulated in-house, while manufactured by third-party suppliers in France and Italy. Already known in the fashion business for the production of leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewellery, watches and ready-to-wear. Hermes CEO Axel Dumas disclosed of the brand’s newest venture, “It’s quite exciting. It’s a new activity, with all the risks that involves, so we will deploy it progressively, initially in our own he e ores mainly, in a limited distribution so that we can learn.”
The fashion brand has already scored a substantial credit for its fragrance line, including the best-selling Terre d’Hermes and Twilly d’Hermes.
The move is aimed at attaining an all-round beauty brand and as such raises the effort of covering the three axes of skincare, make-up and fragrance. With Hermes coming in with a skincare product to match up with existing ones, June Jensen, director of beauty at NPD UK, believes that it will not distort any existing brand and will also not suffer from loss against its possible pricing. A statement she backed with a clarified set of different kinds of consumers in the market. She said, “Despite the uncertain economic situation, I believe it is a great time to launch in the super-premium market. In the last recession we saw a polarisation in consumer purchasing behavior, and we’re seeing that again. One type of consumer is focusing on value and price, and the other is more concerned about heritage, image, and the feeling/sense of belonging to a brand that consumers know, value and understand what it stands for, despite the price.”
