Who Owns Luxury

Brands vs owners

A brand is the name on the label. An owner is the company that holds it. A few huge groups own most of luxury fashion.

The big groups

• LVMH (Bernard Arnault): Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Celine, Loewe, Tiffany & Co., plus Moët & Chandon, Hennessy and Sephora.
• Kering (the Pinault family): Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen.
• Richemont: Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels.
• Prada Group: Prada, Miu Miu, and since December 2025, Versace, bought for about $1.4 billion.

The independents

• Chanel is privately owned by the Wertheimer family.
• Hermès is controlled by its founding family, which famously fought off LVMH when Arnault quietly built up a big stake in it.

The Birkin

The Birkin bag is named after actress Jane Birkin, who sat next to Hermès’s boss on a flight in the 1980s and complained she couldn’t find a good bag. Today you usually can’t just walk in and buy one. Stores tend to offer them to customers with a history of buying other things.

Designer musical chairs

The creative director designs the collections and sets the look. The owner hires and fires them. 2025 was a huge year of moves:

• Matthieu Blazy to Chanel
• Jonathan Anderson to Dior
• Demna from Balenciaga to Gucci
• Pierpaolo Piccioli to Balenciaga

Earlier, Louis Vuitton menswear went from Virgil Abloh to Pharrell (2023). See Virgil’s roadmap.