OVERHEARD -- WSJ
01 Juin 2019 - 09:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Carol Ryan
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (June 1, 2019).
How do you brush up a luxury brand? First, move it to Paris,
then give it a snappier name.
Luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said this week
that Jean Patou, a tiny label in which it bought a 70% stake late
in 2018, will be renamed Patou.
Like Chanel, the brand was one of the busiest French couture
houses of the 1920s, only it hasn't weathered the years quite so
well. An early step in the revamp has been to shift the brand's
headquarters back to the French capital from Watford, an
unglamorous town outside London where its previous majority owner
is based.
LVMH founder Bernard Arnault has revived labels before. He got
his hands on Christian Dior by purchasing failed textile company
Boussac for one French franc in 1984. Although the brand had seen
better days, he understood its potential when a New York taxi
driver couldn't name the French president but knew of Dior. More
than three decades later, it is a multibillion-dollar brand.
Whether LVMH's decision to shorten Jean Patou to plain Patou had
anything to do with conversations with New York cabbies is
unclear.
Write to Carol Ryan at carol.ryan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Lvmh Moet Hennessy Louis... (EU:MC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Fév 2024 à Mar 2024
Lvmh Moet Hennessy Louis... (EU:MC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Mar 2023 à Mar 2024