Hermès is one of the brands that sells the most and we talk so little about it

In a fashion world where every move of each brand is trumpeted as an epic event, one of the best performing brands in the industry bills billions in almost total silence: it is Hermès, a maison that has made its signature of discretion, which only in the first quarter of 2021 generated sales of 2.08 billion euros, increasing its turnover by 44% compared to sales in the pre-Covid era. The brand's phenomenal results were also emulated by Louis Vuitton and Dior, as Mario Ortelli of Ortelli & Partners told WWD, but unlike these two other brands but also Chanel and Gucci, Hermès has just lightly raised its prices – a strategy initiated by many luxury brands over the past year to re-enter losses caused by the lockdown: according to The Fashion Law, Louis Vuitton raised the price of some bags and products by 6%, Gucci by 9% and Dior by 11%, while Hermès raised prices by only 1.4%.

The person responsible for this extraordinary performance (let's remember: unlike all the other brands mentioned, Hermès is not part of an industrial mega-group) was, predictably, the market of the Pacific area, especially China, but also Korea, Thailand and Singapore and Australia with sales up 94% in the macro-area. The secret to this success, according to Bernstein's Luca Solca, is limited production capacity. Unlike other famous brands that focus their strategy on creating an artificial sense of exclusivity, organizing supposedly cultural events and dressing the most followed celebrities on Instagram, Hermès has pursued a type of exclusivity that is mainly material: its products are exclusive because there are physically few. After 184 years, its activity does not take place on an industrial scale (although this year two new production centers will open in Guyenne and Montereau, France) and precisely this gives a concrete as well as symbolic and immaterial value to its products – and precisely this constitutes the entire "silent" strategy of the brand.