What's happening to Marc Jacobs? According to the Wall Street Journal, LVMH is looking to divest its smaller brands
In fashion, shake-ups aren't limited to creative directors. According to what was reported by the Wall Street Journal, LVMH is reportedly considering selling Marc Jacobs, the brand founded by the American designer in 1984 and acquired by the French conglomerate in 1997. After twenty-eight years, the group appears ready to part ways with the young brand - young, because the other names it owns include Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Loro Piana, among others - in an effort to improve a rather critical financial situation: just a few days ago, LVMH announced that in the first half of 2025, it suffered a 15% drop in sales. Trying to offload smaller brands like Marc Jacobs would allow Bernard Arnault’s group to focus its efforts on the most profitable maisons, a strategy seemingly already set in motion with the sale of Off-White to Bluestar in 2024 and Stella McCartney back to its founder.
Although rumors have intensified in recent days, with news of potential American buyers Authentic Brands Group (owner of Reebok, Champion, and Hervé Léger), WHP Global (which acquired Vera Wang at the beginning of the year), and Bluestar Alliance (which recently acquired Palm Angels in addition to Off-White), talks of selling Marc Jacobs have been ongoing since January. At that time, the group denied the report, whereas for now, it has yet to respond to the latest information emerging from international press. Valued at 1 billion dollars, the Marc Jacobs company may soon be leaving French soil to return to America, shortly after LVMH attempted to protect the brand from the crisis by reducing the products for sale. The tension surrounding LVMH and Marc Jacobs since January doesn’t concern just these two companies but the entire sector, which is going through a period of crisis and related shake-ups - consider, for instance, the acquisition of Versace by Prada, which brought the Medusa brand back to Italy after six years under Capri Holdings.
Unlike Stella McCartney, who reacquired her own brand from LVMH earlier this year while still remaining within the conglomerate as a sustainability advisor, Marc Jacobs does not appear to be interested in reclaiming his own brand. The sale project of the New York label seems to be more of Arnault’s initiative than Jacobs’, who, among other things, is currently in the media spotlight with a documentary by Sofia Coppola set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival this coming August. The decision to sell the brand, which compared to maisons like Louis Vuitton and Fendi has a younger and less affluent customer base, thus appears to be part of a strategic shift by the French conglomerate, currently preparing to weather the industry crisis in the best way possible.
