What Will Marc Jacobs's Post-LVMH Future Be?

Among the potential buyers are a host of brand management groups, including Authentic Brands Group (owner of Vince, Barneys New York, Hunter and Juicy Couture); Bluestar Alliance (owner of Off-White, Limited Too and Brookstone); and WHP Global (owner of Vera Wang and Rag ⁘ Bone). The French conglomerate acquired a stake in Marc Jacobs in 1997, the same year Jacobs was appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton.

"We will not keep brands if we believe they are not a good add-on, or if we are not the right operator to operate them," LVMH CFO Cécile Cabanis told investors last week during Thursday's earnings call, making reference to the company's sales of Off-White and Stella McCartney in response to a question about whether the company planned to expand or reduce its portfolio in the coming years. LVMH declined to comment for this story, and Marc Jacobs did not respond to a request for comment. While LVMH has not confirmed that it's seeking a sale of Marc Jacobs, reports first surfaced last year that it was exploring options for the US brand.

If a sale were to materialise, it could serve to create more uniformity in LVMH's portfolio, says Robin Mellery-Pratt, founding partner at intelligence and strategy company Matter, who works with luxury brands including Chloé and Versace. "The European and craftsmanship-based positioning of LVMH's leading brands does stand the US-based, culture-first Marc Jacobs operation apart," he says.

LVMH doesn't break out sales for Marc Jacobs; on 24 July, the group reported that sales for its fashion and leather goods division were down 9 per cent in the second quarter to €9 billion. The brand is rarely mentioned on the company's earnings calls, which tend to spotlight its houses worth over €1 billion. But Marc Jacobs's cachet and legacy with LVMH remains significant.

"As a designer, Marc Jacobs is one of the industry's pre-eminent culture engines," Mellery-Pratt says. "Very few designers can claim to have dramatically influenced the zeitgeist in every decade since the 1980s. From his entertainment-first TikTok strategy , to the launch of its Gen Z-focused sub-label Heaven, the Juergen Teller campaign of Victoria Beckham in a carrier bag, the grunge collection at Perry Ellis, all of his work at Louis Vuitton with Stephen Sprouse and Murakami — the list goes on."

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